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No Pro-Russian Party In Belarus, Russian Analyst SaysNot a single political party in Belarus regardless of whether it supports President Alexander Lukashenko can be described as pro-Russian, an indication of what the political elite in that country feels and what it assumes will attract the support of the Belarusian people, according to a Moscow analyst Alexander Avrukevich.Instead, “the most active political parties and their leaders [in Belarus] have quite clearly shown that the chief goal of their foreign policy if they come to power is joining the European Union, escaping Russia’s sphere of influence, and the reduction of the role of the Russian language.” In fact, he continues, “the only [in his view] positive thing that certain of the opposition political parties would seek would be cooperation with Russia in the sphere of international trade,” hardly support for Slavic unity Russians would like to see Because Lukashenko dominates the political system, neither the government nor the opposition parties play a great role at least at present. But that does not mean that their programs should be ignored because those provide important clues on what the leaders of these groups believe and think other Belarusians want. At present, Avrukevich says, there are six opposition parties: the Party of the Belarusian National Front, the Conservative Christian Party –BNF, the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hromada), the Belarusian Social Democratic Hromada, the Belarusian Party of the Left, and the Unified Civil Party. Avrukevich examines the program of each and then offers this summation: “The majority of the opposition parties either calls for weakening political ties with Russia by joining the European Union and the formation of a political and economic union with the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine on the basis of the commonality of their interests and cultural closeness.” “Or,” he continues, these parties, “stress the utility of cooperation with Russia as along as independence is preserved.” Some of them call for stripping Russian of its status as a state language in Belarus, and “they give priority to the Belarusian language as the symbol of Belarusian nationality.” The pro-government parties include the Belarusian Agrarian Party, the Republic Party of Labor and Justice, the Belarusian Patriotic Party, the Communist Party, the Belarusian Social-Sports Party and the Republican Party. Not surprisingly, they say less than the others about foreign policy, Avrukevich says, but what they do say is important. In general, they support integration of the former Soviet space “not so much via reunification with Russia” as by means of “projects for the restoration of the USSR,” something so unlikely and “utopian” that it is clearly not intended to be taken entirely seriously by anyone in Belarus and their silence on the status of Russian is deafening, Avrukevich implies. Obviously, as a Russian nationalist himself, the Moscow analyst is not pleased by any of this. Neither are some of his readers. Among those commenting already was someone who identified himself as “Patriot” and said that Avrukevich’s findings show that Moscow is already “losing Belarus just as it has practically lost Ukraine.” And another reader, “Vlad,” said that these party programs show that “if the local [Belarusian] democrats come to power after Lukashenka, then Belarus will go down the Ukrainian path: the people will divide on the basis of language and relations with Russia, and the economy will be radically privatized and so on.” This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2010 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom
Paul Goble
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