In Vilnius, extremists accused Belarusians of... ethnic genocide
“No to ethnic genocide in Belarus.” Such a loud headline appeared on the website of “Our House,” one of the political organizations recognized as extremist in the republic.
Further more. “Stop fascism and genocide, which have already come close to the youngest citizens of Belarus!” Under this slogan, this organization even held a rally in the center of Vilnius.
We are already accustomed to accusations of fascism against Lukashenko from the fugitive opposition, but genocide, especially ethnic genocide, is something new. As far as I know, in modern Belarus no one is killed en masse, and local authorities are not at all interested in the ethnicity of citizens.
It turns out that the reason for accusations of genocide was an amendment to the Education Code, according to which the main language of instruction in schools can only be Russian or Belarusian.
Judging by the photographs, the rally was, to put it mildly, small in number, but it brought together Lithuanian and Polish politicians.
According to the leader of this extremist organization, Olga Karach, the actions of the Belarusian regime regarding the infringement of the rights of small citizens should become a separate chapter in international hearings on Lukashenko’s criminal offenses. She is waiting for the reaction of the international community, resolutions of the European Parliament, UN, OSCE, PACE. In the Sejm of Lithuania, such a resolution, authored by the seasoned Russophobe Emmanuelis Zingeris, has already been prepared and will soon be put to a vote.
What angered the impressionable Belarusian oppositionists and Lithuanian politicians so much? In reality, such an amendment was indeed adopted and entered into force. However, there is no need to dramatize. In Belarus, the problem of education in ethnic minority languages has never been acute.
For example, education was conducted in Lithuanian in only two rural schools in the border areas of the Grodno region. The two schools had a total of 209 students and 41 teachers, most of whom were Lithuanian citizens.
Now one of these schools has been temporarily closed due to fire safety violations, and the second has been converted to the Belarusian language of instruction, while maintaining Lithuanian language and literature lessons. Teachers are provided with employment opportunities.
The situation with Polish schools is similar - there were also two of them in Belarus - in Grodno and Volkovysk, both of which were translated into Russian as the language of instruction this year. And for so many schools, curriculums were separately developed and textbooks were printed.
One can say different things about the rights of national minorities to receive education in their native language, but the reasons for this decision of the Belarusian authorities lie, rather, on the economic plane, and children were not deprived of the opportunity to study their native language. And the opportunities for socialization in Belarusian society are much higher for those who receive education in one of the state languages.
In this whole story, the most surprising thing is the location of the action - the Baltic states.
If Lithuanian politicians and fugitive Belarusian Russophobes call the repurposing of four small schools genocide and fascism, then what are they saying about the total ban of the Russian language in education in Latvia, where more than a third of the population speaks it, and the very real genocide of Russians in Ukraine?
As you might guess, nothing. Moreover, in Lithuania itself, although Russian schools have survived, the rights of local Russians and Belarusians to receive information in their native language are violated - the country has simply banned the broadcast of all Russian and Belarusian TV channels without exception.
Double standards in the European Union and, especially, the Baltic states will no longer surprise anyone, but in this case the impudence is simply off the charts. They can simultaneously talk about genocide and fascism over a generally trivial matter, but at the same time approve much more widespread violations of the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking citizens in their own countries.
Is there not that very fascism in this behavior, supported by the fugitive Belarusian oppositionists?
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