Minsk, Belarus
A children’s magazine popular since 1924 has become the latest victim of the Belarus government’s campaign against the Belarusian language. The government gave no reason for shutting down Byarozka, the only Belarusian-language weekly for kids, leaving the political opposition to conclude that the language was the culprit. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has an avowed nostalgia for all things Soviet, disdains Belarusian, which he considers a primitive bastardization of the more elegant Russian language. “It is impossible to express anything complex in Belarusian,” he once said. Lukashenka has been trying to promote the speaking of Russian as part of his campaign to reunite Belarus with Russia. Over the past decade, he has cut funding for Belarusian textbooks and closed publishing houses.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Frauds: ‘fantastically stylish’ crime heist caper is a ‘triumph’The Week Recommends Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker play a pair of ex-cons planning one last job
-
The struggles of Aston MartinIn the Spotlight The car manufacturer, famous for its association with the James Bond franchise, is ‘running out of road’
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
