What goes on today in the higher education system of Belarus.
When Natalia went to see her relatives abroad, she never thought that, coming back to Belarus, she would find herself quite literally in the times of the Soviet Union, which she still remembered.
For a long time, the woman worked as the head of the academic laboratory in one of the universities in Minsk. In autumn 2024, they refused, without offering any explanations, to renew her employment contract although the university faced a deficit of skilled personnel and there were no contenders for her position.
Natalia links this to the fact that in 2024 she several times visited her relatives living abroad. Each trip required getting an authorization from the university administration. And every time, upon her return, she had to fill out a questionnaire where she had to report who she had met and what she had talked about with them.
This is but one of many stories of Belarusian university teachers and students who, in the past four years, have suffered extensively from a wave of politically motivated dismissals or pressure. So, what is happening today in the higher education system of Belarus?
Activists of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions together with “Salidarnast” have been searching for the answer.
Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold… there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere… BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said… In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows. The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered.
George Orwell. «1984»
Sad as it is, we have to acknowledge that the famous anti-utopia written more than 75 years ago has not lost any of its relevance over the decades; moreover, with astonishing precision, it now hits the painful points of the contemporary Belarusian society that, rather than evolving, is rapidly sliding back in gravest regression to the atmosphere of the times we thought to be long gone.
Natalia whose story we have shared above is, of course, far from being the only one summoned for talk by the “Thought Police”.
Lately, the country has seen a step-up in the monitoring of public sector workers’ (including the academia) visits to “unfriendly countries” and checking if their family members carry residence permits of other countries.
Many of those whose employment contracts, just like Natalia’s, were not renewed link this specifically to their trips abroad. Such employees are summoned for routine talks by Vice-Rectors for Security where they are asked what their relatives are doing and why they have left.
By the way, it is precisely Vice-Rectors for Security appointed, as a rule, from among the State Security Committee (KGB) officers (Medaizona, with reference to the data of the “Belarusian Students’ Association” («Задзіночання беларускіх студэнтаў») and the “CyberPartisans”, reports that there are at least 7 of them. For instance, at the Belarusian State University (BSU) this is Yaroslav Cherkassky) who are the key figures today controlling university HR policies.
They check biographies and references of new employees and take final decisions to either recruit them or deny recruitment. Also, it is they who prepare dismissals lists at least twice a year.
Just the main university in the country saw around 500 employees forced to leave during 2020-2023. This is what the BSU Rector Andrei Korol says in the audio recording posted by CyberPartisans.
One of our interviewees recalled an episode from the far-away 1985 when she was a student. At the time, yet another General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko had passed away and her university had a meeting where she was to speak.
After the meeting she was approached by a man who would always sit quietly in the far corner of the Dean’s office (yet everyone knew who he was and where he had come from) and asked: “Now, why exactly were you smiling when talking about the General Secretary?” Our interlocutor was completely flabbergasted by the question and the man gave her a long stare and left. Luckily, that “sweet” exchange had no consequences, although there could have been some – Big Brother never slumbered 40 years ago, and he is equally alert today.
State Security controllers in the higher educational institutions are actively assisted by the chief ideological “experts” there, namely, Deputy Deans for Educational Work. They hold mandatory monthly ideological meetings for academics at every Chair who, in their turn, “introduce the patriotic component” into the curriculum. Naturally, the ideological curators accord due attention to students as well.
The second part of this mini-cycle to follow on Friday, February 21.
Victoria Leontieva
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