Unknown Slonim ‘Partisans’ Translate Russian-Language Graffiti Into Belarusian

The graffiti has appeared on the occasion of the Literacy Day.

The Russian-language graffiti to the Literacy Day in Slonim is being re-done, the Russian inscription is being replaced with the Belarusian one, Radio Svaboda reports.

Gazeta Slonimskaya posted a photo-fact of the works, which were carried out late at night, on its Instagram account.

Previously, they informed Radio Svaboda in the Slonim district executive committee that, “in order to preserve the national and language consent in the society”, they will leave the Russian-language graffiti, but will create an extra Belarusian-language mural to honor the Belarusian Literacy Day. It will contain the image of Francysk Skaryna and an inscription in the Belarusian language. Head of the Ideological Work and Youth Affairs Department of the district executive committee Natallia Yunchyts told Svaboda about this. She did not inform what the inscription would be.

What is the essence of the conflict, and why do we write about it?

A mural was created in Slonim to honor the Belarusian Literacy Day - an image of the theatre of Mikhail Kazimir Ahinski. The inscription on the mural was in Russian.

In May, Aliaksei Duzhy appealed to the Slonim district executive committee so that the inscription should be replaced with a Belarusian-language one. The officials promised to do it by June 1.

However, this never happened. Deputy Head of the Slonim district executive committee Theresa Yushkevich replied to Aliaksei Duzhy that they had decided to keep the Russian inscription “in order to preserve the national and language consent in the society”.

This outraged the people even more. A petition demanding to change the inscription appeared on the internet.

“Slonim remains a highly Russified town, most of its signs are in the Russian language, the sign at the entrance to the town is also Russian, even the inscriptions on the buses’ indicator panels are. It is obvious that this systematic attitude of the town authorities to the Russification of the environment cannot be stopped even by the Year of Small Motherland and the Belarusian Literacy Day,” the authors of the petition state.