BILINGUAL CULTURAL ASSET

On the 20^th of April the head of the state put out his yearly message. Unlike the campaign “Tell the Truth!”, the public awareness in this case proved considerably higher (Table 1) and exceeded 50%. This rate of awareness characterizes the capabilities of the governmental mass media to bring their truth to the Belarusian community. The rate of information awareness is also restricted by the topicality of information and the level of public excitement. For example, three months prior to the third presidential election in 2006 the percentage of those aware of the President’s message was 68.5% of respondents.

Table 1. Dynamics of answering the question, “Do you know that on the 20^th of April president A. Lukashenko put out his yearly message to the people of Belarus and the National Assembly?”, %

The respondents trusting A. Lukashenko proved more informed than their political opponents. The information concerning their political idol seems more urgent for them. And it is not surprising in view of their strong dependence on the state.

Traditionally, in the middle of the speech A. Lukashenko made a number of allegations or declarations on a wide range of issues. The data of Table 2 make it possible for us to assess the degree of reliability thereof according to the public opinion. It was the declaration on the ability of the head of state to prevent “color revolutions” in Belarus that gained the largest support. The distribution of votes of those accepting and those denying this declaration practically matched the voting results at the presidential election 2006. Such match is another proof of the stability of the political preferences of the Belarusian voters. It is noteworthy that even among those not trusting A. Lukashenko the belief in his ability to prevent “color revolutions” is high enough (41.2%).

Table 2. Distribution of answers to the question, “What is your attitude towards the following declarations, president A. Lukashenko made while reading his message?”, %

The attitude towards the right of citizens to build any number of houses and flats is a kind of test of market values assimilation: 30% of adult citizens of the country were not able to pass it even after 20 years of market reforms. Those not trusting A. Lukashenko did surprise: the level of their support of the institution of private property proved lower than the average level in the country!

The attitude towards the declaration on the retaining of the public trust in the power needs no comment, just as the margin of 51.2 points in the assessments of this declaration between the selected social groups of respondents.

A little more than one half of Belarusians believes it is possible to remedy the consequences of the world crisis this year. This belief has not only held back the electoral rating of A. Lukashenko from a downfall, but even caused the improvement thereof by the end of the second quarter.

All the following declarations gained support of less than 50% of respondents. Just 0.9% till the coveted point was left for the belief in bilingualism as the greatest cultural asset. It should be noted that in June 12.1% used Russian and Belarusian in everyday communication, whereas 63.8% spoke Russian, and only 2.1% Belarusian. Another 21.8% self-confessedly spoke “trasyanka” (a kind of crude mixture of Belarusian and Russian). With this layout 49.1% of those having a positive attitude towards bilingualism testify to the success of the proponents of the national cultural resurrection.

The proponents of A. Lukashenko do as well believe in the move to a new level of relationship with EU. Well, that is why they are proponents. They are guided not by real achievements in the European direction, which were practically null in the first half of 2006, but by the declarations of their idol. Among those not trusting the head of state the percentage of such “believers” is thrice lower.

The percentage of the supporters of nuclear power plant construction in Belarus has been growing over the recent years. The authorities have not conducted for this purpose a special propaganda campaign, but even the timely information put over was enough to change the public opinion. The June poll demonstrated a new increase in the number of supporters of the NPP project.

The declaration of the fact that Belarus should not go anywhere, neither to Europe, nor to the USA, nor to Russia, might be considered a kind of interpretation of the notorious words, “I shall not lead my state after the civilized world”. The inability to decide on the right geopolitical choice is one of the major problems of the Belarusian ruling elite. This causes continuous speculations on the topic of “the specific way” and these speculations do find support in the community.

The enemy image, this “ace of base” of the Soviet propaganda, is still popular in modern Belarus. However, it is at the end of the list and this is not by accident. The authorities today try to rely mainly not on the activity, but rather on the inactivity of masses. It is getting risky to constantly stir up the population with the threat of foreign and home enemies. That is the key distinction of the modern hegemony technology from the Soviet one.

Fulfillment of obligations in salary increase is the base of state stability. In 2006 at the peak of Russian grants A. Lukashenko promised to increase the average salary in the country till $ 500 by the end of 2010. Half a year is left, and more than $ 100 till the coveted level. In June 2006 soon after the promulgation of “the sacred figure” at the third All-Belarusian Assembly, 60.5% of respondents believed in the probability of reaching that objective. Today, the percentage of optimists has boiled down to 35.2%.

The estimate, which A. Lukashenko has given to the actions of the Russian government, sounds like a death-warrant for the Union State. What is most interesting is that this estimate has not found support among those not trusting the president (44.3% vs. 18.9%). Seemingly, the ratio of responses should be reversed, for the opponents of the integration with Russia prevail among the opponents of the authoritarian Batjka (“Father”). However, in this question they have overcome emotions and showed certain rationality.

Concerning the last declaration, even among those trusting A. Lukashenko a minority agreed with him. Probably, the Belarusian pensioners making the backbone of the electoral proponents of the president receive treatment in other hospitals and clinics. And though they do not tour abroad and do not consult western medical guru, they do estimate soberly the level of home medical care.

To conclude we should note that making promises is a mandatory attribute of any power. But if it is a democratic power, the authorities have to incur responsibility for their promises. And in order to ensure this there exist relevant institutions in democratic countries. But in Belarus the whole political system is reduced to the institution of the first person. Thus, there is no use showing surprise that the text of the regular message contains a list of tasks, but no report on the accomplishment of the tasks set a year before.