Trusau: President will change and his son will speak Belarusian

Aleh Trusau, who has been reelected as chairman of the Francisak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society (BLS), told Euroradio that pro-Belarusian politicians will soon dominate the government and that former parliamentary speaker Uladzimir Kanaplyou was about to sponsor changes to the Language Act, but unexpectedly resigned.
The BLS, which has 5,500 registered members, held its convention in Minsk on Sunday.

Trusau told Euroradio that the process of government change is already under way. He says that a new generation of pro-Belarusian politicians is taking leading positions. "These people know the Belarusian language quite well. Once Lukashenka appoints a new local chief, a guy aged between 35 and 40, he immediately renames a street after Sapeha and starts to organize Belarusian festivals etc. The president will certainly change in 20-years time. And his son Mikolka will speak Belarusian."

Asked about the decision by the Brest regional government to introduce a day on which all officials must speak Belarusian, Trusau said, "This is a natural trend, and more decisions like this will be taken. Circumstances force them to do so. Bureaucrats, including Lukashenka, realize what independence means much better than worker Vasya from the bearings factory. They do not want Belarus to be absorbed by Russia. They will defend their profits with arms in their hands. Lukashenka said this openly recently. Who is he going to defend himself from? Of course, from Russia. Clearly, the enemy is in the east, not in the west. The language is an identity factor. Thank to God, the literary Russian language is disappearing from Minsk. More people speak in trasianka [a language mixture]."

Trusau added that no more than five percent of the Minsk residents speak a pure Russian.

The BLS presses for changes to the Language Act that would require officials to know and use Belarusian and ensure the equal status of Belarusian and Russian. Trusau says that former speaker Kanaplyou was about to sponsor the bill, but resigned unexpectedly citing health reasons.

He recommends Belarusians to defend their right to use their native language in day-to-day life defying often hostile attitudes of sales assistants and police officers.

Trusau notes that even high-ranking officials can be forced to respect Belarusian. He recalls that he appealed to the Mahilyou mayor to print public transport passes in Belarusian, but he refused. In response, Trusau sent the official a letter with a quote by the Belarusian leader about respect for Belarusian. "I have an impression that you are not compatible with the high post you hold because you do not share the president's opinion," Trusau says he wrote in the letter. Ten days later, the authorities printed passes in Belarusian.