Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja: Desovietization of Belarusan society didn't happen yet

November 7 is still a state holiday in Belarus, though it is no longer being celebrated at national level even in a cradle of the revolution.

Her opinion on the Soviet base of the present-day Belarusan society with the EuroBelarus Information Service shared Tatsiana Vadalazhskaja, candidate of social sciences and chief analyst of the Center for Social Innovation:

- Our society today differs a lot from the Soviet society, even if some similar forms are still present. If we consider desovietization to be a process, i.e. rethink and reconsider it, see and evaluate it anew, - in this sense Belarusan society is not de-sovietized yet. As, unfortunately, we haven’t reappraised our Soviet legacy.

First of all, we have to consider not only historical facts, but also social and political institutions we have inherited in order to figure out what is “Soviet” about them, and what is our attitude towards it now; what we should leave and what we should throw away. It is the regular formula of the Belarusan society: “It is historically established that…”, “Traditionally it is…”; however, no one tries to rationalize this tradition. And, indeed, we don’t know what we are maintaining; we need to discuss this and carry out serious research. But the society is afraid to stir the past, as well as the present based on this past.