41
How does one picture “Belarus” in the context of contemporary
reflections on Europe? The answer to the given question is not that
simple. A lot has been said today about the European way of devel-
opment of Belarus but little was made clear about what it actually
means in the context of Belarusian identity. Belarus always tried to
be a part of the European space and began its history as a European
culture, but at the same time due to various historical reasons it was
constantly pulled out of this space. The given tendency of separation
from Europe is deliberately supported by present Belarusian author-
ity. As a result, in my opinion, there has formed a paradoxical situ-
ation: Belarusians need to quickly pass certain stages which Europe
has already gone through if they want to apply for European identity.
In this sense everything that has been said about processes and pros-
pects of European identity, is essential to Belarus as well. But, on the
other hand, we shall probably emphasize another important point.
Each country becomes a European country reading through the Eu-
ropean text in its own unique way. It means that while remaining
true to oneself one shall be understood by others. Right now Belarus
is probably going in the opposite direction and consequently ... it
becomes more and more unclear to itself.
Attempts to understand the processes occurring in our coun-
try beyond the tendencies characteristic of the modern world are
doomed to failure. Certainly, it is impossible to unequivocally evalu-
ate the events happening in the world. Therefore, a modern social
theory offers the most diverse conceptual models to solve the given
problem. One of the most radical ones is, for example, J. Baudrillard’s
social theory. It is impossible to agree with all its positions. But it is
specifically its radicalism of conclusions and evaluations that induces
us to seriously reflect on real problems. Thus, it becomes necessary
Grigory Minenkov
european
identity
as the horizon
of Belarusian iMagination
42
Grigory Minenkov
to understand: what the French philosopher writes about, occurs not only “somewhere
there”,
but somehow it affects Belarus, whether one likes it or not.
It is important to understand, what today’s widespread judgments about “the end of
history”, including Baudrillard’s interpretation mean. His words are quite interesting: “The
only thing which we try to imagine is how to get rid of our history which is too heavy
and, besides, starts over and over again. And we are constantly dreaming of any event that
would come from the outside, from a different history. It is imagination, a secret formula
of the millennium which could change all around. Something is inevitable, we feel it”
1
.
These words concerned the end of the millennium. But for Belarus the millennium is not
over yet: the fear of future stimulates attempts to freeze time. That explains the aspiration
to find a miracle formula of change, a certain secret of national history, irrespective of
political connotations connected with it. Is there such a secret? Or if it is a secret, then is
it we ourselves and the character of our action?
Baurdillard believes that these tendencies are the result of globalization. In connection
with this we shall raise a question: whether the present position of Belarus, its inability to
make a choice by displaying its fear of history, is a reflection of inability to adequately an-
swer the challenges of globalization? Whether in this situation does the attempt “to leave
history”, to detain the past and by that to prevent the future start? In this case the remark
by Baudrillard stirs up a lot of interest: “The more the future avoids us the more the search
for the return to sources, the return to the primary stage (both individual, and collective)
becomes our obsession. As a consequence, we try to collect proofs: proofs of time of the
past, of human evolution”
2
.
This search was most visible in the constructing of national identities and in the at-
tempts to formulate the so-called “national idea”, carrying out the function of separating
one’s own national identity from others. It is exactly during the formulation of similar
ideas that the connection of interpretations of history or the construction of one’s own
past, with political views and practices of “constructor” is shown clearly. A. Kazakevich
successfully uncovers this problem using the example of the construction of knowledge
about the Great Duchy of Lithuania
3
. The author identifies and thoroughly analyzes three
principles of the historical knowledge construction: genealogy, national presence and role
of power. It seems possible to analyze any process of construction of historical sources of
specific identity on the basis of these principles. In this particular case we can talk about
understanding one’s place in the world, i.e., understanding the uniqueness and natural-
ness of the state existence irrespective of on what it is based.
A vivid example of such an approach is the concept of “Russian idea” of Vl. Solovyov
4
.
It is obvious, that the search for “the Belarusian idea” started under the influence of this
conceptual structure. In connection with this it will be fruitful to remind of I. Abdiral-
ovich’s concept
5
. Abdiralovch believes that in real life the form often subordinates the
content to itself, not allowing it to develop freely, though any and all forms are created
by people. In fact, this idea was formulated by Hegel and Marx in the form of the concept
of alienation. Following Heraclitus Abdiralovich finds it necessary to have a “flowing”,