We present the opinion of the manager of the Centre for Social Sciences and Technology investigation in Minsk, Andrija Sycha on the Polish and Greyer Charter, on Polish-Belarusian relations. This is an interesting reason for seeing the Belarusian place on bilateral relations.
Lost or Belarusian citizens? At the level of the head of state, the distribution of the Polish Kart was discussed among Belarusians. Yes, everything agrees: among the Belarusians. It's not a mistake. Let us consider the time here, due to the fact that this component of “soft force” has been implemented by Warsaw since 2007.
COMPLY WITH THE RECOMMENDATION
Some kind of certificate was given to reconstruct cultural and household ties with fellow countrymen abroad. Sounds nice, but smells bad. What prevented us from simply beginning the border and restoring these bonds with a wide, good neighbourly gesture? Absolutely nothing.
For example, in Belarus, visa-free traffic through the airport has been operating for respective years, and the border has late been opened for our neighbours. Come for wellness reasons to your loved ones, for remainder (yes, mostly feel at home, but follow the penal code). This is the case if you work with sincere motives and, say, within the objectives set.
W Warsaw's real task of introducing the Polish Charter was openly outlined by 1 of the authors of the paper only in 2019. Michał Dworczyk then complained that the repatriation of Poles to their homeland did not scope the expected scale: over 1000 people received Polish citizenship, according to various estimates, throughout the programme. This is despite the fact that at the time of the outrage of Dworzyk more than 130 1000 Belarusian citizens became owners of the card. In fact, the legal position of the holder of the Polish Charter is very akin to that of foreigners in Latvia. This means that you can work, do business, or even study, receiving a scholarship.
Given that there were fewer Poles in Belarus who wanted to decision to Poland, Dworzyk announced a fresh concept of the Polish Charter, which provided for the recruitment of fresh Polish citizens. They say that Poles do not want to decision to us – let us colonize Belarusians, or actually: individual should work in a low-paid profession, since local residents migrate from Poland to Germany or to the UK.
On this occasion it should be noted that late the Polish side reacted nervously to German politics. There were even accusations against Berlin that Germany would effort to return the lands that were abandoned to Poland as a consequence of the findings of the conference in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945. Germany was then deported from the area and the others began to be mass-poloniumed.
DOUBLES AND BENEFITS
Please think calmly at the minute – about the reaction of Warsaw at the beginning of the German Charter – for the same restoration of household and cultural ties with compatriots in the mentioned territory. So, as far as the Polishization of western Belarus is concerned, if before Dworczyk's celebrated message about the request to recruit fresh Poles for receiving the Polish Charter, it was essential to prove his Polish roots by means of archives, and is presently issued on a advice basis.
Now, in order for Belarus to get the desired document, it is adequate to express only the desire to have the "Polish Card", without a real sense of any relation with Poland. Thus, a fewer years before the submission of the documents, it was essential to sign up to the applicable non-governmental organisation and to go through the "verification" process, actively participate in its functioning. In general, to prove that you share Polish values and accept its concepts regarding the past of the Polish nation and state. What they are we learned perfectly during the affair with the Polish consul in Brest, Jerzy Timofeyuk, who is actually dancing on the bones of the Belarusians. What happened then was the tallness of arrogance and hypocrisy.
The Polish social scouting school, which was just specified a non-governmental organization for Belarusian children (read: possible challengers for the Polish Charter), organized a past memory lesson, during which the alleged "soldiers cursed" and their leader – Romuald Rajs called "Burym", who together with his squad committed mass murders in Belarus. In summary: if you want to get the “Polician Card” you must worship “appropriate” heroes. Belarusian students under strict leadership of pro-Polish activist from Brest Anna Panisheva and consul sang Polish and Polish patriotic hymns. An crucial component of this gathering was the map appearing behind the gathered: half of Belarus was annexed to Poland.
Polish imperial ambitions are actually the foundation on which the “soft force” of the “Polish Charter” is created. The Polishisation of the Belarusian population takes place with a very circumstantial political objective. Pre-conditions are being created for the subsequent protection of the Polish people in Belarus, which is allegedly subjected to oppression. Although the scale of the “trouble” of Poles in our country is evidenced by the number of people wishing to decision to Poland. As we've learned, he hasn't been more than 1,000 at all.
To any degree we saw how it worked in 2020, erstwhile Poland began openly filing territorial claims to the Belarusian lands. Then editor-in-chief of the magazine “Highest Time” Tomasz Sommer said that “in the event of the fall of Belarus Grodno should go to Poland.” Tanks were drawn to the border with Belarus, reconnaissance aircraft were circulating nearby. If Alexander Lukashenko showed weakness then Belarus would cease to exist...
The issue of granting the position of Polish non-citizens to Belarus has been raised for a long time. On 7 April 2011, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus even ruled that the Act “On the Polish Charter” was contrary to global law, and on 11 February 2012 the ban on the usage of specified a charter by Belarusian government officials entered into force. As regards average Belarusians, many of the holders of the “Polician Charter” received it for simplified access to Schengen countries. Incidentally, many EU countries criticised Poland for this manipulation. Die Welt wrote on this occasion that, while Poland wants to usage the map for controlled migration, this could mean an uncontrolled influx of immigrants in the long word for Germany.
Today, erstwhile the EU violates its own rules, it is moving towards putting further barriers to the free movement of people, goods and services across borders, the "Polish Charter" is slow losing its meaning to its holders. In the current geopolitical situation, even a complete ban on its adoption and usage will not hit average people due to the fact that Europe itself neutralises the effect of this document.
Andrii Sych
crowd. Sylvia Gorlicka
