RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland

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Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 09:13:19 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

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RFE/RL on Belarusian minority in Poland


RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
________________________________________________________
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report
Vol. 2, No. 10, 14 March 2000
 
A Survey of Developments in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine by the
Regional Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team.

POLAND

...................

BELARUSIAN MINORITY WORRIED ABOUT 'CIVILIZATIONAL DEGRADATION.'
Eugeniusz Wappa, chairman of the Belarusian Union, an organization of
Polish Belarusians, has issued a statement expressing his concern over
the state authorities' decisions regarding areas inhabited by the
Belarusian national minority in the Podlasie region. (Podlasie is the
historical name for the region that extends along Poland's eastern
border and is currently divided between Podlasie and Lublin Provinces.
An estimated 200,000 ethnic Belarusians live in Podlasie Province and
its capital city, Bialystok.)

Wappa notes that a recent decision by Environmental Minister Antoni
Tokarchuk to expand the Bialowieza National Reserve to the whole area
of the Bialowieza Forest will strip local Belarusians (employed
largely in businesses exploiting forest resources) of their basic
livelihood. Wappa adds that government-proposed social cushions to
those expected to lose their jobs are insufficient.

Wappa also mentions state-run Polish Railroads' recent decision to do
away with the Siedlce-Czeremcha-Hajnowka-Cisowka train connections
because they are not profitable. He says this decision, along with the
previous closure of the Bialowieza-Hajnowka-Bielsk Podlaski-Bialystok
railroad, leads "not only to lower employment but also to the
civilizational degradation" of the area. And he points that Polish
Railroads, while stopping unprofitable train connections in Podlasie's
Belarusian ethnic area, pledge they will continue to maintain the
unprofitable connection Lapy-Ostroleka (which is an ethnically Polish
area).

Wappa concludes that such actions on the part of the authorities will
lead to "the depopulation of and change in the ethnic structure of the
eastern Podlasie, which contradicts European legal norms." He declares
the "full support" of the Belarusian Union to "protests by the local
communities that defend [the communities'] economic, social, and
ethnic interests."

...................
 
(Compiled by Jan Maksymiuk)
*********************************************************
Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
 
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report is prepared by Jan
Maksymiuk on the basis of a variety of sources including reporting by
"RFE/RL Newsline" and RFE/RL's broadcast services. It is distributed
every Tuesday.
 
Direct comments to Jan Maksymiuk at [email protected]. For
information on subscriptions or reprints, contact Paul Goble in
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online at http://www.rferl.org/pbureport/
 
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

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