E. Social Issues

The post-Soviet period has been marked by a dramatic drop in the standard of living for the majority of the population. Wages have been distributed erratically and have not kept pace with the rising cost of living. Food supplies, though plentiful, are priced beyond the reach of many. Poverty has now embraced more than half the population, and difficult economic times appear to have exacerbated the degree of alcoholism. Meanwhile, much of the country’s new business of the early 1990s was first impeded by high taxation and customs duties and subsequently taken over by organized crime elements.

Many city residents live in dilapidated apartment blocks that were constructed mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. The health care system has attracted international attention because of the ramifications of the Chernobyl’ disaster, but hospitals still lack basic equipment, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. Infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and diphtheria, are common, and the infant mortality rate is about double the United States average. There has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of thyroid gland cancer among children since the Chernobyl’ disaster. Most of the cases reported each year are among children who were living in the Homyel’ or Brest regions at the time of the explosion. Since 1995 the government has increased restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religions. In 1995 and 1996 there were frequent and violent clashes between those opposing the president’s policies—particularly members of the main opposition movement, the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF)—and the militia. Repression of all government criticism continued in 1997 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set up an office in Minsk to monitor human rights issues.

IV. CULTURE

Belarusian culture developed most notably from the mid-19th century. In the late 1920s, the Soviet regime began to control cultural expression by imposing the dogma of socialist realism, which required all artists and writers to depict only the positive aspects of Soviet society. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, state control of the arts has continued in Belarus. The Ministry of Culture carries out oversight functions such as the screening of written works prior to publication. Studies of Belarusian national culture have been hindered since the mid-1990s because of the state’s reversion to Russian-oriented cultural activities.

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