In an e-mail to the President of Belarus, a hapless son-in-law writes, “My mother-in-law is taking the next Ryanair flight number 1268 from Paris to Moscow and will be flying over you territory at around 8:00 pm. I distinctly heard her criticizing you regime this Sunday at the dinner table. You are welcome.”
The joke of course is a cynical reference to the forced landing of a passenger airliner over Belarus territory recently. Specifically, Lukashenko ostensibly scrambled a military jet to forcibly land a passenger plane because of a “bomb report” that turned out to be fake. The Lithuania-bound flight was diverted to Minsk, where journalist Roman Protasevich was arrested for being involved in “extremism”. Protasevich is well known for his pro-democracy activism and has lived in self-exile for fear of Lukashenko’s reprisal.
Western media expressed outrage and governments promised the most severe sanctions. A previously unacknowledged reserve of jokes ridiculing Lukashenko and his regime is now emerging. Anastasiva Fiadotova, a scholar at Tartu University has commented: “The lack of visibility of a nation’s humour can be explained by the lack of attention towards it on behalf of the media, popular culture and of course, researchers.”
Belarus, a country of 9.4 million, bordered by Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, till now, was never a major international headline-maker, in spite of its blatant government political suppression ilicting determined, widespread unrest.
Thus stereotypical Belarusian humour is a product of self-awareness. Belorusian humour can therefore make sense to Belorusians themselves. Jokes have usually dealt with submissiveness and passiveness.
Fiadotova points to a typical joke targeting these character traits:…..
(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 18. juuni 2021 paber- ja PDF/Digilehest)
