Belarusian Border

Wow, today’s tour of the countryside outside of Bialystock was infinitely more interesting and enjoyable than yesterday’s. It was so nice to get away from the industrial gray concrete architecture and breathe some fresh air. Our minibus driver (who was such a character- he didn’t speak any English but his mannerisms were hilarious, I loved having him around) took us right up to the Belarusian border, which was cool but kind of...anticlimactic? I mean, national borders seem like such a big deal, but in this case especially, it’s hard to tell what it’s really separating. Our tour guide kept referring to the border as “artificial”- a term I found pretty appropriate considering the people living along both sides of the border, in their wooden A-frame houses with lace curtains and tiny plots of farmland, have more in common with one another than their fellow citizens living in their respective national capitals. We even read an article before the trip about one town along the border that has existed since before the present-day line was drawn, and is now cut cleanly down the middle and forced to exist as two separate towns, never mind the fact that their economies remained inextricably intertwined, or that entire families were split up and are now barely allowed to see one another thanks to increasingly strict visa requirements.

This last point really got me thinking about some of the less positive elements of the European project- which I was quick to endorse wholeheartedly and unquestioningly in January when I arrived in Krakow (plenty of evidence in my January post entitled “Integration, it’s Everywhere”). While integration makes border-crossing easier inside the EU, it has the opposite effect of further fortifying the external borders, which don’t actually belong to the EU, but to the individual member-states. Some authors refer to this phenomenon as the creation of a “fortress Europe,” intent upon keeping outsiders out while ensuring prosperity and free movement of goods and labor inside the union. In the case of this particular Belarusian/Polish town, the recent creation of the European Union border has further widened the gap economic gap between the two halves. The consequences of this external fortification have been difficult for Poland- in the past, visa-free travel between the Ukraine and Poland has added a boost to both economies, but Poland had to give that up when it joined the EU. To further complicate matters, EU border countries like Poland are given the additional responsibility of stemming the tide of illegal migration from outside the EU, as well as dealing with the large numbers of asylum-seekers.

The whole experience gave me a few second thoughts about European integration, but I still think the EU project holds the most promise for ensuring peace and stability in a region of the world that has been so badly ravaged by war. But I think that despite the optimistic notions of some scholars of a “Pan-European” identity, constructivist creations like borders and national identity are here to stay, and must be acknowledged and dealt with if the European project is to be truly successful in achieving it’s aims, which, like the EU itself, seem to be in a constant state of flux.

New borders, new problems.

For your enjoyment! "Mating Toads on the Belarussian Border": A Video of Epic Proportions