Polesie (association)

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Polesie (Polіssе) was a Belarusian cultural NGO active from 1988 to 1995. It was created on April 14, 1988, by Nikolai Shelyagovich. The group aimed to revive the Western Polesie language, have the people of Western Polesie recognized as a national minority, and, in some factions, win cultural or political autonomy for Western Polesie within Belarus.

Location and scope
- Region: Western Polesie, Belarus
- Official languages: Polesian and Belarusian
- Membership: about 600 in 1990

What it did
- Attracted interest from Belarusian scholars and published two newspapers in 1988: Voices of Polesia (Balesy Polіssya) and Awakening (Zbudinnya).
- Advocated for the Yotvingian/Western Polesie identity, sometimes describing the people as descendants of the Baltic Yatvyags.
- Some supporters pushed for regional autonomy; others favored cultural revival within Belarus.

Controversies and debate
- The movement drew opposition from several public figures who feared it could threaten Belarus’s unity.
- In the early 1990s, there were discussions about widening the region’s scope, including parts of Brest and Pinsk regions in Belarus, Volhynia (Ukraine), and areas in Poland, to form a broader Yotvingian ethnic area.
- In 1991, authorities supported studying local culture and folklore but rejected creating formal autonomy or separate political structures.
- A sociological study found that most Poleshuks identified as Belarusians and did not favor autonomy or independent regional status. About 7.3% favored some form of autonomy, while the majority did not want Western Polesie to be an independent region.

Internal splits
- There were divisions within the group, notably in Kobryn district, between pro-Ukrainian leanings and those who supported Western Polesie autonomy.

Dissolution
- Polesie was dissolved in 1995.