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Around the same time that Alexander Lukashenko is suspected of cheating for victory in this year’s presidential election, several Swedish media switched gears. Belarus to Belarus. DN made the name change already in 2015. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the same decision in 2019, a year later Belarus it was twelve times more common than Belarus in the Swedish press. Since last summer, the situation is the opposite. Belarus it is now the dominant form in the media.
At independence in 1991 took the land Belarus as an official name. The choice was a way to distance himself from Russia. In Sweden, however, most continued to talk about Belarus, a term that has existed in Swedish since the 17th century and was used during the Soviet era. An indirect reason why both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the media began to advocate Belarus It is that this form has come to be associated with the opposition in the country.
As the change coincided with protests against the Alexander Lukashenko regime, the name change was aided by events. Belarus it was spent as reports of voter fraud, demonstrations and mass arrests mounted.
Photo: Alamy
King Mswati III has not received the same traction. On the 50th anniversary in April 2018, he decided to give people a gift. The gift was a name change of the little African monarchy of Swaziland to In swaziland, which means “the land of the Swazis” in Siswati, the Bantu language spoken by the majority of the population.
The arguments were familiar from the discussion of Belarus. Mswati III was tired of it Swaziland constantly confused with Switzerland. Furthermore, the change was a way of marking independence from the previous colonial powers. Similar reasons were behind the name changes like Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Burkina faso (Higher volta) and Namibia (Southwest Africa).
In Sweden, there is no official body that dictates which national name to use. What is used most often becomes what is considered correct.
Here, too, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has changed to the new form. But the Swedish media rarely report on the reign of Mswati III. In swaziland has not received any traction assistance and Swaziland it is still something more common.
In Sweden, there is no official body that dictates which national name to use. What is used most often becomes what is considered correct. Therefore, we can rightly say that the first Belarus today is called Belarus In Swedish.
The choice between In swaziland Y Swaziland standing right now weighing. But anyone who wants to help Mswati III get rid of the Swiss complex says so. In swaziland.
Anders Svensson is the editor-in-chief of Språktidningen.
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