Belarusian protesters: a history of symbolism

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Belarusian protesters and Lukashenka are flying different flags. National and Soviet symbols reflect different concepts of the country's development.

Belarusian flag - a heritage of the Middle Ages

For the first time, white-red-white rose on a flagpole in the spring of 1917, in March - over the building of the Belarusian Society for Aid to War Victims in Petrograd. It was hung by the architect and public figure Claudius Duzh-Dushevsky, an employee of the Society. It is believed that he was the author of the first Belarusian national flag. Nationally oriented Belarusians were hoping then to gain in the new Russia the right to free state self-determination of peoples and were looking for their original symbols - for “future independent Belarus”.

White and red colors are not only the main colors of Belarusian folk art. White is interpreted as a symbol of White Russia and purity, red as the rising sun. However, the most important thing is that these colors were present on the coat of arms of Belarusians "Pahonya". Duzh-Dushevsky created his flag according to the rule then accepted in Europe: the flag depends on the coat of arms and borrows its basic colors.

Coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Armorial 1575 Source: Pinterest

The silver rider on the scarlet field is the ancient coat of arms of the Gediminids and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It has been used since the second half of the 13th century. The overwhelming population of the principality was made up of Orthodox Eastern Slavs, who already in modern times formed the Belarusian nationality, and therefore Belarus has no less moral rights to the "Pursuit" than Lithuania. Over time, the Muscovy became stronger and began to crowd out the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The ancient western lands of Russia (Belarusian) were finally returned by the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century, when, together with Prussia and Austria, it divided into pieces the Commonwealth.

Claudius Duzh-Dushevsky, 1941. Source: nn.by

The old Lithuanian knight on a red background still remained on the Belarusian land when she came under the “high tsarist hand”. The "chase" became the emblem of the Vitebsk and Vilna provinces, as well as more than twenty cities and a number of noble families, and was perceived as a national symbol of Belarusians. Together with the new flag, this coat of arms was officially adopted by the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918 - a national state that arose under the conditions of the occupation of the republic by German troops. It lasted only a few months. The Germans soon left, and at the beginning of 1919 the Reds arrived. The national flag (a symbol of independence) could not suit the communists, it was banned and later replaced with the Soviet coat of arms and the flag of socialist Belarus.

Coat of arms of Belarus, 1920−1926 Source: ross-bel.ru

For a long time "Pogonya" and white-red-white were used only by Belarusians in emigration and Belarusian collaborators during the Second World War. These symbols were then endowed with anti-Soviet content. Many people still dislike white-red-white for this, which, of course, is unfair. For example, Russia will not give up its tricolor just because the Vlasovites also used it, and the Americans will not give up the stars on the flag on the grounds that the stars were on the flag of the Confederation.

The chase and the white-red-white again received official status only at the end of 1991, when they were adopted as state symbols by the Belarusian parliament. However, this time they did not "hold out" for long.

Soviet-national struggle

In 1995, at a referendum, 75% of Belarusians chose the "new-old" coat of arms and flag - modernized Soviet symbols of the BSSR, adopted back in 1951. The post-communist transformation in Belarus, as elsewhere, was very painful. Many wanted a return to stability, order, the "strong hand" of the state. The newly elected President Alexander Lukashenko took advantage of these sentiments and proposed to adopt a modernized Soviet coat of arms and flag - without a hammer and sickle, but also red with a green stripe and the Rising Sun folk ornament embroidered back in 1917 by a peasant woman Matryona Markevich (only now it was red pattern on a white background together with white on red, as before 1991).

Flag of Belarus 1995 Source: wikipedia.org

Alexander Lukashenko, 1996 Source: m.sputnik.by

Soon after the referendum, the president's power began to take on an authoritarian character. A year later, the country became a super-presidential republic. Lukashenko said: “… the people of Belarus have clearly and unequivocally expressed themselves on the vital issues of the further development of our state and society. The old anti-national symbols were rejected and the "new-old", that is, the old one, with which the majority of Belarusian citizens associate their life and the history of the Motherland …"

Then, in 1995, Soviet values and the Soviet flag won. They were associated with the "strong business executive", "statesman" and "the last dictator of Europe" Lukashenko. The opposition, which shares the values that are commonly called European (freedom, rule of law, political competition), opposes them to the ideas and style of Lukashenka, and at the same time raises the white-red-white flag. The Soviet symbol has been and is being criticized. The poet Grigory Borodulin spoke ironically and colorfully about how the Belarusians are “drawn” to the socialist empire and symbolism: “Vidats, we are small, / What are we talking about, / What are we talking about, we’re falling for the Muslim flags, / Z palitbyuro Ivanisty”.

On the streets of Minsk, August 2020 Source: gazeta.ru

Also. Source: nn.by

The fate of their symbols depends on which way the Belarusians now choose. “Belay, chyrvonai, belay” has already returned to the streets of Minsk and other cities.

Sources of

• Zagoruiko M. V. State symbols of Belarus: history and meaning // Genesis: historical research. 2015, No. 1.
• Lyalkov I. Almanac "Grandfathers". Issue No. 2. State Symbols of Belarus (History and Present) [maxpark.com]