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Tag: Belarusian history

Belarus’s Day of National Unity: reinforcing regime narratives and alienating minorities

On September 17th, Belarus celebrated its fourth annual “Day of National Unity”, a public holiday established by Alyaksandr Lukashenka's decree in 2021. This date, marking the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, continues to be a focal point for the regime's endeavours to revise history. Its anti-Polish rhetoric further strains relations with its western neighbour and alienates Belarus's Polish minority.

November 7, 2024 - Hanna Vasilevich

Lukashenka’s campaign against Nazism: one must imagine Sisyphus happy

On May 14th, Alyaksandr Lukashenka approved a new law on preventing the rehabilitation of Nazism. It quickly became a part of the regime's strategy to suppress Belarusian civil society following the 2020 presidential election. The authorities also launched a criminal investigation into the genocide of Belarus’s population during WWII.

May 24, 2021 - Kiryl Kascian

Belarus. Fighting for the future or the past?

Despite the historical parallels, the differences in memory politics and more recent national developments explain why Belarus never turned to Ukraine for guidance, symbols or role models. The marches in the streets of Minsk and other major cities typically brandish the white-red-white flag which is about the only historical reference. The flag clearly has become the symbol of protest, similar to the colour orange in Ukraine almost two decades ago.

In the 2004 Orange Revolution as well as during the EuroMaidan uprising a decade later, Ukraine’s future orientation was at stake. In both cases, pro-European citizens confronted pro-Russian state authorities on Kyiv's main square, the Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square. Not only did the views of Ukraine's future and the principles of democracy clash, but events and heroes from the nation's past were fielded as arguments.

February 3, 2021 - Olga Morozova Wim van Meurs

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