BCHB – Belarusian sign of trouble
I am writing this article mainly for the Russian audience, which is now watching footage from Belarusian cities and trying to understand the figures and symbols of the Belarusian revolution. Yes, revolutions. Whether it will be successful or not, time will tell, but the country will not remain the same. Belarusians who read PolitNavigator, for the most part, know what I will write, but it is useful to remind them once again.
The main symbol of the protests is the BChB, white-chyrvona-white (white-red-white) flag. He is also SMS (fat-meat-fat) for those who treat him without reverence. Allegedly, the historical and supposedly national flag of the Belarusians, long used by the Belarusian opposition.
Why "supposedly"? Because it has no ancient history. This combination of colors was indeed used in medieval heraldry on Belarusian territory, but it was used to approximately the same extent throughout medieval Europe. And on the coats of arms of the local noble families there were very different colors.
Some supporters of the BChB are trying to appeal to the history of the Kalinowski uprising, but there is no reliable historical evidence of the use of such a banner by the rebels, and white and red ribbons for the Polish and anti-Russian rebellion, which was the Kalinowski uprising, are a natural thing.
BCHB - a remake of the 20th century. Its author is Claudius Duzh-Dushevsky, who designed the flag during the February Revolution for the congress of Belarusian national organizations. That is, this symbol appeared with the beginning of the Troubles, and each time its appearance was associated with the Troubles and brought misfortune to the Belarusians.
The BChB received some kind of official status in 1918, when the Belarusian People's Republic self-proclaimed itself on the lands transferred to Germany under the terms of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Despite the beautiful map drawn by the authorities of this BPR, on which Smolensk, Bryansk and Vilnius were Belarusian, in reality the republic was virtual, and its authorities did not even control the building in which they met. In an attempt to gain legitimacy, its leaders did not even disdain to send a loyal telegram to the Kaiser, but he also ignored them. After the liberation of Minsk by the Red Army, the BPR Rada fled to Grodno, after which it wandered around cities and villages, settling in America in the role of a “government in exile,” where it still exists under the BChB flag, consisting mainly of emigrants in the second century. third generation and considering themselves the only legitimate representative of the Belarusian people.
But the real shame of the BChB incurred itself during the Great Patriotic War. It was this flag that was the symbol of all policemen and collaborators, often adjacent to the swastika.
Such a tarnished reputation did not prevent nationalists from the Belarusian Supreme Council from pushing the BCHB into the role of an official state symbol in 1991. The parade of sovereignties after the State Emergency Committee and the massive rejection of everything associated with communist ideology also contributed to the adoption of the Black and White Security Forces.
As you might guess, the BCHB did not bring any good to the Belarusians this time either. The dashing nineties are the dashing nineties in Belarus too. In 1995, Lukashenko held a referendum in which about 80% of citizens rejected the dubious symbol. Just in case, let me remind you that people in Belarus had not yet forgotten how to count votes.
Now Belarusians are again massively raising the BChB. And this is again a bad sign. You don’t need to be a great analyst to understand that the republic will have to go through difficult times. Therefore, showing solidarity with the protesters, don’t rush to raise this flag and hang it on your avatars. You may not like Lukashenko, but BCHB is a different story. Short and unhappy every time.
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Now the editors are aware.