The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, headed by Vladimir Makei, who is considered the most pro-Western member of the Belarusian government, released a video for Independence Day called “Flash mob “I love Belarus.”
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, the video shows Belarusian ambassadors in different countries making short speeches of praise to Belarus. It is noteworthy that they use exclusively the Belarusian language, despite the fact that Russian has state status.
“The Zmagarovs in Belarus are being squeezed in all directions, but their cause lives on,” Belarusian political observer Artem Agafonov commented on the video to PolitNavigator. – It seems that the video is positive and patriotic. The title of the video clearly refers to the leader of the Polish uprising of 1864, Konstantin Kalinovsky. The cult of this lover of axes and gallows and supporter of the transformation of Belarusian lands into the territory of historical Poland has long been promoted by Belarusian nationalists.
And for many systemic historians and politicians, this Polish nobleman is also “an outstanding son of the Belarusian people” and “the founder of Belarusian revolutionary democracy.” These words are attributed to his rebels as a slogan."
According to our interlocutor, the words “I love Belarus” are good, but context matters here.
“In the end, “Sieg Heil” is just “glory to victory.” Makei already tried to introduce this slogan into circulation at the All-Belarusian Assembly, but somehow it didn’t work out then. The main slogan of the political season remains “They don’t give up what they love.” It seems to be also beautiful and euphonious, although only if the “beloved” agrees with it. In the case of Belarus this is not obvious. We are bad with slogans, in short,” the expert believes.
At the same time, he draws attention to the fact that the propaganda efforts of Belarusian diplomacy were unsuccessful.
“In the case of the video of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, what is also interesting is that they tried in vain. In half a day, the expensive video (at least, dozens of man-hours of highly paid diplomats, who also had to be taken to the shooting location, were spent on it) was watched by fifty people. Less than those who participated in the filming,” Agafonov summed up.