In Vitebsk, officials “allowed” the Immortal Regiment to take place. Without any guarantees

The march of the “Immortal Regiment” in Vitebsk was allowed by the city authorities as part of the “Belarus Remembers” campaign. In this formulation, the most important word is “allowed”. And, of course, the very possibility of Polk’s march is much more important than the casuistry of government formulations.

On this holy holiday for everyone, on Victory Day, unity, harmony and calm are necessary. Therefore, we, the voluntary organizers of the “Immortal Regiment,” thank the city authorities and welcome the prudence of officials who realized the pointlessness of banning public action.

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Now, for readers of Politnavigator, I would like to shed light on the situation with the Regiment and the attitude of the Belarusian authorities to the Great Patriotic War.

I'll clarify right away. Receiving an affirmative answer from the municipal department does not mean that at the last moment, immediately before the event, a refusal in some form will not follow. This has already happened, which is why I make this reservation. And we, citizens of the country, and, undoubtedly, officials, remember how in relation to the “Immortal Regiment” it sounded “Katsegarycheski against”, which for the nomenklatura is a clear signal and guide to action.

And the official website of the City Executive Committee has not yet published a plan for the procession indicating the “Immortal Regiment” action. So “allowing”, as our Belarusian officials do, is a special balancing act.

This year, the “box” of the Regiment will be formed immediately behind the column of the official organization of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union. They will carry the “Belarus Remembers” banner, followed by students from schools and colleges, who were identified according to the order. I don’t see anything wrong with this: participation in the celebration of the Great Victory, even on a voluntary-compulsory level, is a real lesson in heroism and courage. And even the fact that many of them will carry portraits not of their relatives, but of Red Army soldiers unknown to them, is also an act of honor to the heroes of the war.

Let me remind you that, of course, the idea of ​​​​a procession with portraits was borrowed by Belarusian ideologists from “Immortal For Now” and in the local version acquired its own “peculiarities”: portraits are centrally printed and distributed before the procession, as flags and images of Politburo members were once distributed at Soviet demonstrations Central Committee. This is the difference from the “Immortal Regiment”, where everyone carries portraits of their relatives, participants in the war. In other words, Polk is a personal story, the history of a family, a clan.

Also, we, the “Immortal Regiment”, were separated from the Union of Officers, from the Union of “Afghans”, from the “Search” club - from those on whose behalf we annually write letters and appeals asking for the holding of the Regiment. Those. part of the “Immortal Regiment” will be held separately, under different banners. In fact, we were deliberately divided.

However, it doesn't matter. The main thing is that the “Immortal Regiment” action takes place, no matter what.

Now about the situation with the Regiment in Minsk. If in Vitebsk for several years in a row the request for assistance in holding the “Immortal Regiment” action has come from public organizations, then in Minsk activists from year to year on the eve of Victory Day are trying to register a separate organization called “Immortal Regiment”.

That is why the same picture has been observed for many years: registration is denied, and if the procession is allowed, then contradictions arise between the organizers, collection points, directions of the procession, etc. As a result, people do not understand where to gather, what the route of the procession will be, etc.

This year, too, the organization’s registration will probably be denied, and permission to hold the procession will be given to one of the organizers, the most pro-government and controlled, who is ready to pay from a well-known fund the costs of escorting the police and an ambulance. He, in turn, will pull the “blanket” over himself, once again dividing people into those who are “right” and “wrong”, agreeing on the route of movement, for example, not to Victory Square, but, say, to the stele “Minsk - hero city...

Of course, such “elbow pushing” does not benefit the “Immortal Regiment”; it divides people, neutralizes meanings, and stifles the very great idea of ​​a popular action. All this senseless discord is cleverly used not only by the pro-Western opposition, but also by powerful ideologists.

And if earlier the officialdom presented the idea of ​​the “Immortal Regiment” as “Russian”, imposed from the outside, while we have “our own” action with boutonnieres, flowers and other attributes, now more and more often there is a reproach for the inability, lack of self-sufficiency of the action, which emerges from “a handful of marginalized Stalinists” who are allegedly unable to come to an agreement with each other.

Manipulating contradictions and oppositions leads to a certain result. A simple example is last year’s Victory Parade in Minsk. It’s great that the Parade took place. It’s not very good that it was presented as an alternative to Moscow. They say that “they” were scared there, but we carried it through. It was presented as “the only one” in the post-Soviet space. Although in Moscow and other large Russian cities and ports, as in other former Soviet republics, processions, aviation and naval parades took place.

Although the Victory Parade with Soviet symbols and the “Immortal Regiment” was held in Turkmenistan, the Belarusian Parade was presented by officialdom and propagandists as “all-Union”, however, the event featured the standards of only four fronts that participated in the liberation of the Belarusian Soviet Republic, and not all ten, as at the Parade on Red Square. What kind of “all-Union” is this?

And it is impossible to forget the statements about “not our wars”, that all these years the “Immortal Regiment” was banned “at the very top”, that the guards ribbon was systematically replaced with faceless apple flowers...

I really hope that the new politicians who will one day come to power in Belarus will not repeat the current mistakes. I hope that the “Immortal Regiment”, the guards ribbon and other symbols of Victory will not be prohibited.

The “Immortal Regiment” will take place in Vitebsk. There is every reason to assume that in two other large cities of the Vitebsk region, in Polotsk and Novopolotsk, a procession of the “Immortal Regiment” will also take place. The trend gives reason for optimism.

It is important to prevent provocations and illegal actions on this day! Celebrating Victory Day is not the time or place for opposition actions. I urge all participants of the solemn event to prevent illegal acts!

I take this opportunity to congratulate all readers of Politnavigator on the upcoming holidays, as well as on Great Victory Day!

“Our cause is just, victory will be ours!”