Майдан в Беларус (?)
Regarding the current ongoing turmoil in Belarus and, at the same time, trying to find an answer to the most controversial question “Another Maidan or honest upheaval?”, have you paid a little attention to the flags they wave on rallies there? Those white-red-white thingies?
If you just only try to find some pieces of information in Wikipedia in differing languages, you’ll already get smarter on the topic - and that already is enough to leave behind the taste of questionableness in this point:
The flag with white, red and another white horizontal stripe used to be the flag of the Belarussian National/Peoples’ Republic (Белорусской Народной Республики), which existed from March 1918 to February 1919 - the first separate Belarussian state (as it was broken out of the centuries-old group of the Rus).
At the beginning of the 90s, as the Soviet block fell apart, it was re-used again as a national flag from 1991 to 1995 - until the election of still now president Lukashenko.
Now here comes the controversial part, which strangely only the German wiki entry about the flag of Belarus contains a direct hint for: During the German occupation of Belarus in WWII, from December 1943 until April 1945, there was a puppet administration in power called “Weißruthenischer Zentralrat” which also used this white-red-white flag of the first separate Belarussian state.
The Weißruthenischer Zentralrat (orig. Беларуская Цэнтральная Рада) furthermore prompts some more interesting details to the story: After the WWII, some members of this Rada fled abroad (including the president/chairman of the Zentralrat Radaslau Astrouski), founding this organization anew in 1948 in post-war Germany, declaring itself to be the “government in exile” of Belarus.
This lead to an open conflict because there’s been another “Rada of the Belarusian National/Peoples’ Republic” (orig. Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі, Рада БНР) - the government in exile from 1919.
This organization had moved further West too with the red army continuing westwards, deciding to resume its activity in 1948 in Bavaria (then occupied by American troops).
Due to the latter receiving better support funds from the CIA, the members of the first organization rather joined the Rada BNR if they could, even if the structures of the two continued to exist, with the Weißruthenischer Zentralrat later on joining the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (orig. Антибольшевистский блок народов), an openly ultra-nationalist organization, containing of several such European groups, whose umbrella can briefly be summarized as “literally a bee hive of staunch Nazis and high office war criminals”.
The Weißruthenischer Zentralrat counts as dissolved since 1995 due the deaths of its last remaining members, however the Rada BNR government in exile group from 1919 is still an active organization, even if just being a side issue. They’re considered the oldest existing government in exile on the earth up to the present day.
Until today, they practice lobbyist activities for Belarus (just as their visions for a “well-being” of the country are like) in the West and maintain and arrange links towards Western governments in favor of their organization’s political goals.
With that whole thread upon the table, it looks very questionable if this current upheaval isn’t just an act of manipulation coming from aboard, if people are waving the flags of a state which they barely got to know because someone told them to do so (technically, Belarussian people can only refer to the state structure from 1991 to 1995; the other is too long ago today to be known by any still living person).
Compare it to a situation as if German people waved flags of the German empire (the famous flag with each a black, a white and a red horizontal stripe, which later became the signal colors of the Third Reich and which can be still a tricky legal issue in today’s Germany), which was abandoned in 1918 due to the Kaiser losing WWI - what state/government are they waving the flags of? What do they associate with it that they want “back”?
If you did this here, you’d be openly put into the drawer “right wing” and “Nazi”, by media as well as society.
So, why is a similar act now in Belarus considered as “fighting for freedom” - even if it’s expressing one’s discontent with a ruler who is in his office for two and a half decade now?
(For example: Merkel rules 15 years now and elections are coming up next year, extending it to 16 years - and if you wave flags from German history that have a questionable or controversial background just to annoy her or anybody from her government, your title “Nazi” and “nationalist” is also as reserved as an Amen at the end of a prayer.)
Or is there something missing on my end as an outsider, which you can only understand if you know about Belarussian culture and local customs?
Sources used for getting smart about this topic:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagge_Wei%C3%9Frusslands (German, English and Russian version)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei%C3%9Fruthenischer_Zentralrat (mostly the German entry, as the English and Russian versions don’t contain anything about the most piquant details)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rada_BNR (German version, English version, Russian version)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibolschewistischer_Block_der_Nationen (German and English version)
(There are sometimes contradicting or not as exactly formulated pieces of information in each language entry, so I cross-checked with the same entries in other languages because this issue is very known to me about Wikipedia.)
If you just only try to find some pieces of information in Wikipedia in differing languages, you’ll already get smarter on the topic - and that already is enough to leave behind the taste of questionableness in this point:
The flag with white, red and another white horizontal stripe used to be the flag of the Belarussian National/Peoples’ Republic (Белорусской Народной Республики), which existed from March 1918 to February 1919 - the first separate Belarussian state (as it was broken out of the centuries-old group of the Rus).
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At the beginning of the 90s, as the Soviet block fell apart, it was re-used again as a national flag from 1991 to 1995 - until the election of still now president Lukashenko.
Now here comes the controversial part, which strangely only the German wiki entry about the flag of Belarus contains a direct hint for: During the German occupation of Belarus in WWII, from December 1943 until April 1945, there was a puppet administration in power called “Weißruthenischer Zentralrat” which also used this white-red-white flag of the first separate Belarussian state.
The Weißruthenischer Zentralrat (orig. Беларуская Цэнтральная Рада) furthermore prompts some more interesting details to the story: After the WWII, some members of this Rada fled abroad (including the president/chairman of the Zentralrat Radaslau Astrouski), founding this organization anew in 1948 in post-war Germany, declaring itself to be the “government in exile” of Belarus.
This lead to an open conflict because there’s been another “Rada of the Belarusian National/Peoples’ Republic” (orig. Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі, Рада БНР) - the government in exile from 1919.
This organization had moved further West too with the red army continuing westwards, deciding to resume its activity in 1948 in Bavaria (then occupied by American troops).
Due to the latter receiving better support funds from the CIA, the members of the first organization rather joined the Rada BNR if they could, even if the structures of the two continued to exist, with the Weißruthenischer Zentralrat later on joining the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (orig. Антибольшевистский блок народов), an openly ultra-nationalist organization, containing of several such European groups, whose umbrella can briefly be summarized as “literally a bee hive of staunch Nazis and high office war criminals”.
The Weißruthenischer Zentralrat counts as dissolved since 1995 due the deaths of its last remaining members, however the Rada BNR government in exile group from 1919 is still an active organization, even if just being a side issue. They’re considered the oldest existing government in exile on the earth up to the present day.
Until today, they practice lobbyist activities for Belarus (just as their visions for a “well-being” of the country are like) in the West and maintain and arrange links towards Western governments in favor of their organization’s political goals.
With that whole thread upon the table, it looks very questionable if this current upheaval isn’t just an act of manipulation coming from aboard, if people are waving the flags of a state which they barely got to know because someone told them to do so (technically, Belarussian people can only refer to the state structure from 1991 to 1995; the other is too long ago today to be known by any still living person).
Compare it to a situation as if German people waved flags of the German empire (the famous flag with each a black, a white and a red horizontal stripe, which later became the signal colors of the Third Reich and which can be still a tricky legal issue in today’s Germany), which was abandoned in 1918 due to the Kaiser losing WWI - what state/government are they waving the flags of? What do they associate with it that they want “back”?
.svg){kind=link}
If you did this here, you’d be openly put into the drawer “right wing” and “Nazi”, by media as well as society.
So, why is a similar act now in Belarus considered as “fighting for freedom” - even if it’s expressing one’s discontent with a ruler who is in his office for two and a half decade now?
(For example: Merkel rules 15 years now and elections are coming up next year, extending it to 16 years - and if you wave flags from German history that have a questionable or controversial background just to annoy her or anybody from her government, your title “Nazi” and “nationalist” is also as reserved as an Amen at the end of a prayer.)
Or is there something missing on my end as an outsider, which you can only understand if you know about Belarussian culture and local customs?
Sources used for getting smart about this topic:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagge_Wei%C3%9Frusslands (German, English and Russian version)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei%C3%9Fruthenischer_Zentralrat (mostly the German entry, as the English and Russian versions don’t contain anything about the most piquant details)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rada_BNR (German version, English version, Russian version)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibolschewistischer_Block_der_Nationen (German and English version)
(There are sometimes contradicting or not as exactly formulated pieces of information in each language entry, so I cross-checked with the same entries in other languages because this issue is very known to me about Wikipedia.)