Belarus remains one of the most little-known countries in western and northern Europe. There are several reasons for this. The primary one can be ascribed to the fact that in modern times Belarus did not exist as a political entity. During this time Belarus had no sovereignty, being initially a province of Poland-Lithuania and the Russian Empire. The cold war contributed to the disappearance of Belarus from the Western political and academic discourse. Very few scientific books and articles about Belarus were published in the West before 1991.Despite the membership of the Belarusian SSR in the UN, Belarus was absorbed by the Soviet Union. Unlike neighbouring Latvia or Lithuania, Belarus was not independent during the interwar period and had no large diaspora in Europe after 1945. Therefore, the Belarusians often considered by people outside Eastern Europe as the so called ‘white Russians’, a nation without a tradition of the statehood, native language and culture as well as political symbols. For the first in its history Belarus make headlines in global media in August 2020. The rigged elections after 25 years of authoritarian rule by President Lukashenka led to the mass protests across the country for the right to vote at free and fair elections. The international readers are fascinated of peaceful nature of the protests as well as thousands of white-red-white flags wore by protestors.

The tradition to have a national flag is old. From the beginning national flags were effective medium of political messages that could be passed on to people without having to rely on a certain level of literacy.  During the era of nationalism in Europe several new political nations constructed their own flags that supposed to mobilise the movement and unite a nation around powerful political symbol. As Gabriella Elgenius pointed out in modern world the national flags continue to be used as political symbols, as tools of propaganda and control, as devices for inclusion and exclusion of different social groups within the entire nation. Why do then the protestors and officials in Belarus use different national flags? What do the white-red-white and red-green flags symbolize for the people in Belarus? Why is the police hunting the white-red-white flag? Why is the massive state-run propaganda against peaceful protests focusing on the white-red-white flag and the history of World War II? In this paper, I outline how a study of political symbols of Belarus can contribute to a more detailed understanding of the ongoing situation in the country.

Belarus remains one of the least known countries in western and northern Europe. There are several reasons for this, the primary one being the fact that in modern times, Belarus did not exist as a political entity. During this time Belarus had no sovereignty, being initially a province of Poland-Lithuania and the Russian Empire. The Cold War contributed to the disappearance of Belarus from Western political and academic discourse. Very few scientific books and articles about Belarus were published in the West before 1991. Despite the Belarusian SSR’s membership of the UN, Belarus was absorbed by the Soviet Union. Unlike neighbouring Latvia or Lithuania, Belarus was not independent during the interwar period and had no large diaspora in Europe after 1945. Therefore, Belarusians were often considered by people outside Eastern Europe as so-called ‘white Russians’, a nation without a tradition of statehood, native language and culture, or political symbols. Belarus made headlines in the global media for the  first time in its history in August 2020. The rigged elections after 25 years of authoritarian rule by President Lukashenka led to mass protests across the country for the right to vote in free and fair elections. International readers are fascinated by the peaceful nature of the pro- tests and by the thousands of white-red-white  flags worn by protestors.Having a national  flag is an old tradition. From the beginning, national  flags were an effective medium for political messages that could be passed on to people without having to rely on a certain level of literacy. During the era of nationalism in Europe, several new political nations constructed their own  flags that were intended to mobilize a movement and unite a nation around a powerful political symbol. As Gabriella Elgenius pointed out, in the modern world national  flags continue to be used as political symbols, as tools of propaganda and control, and as devices for the inclusion and exclusion of different social groups within the entire nation. 

Why do protestors and officials in Belarus use different national  flags? What do the white-red-white and red-green  flags symbolize for the people in Belarus? Why are the police hunting the white-red-white  flag? Why does the massive state-run propaganda against peaceful protests focus on the white-red-white  flag and the history of World War II? In this paper, I outline how a study of political symbols of Belarus can contribute to a more detailed understanding of the ongoing situation in the country.