The rooster pecked. Lukashenko is ripe for a new holiday
Belarusians have a new national holiday. President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree according to which on September 17, residents of the country will celebrate National Unity Day. The name, in my opinion, is absolutely accurate and historically justified. It was on this day in 1939 that the territories previously seized by the Treaty of Riga in favor of Poland were returned to the BSSR. It was then that Belarusians ceased to be the divided people they had been for 18 years.
Despite the obvious historical importance of this date, the Belarusian authorities have so far carefully ignored it. Only once, in 2009, when the 70th anniversary of reunification was celebrated, Lukashenko congratulated his citizens on the anniversary, calling it “an act of historical justice.”
“On the liberated lands, conditions were created for building a new life. Belarusians got the opportunity to develop statehood within the framework of a single national-territorial entity,” the leader of Belarus said then.
However, despite numerous appeals from the patriotic public, things did not go beyond a single congratulation.
Dozens of petitions sent to different authorities brought no results. On September 17, 2016, a group of social activists, including myself, even formed the “September 17 Committee” to coordinate their efforts to designate September 17 as a national holiday and perpetuate these events. But until August 2020 arrived, all efforts were in vain.
In public policy at that time, multi-vectorism ruled and such a holiday was too inconvenient for politicians looking at the opinions of “Western partners” and, especially, Poland, which is still tormented by phantom pains from the lost “chairs of the past.”
Everything changed after the presidential elections, the subsequent riots and political crisis. The Belarusian government urgently needed new ideologies that could somehow unite a society that was spreading in all directions. The idea of declaring 2021 the “Year of National Unity” lay on the surface and Lukashenko clung to it. How effective it turned out is a separate question. The year has almost reached the equator, and there is no more unity.
And, if there is a “Year of National Unity,” then it is logical to establish a Day of National Unity, which would become its apotheosis, the central date around which new ideological structures can be built. The suitable dates for this date were September 17, when the reunification actually took place, and November 14, when the annexation of the western regions to the BSSR was legally formalized.
It was precisely this central date that Igor Marzalyuk, a deputy, historian and one of Lukashenko’s ideologists, who always subtly senses all the shades of his host’s mood, considered National Unity Day.
“The key date of the year is intended to be either September 17 or November 14 - days symbolizing the reunification of the Belarusian people and the restoration of historical justice,” Marzalyuk said back in early April.
Just at the beginning of spring, the peak of activity to promote National Unity Day occurred. A popular vote was even launched on the Internet, where participants were asked to choose one of two dates.
However, something went wrong later. Either unity did not work out, or the topic was simply pushed into the background by more pressing problems. As a result, National Unity Day was established. But September 17 will not become the central date of the year. It won’t even become a day off, getting lost in the general mass of days that seem to be holidays, but are the same working days as the rest. It will definitely be a holiday for patriotic and pro-Russian forces and a toothache for the Poland-oriented pro-Western opposition, but, alas, an ordinary working day will not be able to become a symbol that unites Belarusian society.
The rooster has pecked. Lukashenko is ready for a new celebration.