Long Live Belarus! ( be, Жыве Беларусь!, Žyvie Bielaruś! ) is a

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

motto widely used by members of the Belarusian democratic and nationalist opposition as well as members of the

Belarusian diaspora The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants. According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the Rep ...

. The motto is aimed at awakening the national civil sense, the consolidation of the

Belarusian people , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

to protect the freedom and independence of their country, language, and national culture.''Аляксей Каўка''. Жыве Беларусь! // Энцыклапедыя гісторыі Беларусі. У 6 т. Т. 3: Гімназіі — Кадэнцыя / Беларус. Энцыкл.; Рэдкал.: Г. П. Пашкоў (гал. рэд.) і інш.; Маст. Э. Э. Жакевіч. — Мн.: БелЭн, 1996. С. 377.

History

Belarusian poet Janka Kupała ended his 1905–1907 poem "This is a Cry That Belarus Lives" with this phrase. In December 1917, the

First All-Belarusian Congress The First All-Belarusian Congress ( be, Першы Ўсебеларускі кангрэс or Першая Ўсебеларуская канферэнцыя) was a congress of Belarusian political organisations and groups held in Minsk in Decembe ...

displayed the flag with the inscription "Long Live Free Belarus!". It is displayed on the logo of a major state-owned newspaper,

Narodnaya Gazeta ''Narodnaya Gazeta'' ( be, Народная газета, "People's Newspaper") is a newspaper that started in 1990 in Minsk, Belarus. History The newspaper was founded in 1990 as the national socio-political newspaper. ''Narodnaya Gazeta'' ...

. However, there have been cases of arrests for publicly calling out the motto at demonstrations. The phrase has been widely used by opponents of President

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

, both inside and outside of Belarus, during the 2020 Belarusian protests.

References

Belarusian nationalism National mottos National symbols of Belarus {{Belarus-politics-stub

History

See also

References