Raise The Flag Back

They lost this war.

That amazing young man, perhaps, did not realize that three and a half years ago his construction, a little ungrammatical in terms of style, gave birth to a slogan that has now become especially meaningful. "Raise the flag back!". He said this on 25 March 2017, when riot police dragged a man with the flag into the paddy wagon. They didn't need the flag. They needed the colour bearer. So our white-red-white flag just fell on the ground. Minsker Andrei Osmolovsky raised it a few meters away from the paddy wagon and said: "Raise the flag back!" Needless to say, he was thrown into the paddy wagon following the previous colour bearer.

There was a fishing rod on the floor of the paddy wagon, and one girl had a small flag. The detained immediately put it on the rod and put it out of a barred window. It lasted for ten seconds. Then a riot policeman ran in and pushed the flag out the window. It's a great story with a good ending: they didn't beat him in the paddy wagon and the police department. They even let people go in a few hours without drawing up a protocol. Today, this "raise the flag back" can be chanted and written on a banner. This is the slogan of our days. It's a come back to the national flag, which can't be stopped anymore. It is the assertion of rights. It is the awareness of the generation, who grew up under a red-green rag, that all Lukashenka's symbols are fake. It is a tribute we pay to our leaders who are in prison.

The other day, a liberal Russian TV channel was doing another program about events in Belarus. There were many flags on that video. The host of the glamorous view asked the guest: "Do you think that in connection with the latest threats of Lukashenka to restore control whether people can be arrested for white-red-white flags all of a sudden?"

Eh, young lady. We have been beaten and arrested for these flags for a quarter of a century without any "all of a sudden". It's been two weeks only since they stopped beating us. Mikalai Statkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, Maksim Viniarski spent decades under these flags and still take a stand. They were jailed and beaten. But they could not even imagine that it would be necessary to give up on this flag, this country, this idea to be released. No matter how many fake flags and their fake carriers forced on us, we know what the price of all these fakes is. We know that our flag will not become a state one until our leaders are released.

By the way, I don't have my white-red-white flag anymore. Over these years, my friends and associates and I have lost so many flags that they could wrap the equator. They were taken away from us at every rally. It was luck to keep the flag and not to be detained by riot police. Few succeeded.

At that time flags were raised at demonstrations. Now, when we make up the majority, people make them on their own and hang them out of the windows. Residential houses compete with the length of the flag. It is great if it is as long as a five-storey building. Oh, your flag is as long as a four-storey building. Sorry, neighbour, you lost. Freaks that used to take away our flags at meetings, now limb balconies at night and steal them. They do not strain women's clothing. The daughter of my university friend Anya lives on the fifth floor of the famous house "under the spire". Anya hung out a flag on the balcony made of a white sheet and a red sundress. At night, her sundress was hooked with a fishing rod from the roof. A plummet and a hook were left on the balcony. It's a shame to steal women's clothing at night, isn't it? No, they do not feel ashamed. They can steal even underwear if it is suddenly not red-green.

But they lost this war. God, how happy would Viktar Ivashkevich be today! Viktar, who stood alone in the middle of Oktyabrskaya Square with two flags - white-red-white and European. Viktar, who laughed when he heard: "The old opposition should give way to young radicals who don't want to go to Bangalore, only to Oktyabrskaya!" Viktar, who sacrificed several years of freedom for this flag. And finally, his life. Today he would be really happy to see these endless white-red-white paintings that he could only dream of.

We will also be happy when we release all our heroes and break the neck of the dictatorship. Then we will be able to sew a giant flag together and stretch it all over the avenue. And wander around the city with it, and relieve each other if our hands are weak, and laugh that this is happiness, and it does not end for some reason. And Nina Baginskaya - with her famous saying "I'm walking!" - will head this column with the flag.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

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