Lukashenko Let Slip Again About His Delusions Of Grandeur

Decrees and medals never succeeded in winning the people's love.

On September 14, at the so-called Palace of Independence, the Belarusian government presented the latest state awards to representatives from various fields. The event was timed to coincide with “National Unity Day,” a holiday invented by the authorities.

Incidentally, an interesting statistic was mentioned during the ceremony. According to Lukashenko, nearly 200 streets, avenues, and squares in Belarus have already been named in honor of September 17. But “national unity” is still nowhere to be found, no matter how much you praise the most devoted and loyal.

“I envy you—I often say this—because I can’t award myself,” Lukashenko admitted—seemingly in jest—to the newly minted heroes of Belarus.

But every joke contains a grain of truth. And in the case of the ruler, there’s next to none of it at all. He would indeed like to go down in history as the first president of a sovereign Belarus to lead the country to prosperity—with record harvests to feed half the world, space flights, a renaissance of the countryside and agriculture, a blockbuster that would make Hollywood green with envy, scientific breakthroughs—anything at all.

So that the people would appreciate him, praise him, and thank him in unison. They might not reward him with medals or monuments, but at least with ovations. They would obey and rejoice under his wise leadership.

But the reality is exactly the opposite. Instead of economic and scientific successes—failures; instead of fighting corruption—its institutionalization; instead of a multi-vector approach—political codependence; instead of national unity—repression. There’s nothing to award, and there is no nationwide love—nor has there ever been—no matter how you try to prop up your puppet National Security Council.

That’s why Lukashenko’s lengthy musings on state awards—which are supposedly personal but are actually collective, because “the collective is right beside you or behind you,” and “without the collective, we are nothing”—are practically a diagnosis of his own regime.

After all, to recall a long-standing movie quote from an alternative dub of *The Lord of the Rings*: “If you spit on the collective, the collective will wipe it off, but if the collective spits on you, you’ll drown.” And the system Lukashenko has built is slowly sinking—not in love and adoration at all.

Alesya Matusevich, “Solidarity”

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