‘Regime Will Change, And Streets Named After Rebels Will Appear In Slutsk Area’

• 28.11.2019, 10:24

A Belarusian has told about the Day of the Heroes of his dream.

How should we honor the memory of Slutsk rebels, and why the meetings dedicated to the anniversary of the historical events in Slutsk collect few locals?

Head of the Slutsk branch of the BPF Party, Minsk regional coordinator of the For Freedom movement Vital Amialkovich has organized actions on the anniversary of the Slutsk uprising for many years. In an interview with Solidarity, he shared his vision about what the ideal Day of Heroes should be like.

Besides, the BPF party, the For Freedom movement, the Razam movement of solidarity, and the Young Front do not plan to carry out a major event with marches and rallies this year.

- Firstly, there is no money for this. After changes were made to the law on mass events, to hold a rally and march, you have to pay a lot of money. Secondly, a lot of people consciously refuse to pay, as freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly is guaranteed by our Constitution.

In the circle of the organizers, who usually prepared the event held on the anniversary of the Slutsk uprising, it was decided that it is better to prepare for the centennial of the uprising the following year, and to develop a large program of celebrations to this date.

Vital Amialkovich recalls how in the late '90s, when he was in school, the Belarusian History textbook contained one paragraph dedicated to the Slutsk uprising.

- My teacher, whom I greatly respected, said that we do not know exactly how it all happened, and we cannot give an adequate assessment to these events. Therefore, let’s not focus on this... I don’t know what's in the textbooks now, but I am convinced: the Slutsk uprising deserves a separate topic, and maybe more than one.

Vital confesses, he lives with the hope that the time will come when the anniversary of the Slutsk uprising will be marked at the state level.

- The regime will change, and there will be a different attitude to these events.I am not ready to answer yet if it is worth to make November 27 a non-working day within the country, as it needs to be done with September 8, the Day of the Belarusian Military Glory, in my view.

The interlocutor shares his idea of how we should, in his view, honor the memory of insurgents, with Solidarity, describing the Heroes Day of his dreams:

- It is high time to create a permanent exhibition dedicated to the events of Slutsk uprising in the Slutsk regional museum.

In Slutsk district, there will be the streets named in honor of Slutsk rebels. I wish that it was not one street, but several. For example, Pavel Zhauryd Street, Anton Sokal-Kutylouski Street, Uladzimir Prakulevich Street, Vasil Rusakou Street, and Yurka Listapad Street.

There will be monuments to the heroes in the streets named after the Slutsk rebels.

The Heroes Day in Slutsk will bring together Belarusians not only from across the country, but throughout the world, to honor the memory of the rebels.

At the state level, events will be organized: exhibitions, actions, and concerts. Maybe reconstruction of events. I think there should also be a military component, for example, a military parade.

Vital Amialkovich is sure: most inhabitants of Slutsk are aware of what the date of November 27 means in our history. The minority of them are aware of it as an important historical event.

Why do so few local residents come to the rally dedicated to the anniversary of the uprising? According to Vital, it is not only the historical memory:

- See how many people participated in the opposition rallies some 20 years ago in Minsk, and now many of them came, for example, to the rally dedicated to the 101th anniversary of the BPR. The years of dictatorship have made their effect, bringing up disappointment, indifference and, of course, fear.

Today, people are afraid to go to the rally. The events are monitored, the police, ideologists are present there. I know cases where the ideologists saw unfamiliar faces at the events and tried to figure out who these people were, where they worked. Even at the local level, there were attempts to intimidate.

Unfortunately, in the minds of some of the ideologists, the history of Belarus begins only with the October Revolution, but what is not related to Soviet history, is usually questioned. After all, it does not correspond to the current state propaganda policy and does not fit into the ideology of the ruling regime.