For Belarus! (' in both

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

) was a campaign slogan used in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

starting in 2004 to push for constitutional alterations inside the country, which consisted of (1) enabling a citizen to become the country's president for more than two times (as had been the case until 2004) and (2) to allow the current president

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

to run for a third term. The campaign was usually announced and spread by using television airtime, public concerts or

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s erected in the country. The campaign was used again in the 2006 presidential elections, with the addition of a song played on Belarusian Television on the day of the elections. The campaign was also used by the BRSM to support the government's discourse on patriotism (in contrast to that of the political opposition: e.g. the

Belarusian Popular Front The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" (BPF, ; ''Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie"'', ''BNF'') was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s whose goals were national revival of Belarus, its democratization a ...

, which uses another slogan: " Long Live Belarus!").

Use

The characteristics of the campaign include the use of the phrase occasionally with the addition of names or organizations, such as workers or the military, and attributes such as "stable", "flourishing", "strong" Belarus. The letters "''ЗA''" ("for") are always capitalized and colored red and green, invoking the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and national symbol, symbolizes a given nation. It is Fly (flag), flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanin ...

. In this layout, the word "''ЗA''" has national connotations and is visually prominent, suggesting that it is the most important word in the slogan. Thus, it was suggested to the electorate that they should vote "for", that is, for the constitutional reforms that enabled president Lukashenko to run for his third term (2004) and to vote for him in the 2006 presidential elections, because it correlates with voting "for Belarus". Belarusian state-owned media depict the political opposition as a subversive group that intends to disorganise the country and "sell" it to the "West". From this point of view, the slogan may easily be interpreted as an identification of the current president or government with Belarus. To vote for someone else would then mean to vote against the interests of the country and its people.

References

{{reflist

External links

BBC Belarus country profile
Politics of Belarus

Use

See also

References

External links