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Mikalai Statkevich: Thousands Ordinary Belarusians Defended Homeland With Arms

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Mikalai Statkevich: Thousands Ordinary Belarusians Defended Homeland With Arms
MIKALAI STATKEVICH

The Day of the Slutsk rebellion heroes should become the Belarusian Homeland Defender’s Day.

Our military history is rich with significant events and this should be used for the patriotic upbringing of the army and the society.

One of the opposition leaders, former political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich has written this on his Facebook page.

“On November 27, the patriotic part of the society marked the Heroes’ Day – the anniversary of the Slutsk armed rebellion for the independence of Belarus in 1920.

The official authorities, including the military ones, tend to ignore this date. They mark only the dates taken from the Soviet or the Russian history as military holidays. For example, they celebrate the Homeland Defender’s day on the anniversary of the date when the Bolsheviks handed over the territory of Belarus to the troops of the German Keiser back in 1918. We cannot say this date relates to the Belarusian military history, let alone it being a glorious one, to make it a holiday.

The Belarusian army only marks the dates of those events, the anniversaries of which are celebrated by Russia, and it remains a powerful educational and psychological factor. This is how they underline the dependence of the Belarusian army and state, our people’s lack of their own state and military history. It allows questioning the very existence of our nation and state.

Educated people do know about the thousands-years history of the statehood of the Belarusian people, about the famous feats of our ancestors. I'm not saying that we should forget the tragic history of our nation for the two world wars. I am saying that the glorious dates of the Belarusian military history should be put in the basis of the patriotic education of the society and the army.

One of them is the anniversary of the Slutsk rebellion, when thousands of ordinary peasants voluntarily formed regular military units and bravely defended the independence of their land with arms. I think that November 27, the date when the struggle began, should become the Belarusian Homeland Defender’s Day.

September 8 may become the common vow day for the military students of the Belarusian military schools. This date is also suitable for celebrating our own Day of Missiles and Artillery. It’s because it was right in the Battle of Vorsha when Hetman Astroźski used cannons very successfully and massively for the first time in our military history. We also know the date when General Jakub Jasinski formed the engineer troops of the Great Duchy of Lithuania. Etc.

Our military history is rich with significant events and this should be used for the patriotic upbringing of the army and the society. We are living in the dangerous times when the amorphous, indifferent attitude of the society towards statehood could tempt potential aggressors to attack.

I have no illusions that the government’s return to our history is possible with today's puppet regime, built on foreign natural and economic resources. But I'm sure - the time will come, and we will reclaim our heroes and make ourselves stronger by their example of courage and devotion to the Fatherland, "– Mikalai Statkevich has written.

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