On Belarus Freedom Day, Belarusian Americans Celebrate the 107th Anniversary of the Belarusian Democratic Republic

On March 25, 1918, the Belarusian National Council, which represented political and religious organizations from regions with majority Belarusian populations, proclaimed the Belarusian Democratic Republic (BNR) to be a Sovereign and Free nation that protects the rights and freedoms of all citizens and all peoples of Belarus. The foundational statutes of BNR guaranteed freedom of speech, gathering, strikes, and collective bargaining, freedom of conscience, protection from unlawful arrest and search, and a universal right to vote regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion.

BNR was soon invaded by Russia and forced to rejoin the empire that the Bolsheviks rebranded as the USSR. But, thanks to BNR, Russia had to recognize Belarus as its own Socialist Republic, which opened a path for it to become the independent Republic of Belarus in 1991.

Just as the Bolsheviks and the Soviets, since 2020, the subservient to Russia Lukashenka regime banned and criminalized celebrating the anniversary of the proclamation of the Belarus Democratic Republic, named Dzen Voli or Belarus Freedom Day.

Today, under the ongoing political repressions, politically motivated arrests, and atmosphere of fear, the Belarusians in Belarus cannot openly celebrate the Belarus Freedom Day. It is up to us, the worldwide Belarusian diaspora, to carry on the memory and the spirit of a free and independent Belarus. Despite the transnational repressions and a constant threat of trials in absentia, disrupting the lives of our relatives and friends in Belarus, we, as many generations of Belarusians of different ethnic origins, religious and political affiliations, are celebrating the sovereignty of the Belarusian Nation and the continuity of our heritage.

The Belarusian-Americans in Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities celebrated the Belarus Freedom Day. Mayors of Washington, DC, and Boston recognized March 25 as a commemoration day of the 1918 declaration of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Warsaw, Poland, and Vilnius, Lithuania, where hundreds of thousands of Belarusians found refuge from the repressions of the Lukashenka regime, witnessed mass rallies in honor of Belarus Freedom Day.

We ask President Trump, the U.S. Government, and the Members of the U.S. Congress to support and honor the sovereignty of the Belarusian nation. We call on the United States to address with urgency the problem of more than 1200 political prisoners in Belarus, set the conditions for their release, and do everything to ensure that each one of the political prisoners regains freedom and reunites with their families.