Abbreviation | БНФ, BPF, BNF |
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Leader | Zianon Pazniak |
Founded | 25 June 1989 |
Succeeded by | BPF Party; Conservative Christian Party – BPF; Young Front |
Headquarters | Minsk |
Ideology |
Anticommunism Democracy National Socialism |
Political position | Far-right |
International affiliation | None |
Colours |
white, red, white (Flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic) |
Party flag | |
The flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, in 1991 accepted as the Flag of Belarus. In 1993, the flag of the BPF was changed, and a Cross of Saint Euphrosyne was added to it |
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The Belarusian Popular Front "Renaissance" (BPF, Belarusian: Беларускі Народны Фронт "Адраджэньне", БНФ) was a social and political movement in Belarus in late 1980s and the 1990s which led Belarus to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia, and the Sąjūdis movement in the Republic of Lithuania.
The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1989, following the examples of the Popular Fronts in the Baltic states. Its founding conference had to be organized in Vilnius because of pressure from the authorities of the Belarusian SSR.
Initially, the Popular Front was uniting numerous minor organizations promoting the Belarusian language and history. However, soon the movement began voicing political demands, supporting the Perestroika and democratization in the Soviet Union which would enable a Belarusian national revival. The Popular Front was the first political organization in Belarus to openly oppose the Communist Party of Byelorussia.
The prominent Belarusian writer Vasil Bykau became an active member of the Belarusian Popular Front. Writer Ales Adamovich was an active supporter of the Popular Front.
The Front had about 10 thousand activists in different regions of Belarus as well as in Moscow, Vilnius and Riga. It published a newspaper, Навіны БНФ "Адраджэньне" (English: News of the Belarusian Popular Front "Renaissance" ).