Jeans Revolution

The Jeans Revolution (Belarusian: Джынсавая рэвалюцыя, transliteration: Džynsavaja revalucyja, Russian: Джинсовая революция) was a term used by Belarus' democratic opposition to describe their protests following the 2006 Belarusian presidential election.

The Jeans Revolution was also referred to as the Cornflower Revolution (васильковая революция, in Russian media) and the Denim Revolution, in reference to the color blue as a parallel to the other color revolutions; however, unlike them, the Jeans Revolution did not bring radical changes to Belarusian politics and society.

The term was coined after a September 16, 2005 public demonstration against the policies of Alexander Lukashenko. On September 16, 1999, popular opposition leader Viktor Gonchar disappeared; the present head of SOBR, Dmitri Pavlichenko, is suspected by the Council of Europe to be linked to Gonchar's disappearance. The Belarusian police seized the white-red-white flags used by the opposition and banned in the state, and an activist of the youth movement Zubr, Mikita Sasim (Belarusian: Мiкiта Сасiм, Russian: Никита Сасим), raised his denim shirt (commonly called "jeans shirt" in Russian), announcing this will be their flag instead. This spontaneous incident was recognized to have a symbolic meaning. In the former Soviet Union jeans were a symbol of the Western culture, and hence jeans were immediately recognized by Belarusian opposition as a symbol of protest against Lukashenko's Soviet-like policies, as well as the symbol that Belarusians are "not isolated" (from the West) Subsequently, Zubr suggested to wear jeans on 16th day of each month, in remembrance of alleged disappearances in Belarus.

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