Weaponizing Colors: Red and White as Protest Signifiers in Belarusian Cyberculture

• In Event: Radio, Television, Social Media: The Art of Transmission as Liberation

Abstract

The paper focuses on the whimsical resemantization of the combination of red and white (that derives from the white-red-white arguably ‘national’ flag) in Belarusian protest mobilization after the rigged election of 2020. Initially ubiquitous both offline and online, soon these colours began to be seen as subversive and severely persecuted even if discerned in one’s clothing or nail polish. Hence their semantically diverse ‘afterlife’ on the internet: FB, social media, and various platforms.

Author

• Elena Gapova, Western Michigan U / European Humanities U (Lithuania)