Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2020

Lessons Learned from the Belarussian Protestors

The protests in Belarus are impressive. Usually, when protests happen, people tend to become agitated and get angry and violent. Property gets destroyed. Sometimes even, authorities play a role in instigating them. But not in #Belarus. Although the police has been using excessive force against protesters, and there are evidences of the torture of protestors in prison, the people of Belarus remained calm, but determined. Especially brave, since public gatherings have been banned in Belarus since 2011. It is also admirable the care people take of public property, even picking up garbage after the protests. The second thing worth noting is that all these people contesting the results of the latest presidential elections did not give into the pressure to lean one way or another. They are not protesting for the West or against Russia; it hasn’t become politicized. There aren’t any EU flags at the protests after the elections (very different from Ukraine a few years ago); they are carryi

A CHALLENGE TO “EUROPE’S LAST DICTATOR”

An Update on the Runup to Presidential Elections in Belarus The republic of Belarus is getting ready for presidential elections. They are scheduled to take place on the 9th of August. Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is running again for president; often dubbed “ Europe’s last dictator ”, he is expected to win (as he did in the 2001, 2006, 2010 and in the 2015 elections). The regime is infamous for its human rights violations and the authoritarian style of governance of the Lukashenko administration .   In the Economic Intelligence Unit Democracy Index 2019 (EIU), the country is ranked as “authoritarian” .    The abuses concern journalists, civil society activists and independent media as well as ordinary citizens who protest. In 2012, I already wrote an article on the human rights situation in Belarus when I visited one of the constituency congresses of our friends from the Belarusian Christian Democracy party.   Unfortunately, nothing has changed since. Recently, t