What young Belarusians think of Lukashenko and the future of Belarus
Is this it for the strongman’s 26 year-long rule?
Three years after seceding from the Soviet Union, Belarus elected Alexander Lukashenko to the presidency in its first election as an independent nation. The year was 1994.
Since then, Lukashenko has held a firm grip on power, running what international critics describe as an “authoritarian regime.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, believes Belarus “has changed less than almost any other Soviet successor state.”
“Belarusian ‘democracy’ has meant one person, one vote, once. Lukashenko’s first election victory in 1994 was competitive. But his regime grew rapidly authoritarian, statist and even murderous while the rest of Central Europe underwent democratic and market transition” he said.
Additionally, while outsiders have openly criticized Lukashenko for the past 26 years, Belarusians have often found it difficult to freely voice their opinions of their president, as the media is state-run, political opponents are often imprisoned or killed, and elections are routinely fixed in Lukashenko’s favor.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a testament to this reality.
The 37-year-old human rights activist was the main oppositional candidate in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election against Lukashenko, driven to run because her husband, activist and YouTuber Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was arrested by authorities soon after announcing his candidacy.
As of now, Tsikhanouskaya, who has fled to Lithuania for safety, has declared victory in the highly-contested election, even going so far as to plead with the European Union to recognize her as the new leader of Belarus. This is in spite of the fact that Lukashenko won the election, officially at least.
But, the symbolism of her candidacy and the growing atmosphere of desired change sparked fire in the souls of many Belarusians who took to the streets in the wake of the August 9th election.
Mark, 17, was one of those people.
The Minsk-based actor “despises” President Lukashenko, accusing him of being a hypocrite, arresting presidential candidates, and manipulating the state’s media.
In his eyes, Lukashenko is “a clown.”
Early on in the election campaign, Mark noticed how the state media tried to portray the election as fair and civil. However, when Viktar Babaryka, a banker and oppositional candidate against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, had his candidacy rejected and was detained, Nester noticed the media begin to paint Babaryka as a “thief, liar” and “corrupt official.”
Nonetheless, according to him, Belarusian media has shifted since then. “They perked up and realized that changes are possible” he said.
Indeed, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday that staffers at Belarusian news outlet BT went on strike and sent a letter to management demanding an end to media censorship and to acknowledge the illegitimacy of the election results. Even factory workers, a large swath of Lukashenko’s voter base, walked out in solidarity with the protests.
But, it wasn’t enough for Mr Lukashenko.
In step with his reputation as a stern authoritarian, the 65-year-old told the Belarusian public there would be no second election “until you kill me,” showing no sign of conceding or compromising with his challenger or the protests that have ensued.
Additionally, his rhetoric in reaction to the events has driven many people to reconsider their opinions of him.
“I heard that the irremovability of power leads to the stagnation of the entire state” said a young man, 17, from Minsk who gave his name as Y.
“Perhaps, as a person, he is good, but his actions make many people in our country think” Y added.
Kate, also 17, who has attended the protests, alluded to her own evolving thought process about the Belarusian leader.
“My opinions about Lukashenko are mixed. My grandparents said that he made Belarus more safe than it was. And he was a great president for those people. But nowadays people have changed my opinion about him. I’m not against him, no, but Belarus should also have changes” she said in our interview.
The notion of a generational divide is a recurring theme surrounding the protests and general opinions of President Lukashenko. Often, the line is drawn between older Belarusians who lived through the Soviet Union, its dissolution, and the post-Soviet turmoil and younger Belarusians who’ve only known Alexander Lukashenko as their leader.
However, while Mark believes there was an age divide earlier on in the campaign season, at this point, he assumes people of all ages “see that our president crossed all possible moral borders.”
A young woman who chose to be identified as Ya.Only, goes further to say that the divide is less visible along age demographics and more so along degrees of access to the internet and media.
“I’ve visited protests and there were a lot of young people and also seniors. It depends on how much they informed about [the] situation in our country, because as you know, our government is trying to hide this [sic] protests from people and those, who haven’t got the Internet just can’t find out the truth.”
On that note, “If [the] protest was supported by 200 thousand of [sic] people, they tell us that there were only 20 thousand people.”
As the world continues to watch the saga unfold between the Belarusian people and their embattled leader, young Belarusians want the world to know that they are in the fight of their lives and hope that positive change is on the horizon.
“Our protests are more than just peaceful…we are just clapping our hands, helping each other and express[ing] our opinion” Ya.Only said.
“There are a lot of innocent people who are suffering right now and we all hope that it’s not meaningless and we will finally get what we want and what we deserve.”
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