With the regime still clinging to power and society increasingly strained, it is time to reflect on the extraordinary year in Belarus.

For the last 25 years Belarus has been the greatest victim to stereotypes. This “last dictatorship in Europe” has been often presented vis-à-vis other “democraticising” post-Soviet states. This optic of presenting Belarus based on black and white; or good and bad terms failed to explain what was really taking place within this country’s borders. Yet, it explains why so many western analysts did not predict the social changes that we are now witnessing in Belarus.

In recent months we have seen numerous conferences, articles and discussions with a variation of the title “Belarus. An unexpected revolution”. Through them western analysts and policy-makers who were once calling Belarus the last dictatorship in Europe, are now looking for answers on whether and when the people’s revolution will succeed. They typically start their analysis with questions such as “Why now?” or “Where did this sudden awaking of the Belarusian society come from?”

Despite the historical parallels, the differences in memory politics and more recent national developments explain why Belarus never turned to Ukraine for guidance, symbols or role models. The marches in the streets of Minsk and other major cities typically brandish the white-red-white flag which is about the only historical reference. The flag clearly has become the symbol of protest, similar to the colour orange in Ukraine almost two decades ago.

In the 2004 Orange Revolution as well as during the EuroMaidan uprising a decade later, Ukraine’s future orientation was at stake. In both cases, pro-European citizens confronted pro-Russian state authorities on Kyiv's main square, the Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square. Not only did the views of Ukraine's future and the principles of democracy clash, but events and heroes from the nation's past were fielded as arguments.

What motivates state security officers to remain in the service of a tyrant, and end up in a situation where the people they beat, torture and kill, are their fellow countrymen? The story of Andrei Ostapovich provides some insight to this key question in understanding the overlapping borders of morality and immorality, democracy and authoritarianism.

A review of Understanding Ukraine and Belarus: A Memoir. By: David R. Marples. Publisher: E-International Relations, 2020.

There has been much change in the relationship between Ukraine and Belarus following last year’s events. Have five years of positive relations been ruined in just four months?

Following the crisis in Ukraine, the EU shifted from a more idealistic approach to one anchored in political realism towards its eastern neighbours. What are the factors shaping its policy towards Belarus?

Since the beginning of the protests the presence of the Russian media and its “journalists” in Belarus has significantly increased.

In Belarus, an outdated totalitarian regime of power based on old technologies, faces a new generation of free people relying on a digital multitude.

The nation, its history and a new hope. A new podcast documentary series

The United States may not be the best model for a fledgling democracy looking for fresh values. America's values have never been as pure as its rhetoric, and in recent years they have been obscured by bitter partisanship.

Interview with Belarusian filmmaker Vlada Senkova. Interviewer: Kateryna Pryshchepa.