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Tag: belarus

Thirty years of Lukashenka

This year marks the thirty-year anniversary of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rule. While the Belarusian leader has been able to consolidate his power in the country, recent responses to crackdowns on the opposition suggest an uncertain future for the dictator.

August 28, 2024 - Mark Temnycky

Belarus’s political prisoner dilemma

The recent prisoner swap with Russia in early August marked the largest East-West exchange since the Cold War. Despite this, little has been said about the absence of Belarus in these agreements. A renewed effort is now needed to help the many political prisoners still held by Minsk.

August 23, 2024 - Vitali Matyshau

The Belarus of Vasil Bykaŭ is in our interest

Interview with Joanna Bernatowicz, a translator of the most important Belarusian writer of the 20th century. Interviewer: Wojciech Pokora.

July 20, 2024 - Wojciech Pokora

How Lukashenka’s regime silences the Belarusian free press

Since 2020 the Belarusian media field has lost up to ten important independent publications. Some of them did not survive the financial crisis while others were taken over by propaganda or decided to avoid covering politics. The decline in the number of independent media outlets and the difficulty in reaching audiences within the country, where consuming truthful news can result in criminal charges, affects the overall political mood in the country.

In 2023 Belarus ranked 167th out of 180 countries in press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders. Since the political protests in 2020, the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka intensified its persecution of the free press. Currently, there are 35 journalists imprisoned on criminal charges, serving sentences in prisons where they face torture and isolation from the outside world and their families. From 2020 to 2023, nearly 600 journalists and media professionals were arrested, according to Press Club Belarus.

June 22, 2024 - Darya Grishchuk

The 1863 uprising and the shared legacy of the Commonwealth

The January Uprising of 1863 was the last common struggle for the ideals of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today, when no existential disputes exist between the independent nations of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus, the memory of 1863 should be a stepping stone to teaching the history of the Commonwealth as a common legacy.

Earlier this year, the presidents of Poland and Lithuania, accompanied by the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition in exile, celebrated together in Vilnius the 161st anniversary of the January Uprising. This event was fought by the nobility and intelligentsia of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1863-64 against Russian imperial rule.

June 22, 2024 - Wiktor Babiński

The situation in Grodno was not calm. The rise of nationalism in the city became a reason for the pogrom

The second half of the 1930s saw a rise of antisemitic attitudes in Poland. This was caused by several factors among which was the unstable economic situation in the country and the aggressive antisemitism that began to dominate in neighbouring Nazi Germany. Violent events also took place in Poland. One of them was in Grodno in 1935.

June 2, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

Lukashenka does not want a war with NATO. Russia’s influence will not last forever

Interview with Artyom Shraibman, an independent Belarusian political scientist. Interviewer: Paulina Siegień.

May 25, 2024 - Artyom Shraibman Paulina Siegień

Belarus and Russia: not in one but different baskets

In spite of their shared desires to challenge the status quo, the Belarusian and Russian oppositions do not always see eye to eye. This is largely the result of a continued assumption that Belarus is uniquely tied to its larger neighbour. The status of Belarusian exiles in the EU today subsequently depends on the recognition of these differences.

April 8, 2024 - Hanna Vasilevich

Trip to Lazaret: symbolizing wounds

The Belarusian experience of exile has left many wounds for those affected. Exposing the trauma caused by separation from home, artist Darya Cemra’s latest exhibition explores the prospect that such pain may never truly heal.

April 4, 2024 - Bahruz Samadov

Litvinism: when history becomes securitized

Lithuania’s support for those Belarusians protesting against the Lukashenka regime has become well known in recent years. Despite this, an argument over the centuries-long interactions between the two peoples could possibly threaten this unity.

March 7, 2024 - Hanna Vasilevich

The fire on Freedom Square was not coincidental. A Soviet soldier is suspected

On January 4th 1946 an emergency session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus was held in Minsk. The head of the Byelorussian Communist Party Panteleimon Ponomarenko, the head of the NKGB Lavrentiy Tsanava and the NKVD People’s Commissary Sargiei Belchanka were joined by 13 other party members to discuss the fire in the capital’s state security building the previous day.

February 17, 2024 - Ihar Melnikau

Belarus between a difficult yesterday and an uncertain tomorrow

Building upon the ongoing analysis of the research group "BELARUS-UKRAINE-REGION", which was established at the Centre for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw in autumn 2020, and in cooperation with New Eastern Europe, we present a series of sketches depicting the situation in Belarus during the latter half of 2023.

February 7, 2024 - Henryk Litwin

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