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A student attends a concert in support of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko which was recorded for later broadcast on state television on Friday, October 9, 2015 in Minsk, Belarus.

Belarus Must Live

The Eastern European country of Belarus is known primarily for its autocratic leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who since 1994 has presided over the former Soviet state as if the USSR had never collapsed. Its economy is largely state-run and political freedoms essentially nonexistent, although a thriving IT industry and relatively low levels of corruption have brought a modicum of comfort to the growing middle class in the capital city of Minsk. It remains a geopolitical fulcrum, shrewdly playing close ties with Russia against Western desires for openness.

The country is back in the spotlight after the August 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko’s major challengers were arrested or driven into exile, and the vote rigged to hand the incumbent an easy but utterly implausible victory. A defiant protest movement has been met with the full force of the state, sowing chaos at a time when much of the world is distracted by the coronavirus pandemic and leaving open the question of who will prevail in this test of wills.

 

PROJECTS

Belarus Must Live

By Brendan Hoffman

The Eastern European country of Belarus is known primarily for its autocratic leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who since 1994 has presided over the former Soviet state as if the USSR had never collapsed. Its economy is largely state-run and political freedoms essentially nonexistent, although a thriving IT industry and relatively low levels of corruption have brought a modicum of comfort to the growing middle class in the capital city of Minsk. It remains a geopolitical fulcrum, shrewdly playing close ties with Russia against Western desires for openness.

The country is back in the spotlight after the August 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko’s major challengers were arrested or driven into exile, and the vote rigged to hand the incumbent an easy but utterly implausible victory. A defiant protest movement has been met with the full force of the state, sowing chaos at a time when much of the world is distracted by the coronavirus pandemic and leaving open the question of who will prevail in this test of wills.

 

 
 
 

Publications

As Belarus Economy Falters, Lukashenko Looks West, Al Jazeera America