Green Men, Western Assistance, 5 Years of Belarusian Web – Digest of Belarusian Analytics
Andrei Aliaksandrau. Photo: EuroBelarus Information Service.
EU foreign policy towards Belarus, who pays for journalism, the new martial law and Western assistance to Belarus are among the topics which kept Belarusian analysts busy recently.
Foreign Policy
Rethinking the EU Policies Towards Belarus – Andrei Liakhovich, the Director of the Centre for Political Education in Minsk, believes that relations with Belarus are not a pressing issue of EU foreign policy. While the EU has leverage over Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime, it does not use it, as it fears pushing Belarus more towards Russia. Such fears are groundless. Lukashenka’s regime will not cross the dangerous line of integration with Russia under any circumstances.
Belarus’s Rising International Standing and Its Implications – Grigory Ioffe believes that renewed high-level negotiations on the war in Ukraine, with an agreement signed in Minsk, on February 12, further raise the stature of Belarus in the eyes of the international community. In particular, the Belarusian president has sought to maintain close ties with both Russia and Ukraine while steadfastly appealing to Western leaders to abandon their increasingly contradictory policy of sanctions toward Belarus.
Russian Ruble's Hapless Little Brother – The worst-performing currency in the world so far this year is called the ruble, but it's not Russian. It's the legal tender of Belarus, a country increasingly uncomfortable with its too-close alliance with Russia. The small nation's latest bout of economic difficulties shows Russian President's vision of a Eurasian Economic Union – a partial recreation of the Soviet Union as a tight, European Union-like economic alliance with Russia at its center – makes little sense for its members, according to the Bloomberg View.
Media Sphere
Andrei Aliaksandrau: Every Internet User Can Fund Journalism – State media in Belarus are funded from the state budget, while independent media are supported from abroad. It appears that Belarusian society basically doesn’t pay for the domestic journalism. 'Who is going to pay for high-quality journalism?' was the topic of the open lecture by Andrei Aliaksandrau, Belarusian journalist, that took place in December. The meeting happened within the frames of the 'Main question' cycle.
Five Years of Belarusian Web – Mikhail Darashevich, manager of Gemius in Belarus, analyzes figures of Internet development in Belarus for the last five years. Namely, from December 2009 to December 2014, the Belarus online audience has risen by 65.5% or from 3.023 million to 5.004 people. The retired people group has risen from 1.28% to 5.56%; however, this is extremely little as compared to the whole Belarusian society. The number of daily users has grown from 72.70% to 82.73% of the whole Internet audience.
Environment in the Media Mirror – the Center for European Transformation presents the results of research on covering environmental issues and activities of environmental organisations by Belarusian media. One of the recommendations of the study is the necessity for CSOs to establish their own news services, press secretaries, PR-manager, responsible for communication with the media. The lack of professionalism of CSOs (and the "greens" in particular) when dealing with the media was marked by almost all respondents from among journalists. The study was carried out on the initiative of the Green Alliance.
Human Rights and Security
Monitoring of the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus: October-December 2014– A group of Belarusian CSOs has released a regular monitoring aimed at highlighting short-term tendencies in the spheres of human rights, social, political and economic situation in Belarus. Namely, during 2014, 84 public associations, 12 funds and 40 private institutions were registered. Compared with 2013, the number of newly registered CSOs remains at the 2013 level but it is significantly lower than in 2010-2012, when over a hundred new public associations were registered annually.
Martial Law. In Search of Green Men – Dzianis Melyantsou, BISS, explains a new law ‘On Martial Law’, which became the subject of public discussions. Some media and experts consider the law as a trail of Ukrainian events and the desire of the Belarusian authorities to take into account this experience to prevent Russian aggression. Melyantsou argues that the new law is more adapted to the allied commitments of Belarus in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), rather than anticipate a conflict with Russia.
Other
Ten Facts about Western Assistance to Belarus – Hanna Sous', Radio Svaboda journalist, conducted an investigation on the foreign aid for Belarus. In particular, the Belarusian state is a major recipient of western aid; only 12-20% of the total amount directed to the development of civil society. The European Union is the largest donor; the EU institutions spend on the development of democracy in Belarus 13% of the total aid, while U.S. – 71%.
Ioffe presents new book on Belarus. Grigory Ioffe, professor at Redford University (Virginia, United States) presented his second book about Belarus entitled Reassessing Lukashenka at the National Library on Belarus. The work is based on a number of personal interviews with the Belarusian head of state. The supplement makes up a quarter of the book. Reading transcripts of the interviews one can make his/her own opinion of the Belarusian leader. According to the writer, the book is aimed at challenging the clichés in respect to Belarus and its leader.
Dates of the Fifth International Congress of Belarusian Studies are announced. The largest Belarusian academic event will be held on 2-4 October 2014. The Congress will gather around 400 scholars and experts from Belarus and abroad. Traditionally, the Congress will include discussions, presentations, and the ceremony of Award for the Best Academic Publication in 2013-2014. Proposals for organisation of Congress panels and sections can be submitted till 12 March.
From 2014 into 2015: an Attempt to Avoid the Regional Crisis via Administrative Measures – Belarus in Focus' Information Office presents the Belarus in Focus Annual Review 2014. The review covers the political and economic situation in Belarus in 2014, as well as forecasts for the coming year. Namely, the experts note that Belarus is entering 2015 with a major currency crisis and a significant turnover in government members.
Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.
Dranikfest, Superheroes in Minsk, Human Rights – Belarus Civil Society Digest
European Perspective launches a map of public hearings in 2015 to strengthen the participation of Belarusians in public affairs. Perspektiva holds an Entrepreneurs Forum.
Astravets becomes the 9th city reached by Mova Nanova language courses. Creative community from Brest launches regular sarcastic videos about everyday life of Belarusians.
Campaigns in Minsk
Superheroes take the Minsk streets. Last year, the Centre for Cultural Management with TUT.BY support launched the project ‘Superheroes School/ Creative City’. The team of 42 volunteers is engaged in the development and implementation of urban socio-cultural projects with the involvement of the city administration, local communities and businesses. Currently 'superheroes' conduct field research in the Minsk areas. In February, the School organises public lectures on the development of urban communities.
European Perspective initiative is launching a new map of public hearings in 2015. The map monitors the upcoming public hearings in all nine districts of Minsk and contains basic information on the place, date, organiser of public debate and other useful information. Thus, the European Perspective aims to making urban development issues closer to the population and strengthen the participation of citizens in public affairs.
New web project about Minsk city launched. How to Live Here/ Kaktutzhit is a new web resource about Minsk. The project positions itself as a "site for people who want to spend in Minsk decent and interesting life." The project will focus on topics such as people, food, entertainment, clothes and, of course, city news.
СSO female activists created the board game ‘Stereotypes’. The game consists of 34 cards, which depict certain gender stereotypes. During the game the stereotypes need to be refuted by 170 facts. During the game, participants receive a variety of emotions, argue, and try to defend their point of view. The creators of the game are sure that board game can be considered as an alternative to traditional seminars and training in receiving information on gender equality.
Internet platform Talaka.by launches a new service #TalakaNavіny. The service allows anyone to share the news about social projects, urban practices, events or activities beneficial to communities. The news should not affect politics or religion. After posting the news become available to more than 6.5 thousand subscribers in Talaka.by groups.
Forum of Entrepreneurs 'Goals and objectives for small business in Belarus' is to take place in Minsk, on 16 February. The organiser, Perspectiva NGO invites entrepreneurs and authorities to take an active part in discussing pressing issues. Organisers warn that the Forum has only an economic format and aims to unite sensible entrepreneurs under the Perspectiva’s auspices.
Regional Campaigns
Professional contest Brand of the Year rewards best Belarusian companies. The gold medal in the category 'Inclusive projects and business models' went to Talaka.by project, a non-profit platform, which helps active people in Belarus to implement projects for their communities. Grand Prix in the category 'Social Responsible Business' was received by Game Stream company, a developer of the popular game World of Tanks.
Green Alliance is to conduct a presentation of the Green Steps multimedia toolkit in Gomel, on 12 February. The Green Steps multimedia toolkit for Belarus has been developed to raise public awareness about sustainable lifestyles and the changes that individuals can make in their everyday lives. Its primary target groups are members of CSOs. Green Steps was developed by the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in close cooperation with a number of Belarusian CSOs.
Dranik-fest recognised an event of the year in Mogilev region. Mogilev initiative 'Public Magistrate' announced the person and the event of 2014 year. According to the results of the voting of journalists, social network users and the 'Public Magistrate' Council, the event of the year in Mogilev oblast was recognised as the October Festival of traditional Belarusian food 'Dranik-fest' that attracted over 4 thousand visitors. The person of the year became Yuri Stukalov, a leader of the Mogilev Center for Urban Initiatives, one of the organisers of Dranik-fest.
Mova Nanova launches in Astravets. The first classes on February 4 gathered 35 residents of Astravets and the surrounding villages. Classes will be held once a week in the premises of the new school, which opened earlier this year. Astravets became the 9th city, where free courses of the Belarusian language Mova Nanova/Language in a New Way takes place with outreach of about 1,000 students across the country.
Creative Brest residents launch comic video series. The first movie tells about a trip in a marshrutka/ municipal transport, minibus. The video shooting took one day; the budget was $100. Funny videos are to be issued every three weeks. An idea is borrowed from the French television series ‘bref’.
Education
Search for yourself and your profession using Adukacyja.info. Adukacyja.info team invites young people to participate in the project Your Destiny, designed to help youth in search of work and their own career path. The project consists of training modules, meetings and individual consultations. Entry fee to the program is 200,000 rubles (about $12).
Platform for children and their parents launches. The platform ‘Tarancіny and Sons’ identifies itself as the first independent educational project for children, pupils at the individual school plan (homeschooling) and their parents. The project goal is to study a new level of secondary education, the introduction of non-Soviet methods in teaching as well as the possibility for parents to obtain new knowledge in the field of education.
Interaction between state and civil society
Trial cancelled after Lukashenka’s press conference. On 2 February the Supreme Court informed that there would be no court hearings into cases of four activists who had staged an action of solidarity Je Suis Charlie near the French Embassy in Minsk. A new development occurred on 29 January when at his press-conference Alexander Lukashenka declared that police shouldn’t have arrested people supporting Charlie Hebdo.
Human rights situation in 2014: Trends and evaluation – According to the Human Rights Centre Viasna’s report, the situation of human rights during 2014 remained consistently poor with a tendency to deterioration at the end of the year. Basic civil and political rights were extremely restricted; there were no systemic changes in the field of human rights (at the legislative level and/or at the level of practices). The only positive development during the year was the early release of Ales Bialiacki, Chairman of the Human Rights Centre Viasna.
Belarusian human rights activists allowed to inspect eight colonies. From October 2014 to early February 2015, human rights defenders of the Platforma Innovation visited eight Belarusian colonies and detention centers, correctional facilities of the open type, etc. Platform Innovation director, Alena Krasouskaya-Kaspiarovich, says that the main trend in these colonies is positive. Everywhere new buildings are constructed, conditions gradually improve, although there are also problems.
Human Rights Centre Viasna held a rally of solidarity with the arrested activists of the anarchist movement on 5 February. Recently, six activists of anarchist movement were detained and sentenced to administrative arrest from 10 to 25 days. Viasna considers the arrests as a classic example of arbitrary detention.
Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.
