On Monday 17 December, Alexander Lukashenka unexpectedly visited Kamvol, a textile factory in Minsk which is struggling with a deep crisis. After that he sacked the director of the factory and the director of Belarusian light industry Bellehpram. As a populist leader, Lukashenka tends to make public appearances to demonstrate his care for the common people of Belarus. One of his favourite activities involves travelling around Belarus and personally inspecting every factory, village, farm or construction site.
The Reality Check is a new initiative which aims to convene regularly a Review Group to contribute to the formulation of a more effective policy towards the EU’s Eastern neighborhood countries. The Review Group includes domestic and international analysts, practitioners, diplomats and policy makers. The first informal meeting on Belarus was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on November 20, 2012 hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. The Belarus Review Group focused on three major issues: a) review of domestic (Belarusian) stakeholders; b) external (geopolitical) context review; c) potential recommendations for the Western policy.
On December 19 summits of the CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Community and the Customs Union will take place in Moscow. The agreement on oil supplies in 2013 is expected to be concluded during negotiations in Moscow between Lukashenko and Putin at the end of December 2012. During last months of this year tension grows in relations between Lukashenka's regime and Russia. Lukashenka's team indicates to Moscow that it would not make concessions on issues of 'genuine integration', as it is seen by the Russian side. With the exception of the forced sale of Beltransgaz, major Belarusian enterprises will not be sold to Russian companies. The authorities refuse to abide by the terms of extension of the loan of the Anti-Crisis Fund of the Eurasian Economic Community.
Festival of non-formal education, National Gender Platform approval, discussion of Minsk brand and human rights defenders of the year were among the most notable civil society events in Belarus last week. Festival of Non-Formal Education. On 7-9 December, the 4th Festival of Non-Formal Education took place in Minsk. The Festival was attended by about 250 participants – teachers, trainers and other people sharing the values of life-long learning and non-formal education. The Festival format included various activities: a panel talk, more than 60 master classes and presentations, exhibition boxes, discussions, contests, etc. The largest number of awards went to the Grodno-based NGO Third Sector, including the top prize for the best educational website Golden Age University. For the Festival, The Association Life Long Education released a special issue of Adukatar magazine.
On 22 November, Alexander Lukashenka met with Putin`s protégé and head of the Gazprom directive board Alexey Miller. During the meeting, Miller presented a program on how Gazprom will develop the Belarusian gas infrastructure and make new investments into the economy. Gazprom has become a pioneer of the grand Russian business which has great influence in Belarus as well. The business circles subordinated to Kremlin offer modernisation and additional investments to the official Minsk in return for selling the Belarusian strategically important enterprises to Russia.
Post-Soviet mass discourse often portrays Belarus as a country of villagers. A big deal of that comes from the image of president Lukashenka himself. He has been director of a farm in Eastern Belarus before going into high politics and is famous for his obsession with agricultural issues. This, however, did not help Belarus farming to turn into a thriving industry. On 28 November, Belarus parliamentarians hosted deputy prime minister Michail Rusy. He presented plans for agricultural development and voiced some major problems of the sector. It becomes evident that the absence of reforms turned agriculture into a very unattractive place work destination.
The Belarusian government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional. It finds it more and more difficult to perform its daily tasks without resorting to administrative force. This is the major implication of the unprecedented decree that Alexander Lukashenka signed on 7 December. The world media have already interpreted the decree as legally introducing serfdom in Belarus. It ties workers to their workplaces. Now they can only leave their current jobs with permission from their boss. Otherwise, they will have to pay the state or be subjected to forced labour.
The number of cases of parents being deprived of their parental rights in Belarus is very high compared to other European countries. On the whole, Belarus brings up more than 25,000 boys and girls in children's institutions of various types. That is about 1.4 per cent of all children, or every 70th child in Belarus. Every year state authorities send to children’s institutions about 4,000 of children deprived of parental care. True orphans make up a small fraction of the total number. Deprivation of parental rights because of alcohol abuse is one the most common reason for this.
In November, civil society representatives convened in Minsk to vote on the Concept of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EAP CSF). The adopted version of the Concept favours an expansive interpretation of the civil society mission and was criticised by some groups as pushing civil society organisations on the road of political conflict with the Belarusian authorities. Unnecessary politicisation of civil society activities was mentioned as the primary reason for the refusal to sign the Concept by the Belarusian Association of Journalists, human rights centre “Viasna”, Office for Democratic Belarus, Belarus Helsinki Committee, Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies, and others. How harmful politicisation harmful for the development of the Belarusian public sphere?
The Kalinowski scholarship for young Belarusians wishing to study in Poland is six years old but not not without controversy. While those who run it underline its success, the post-graduation reality sometimes raises serious questions. In 2006 the Polish government launched the Kalinowski Fund to help the repressed youth who challenged the presidential elections results in 2005. It gives a chance to students who cannot enter universities in Belarus or continue their studies because of their pro-democracy activity. Despite the good cause, the programme alumni face difficulties finding jobs in Belarus. The organisers should think not only about placing young Belarusians at Polish universities but also about helping them return to Belarus.
Last month BELTA news agency announced that a 21-old Belarusian in the east of the country published eight pornographic videos on his social network page. The authorities started a criminal case and the accused faces up to four years in jail. Belarus has become a noticeable actor in the porn industry in recent years. Belarusian pornographers work not only inside the country but abroad as well. One of the porn-oriented websites claims that “Porn makers from Belarus manage to produce high-quality porn products despite the stagnation in the country”.
The Marketplace of Youth Initiatives announces results in Brest. Fond of Ideas conducts a talk show on corporate social responsibility. The Liberal Club presents an alternative view on public administration reform. The Office for the Rights of People with Disabilities presents national polling results. Euroradio accreditation in Belarus is renewed. Online security for dummies. INTERACTION BETWEEN STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY New Life Church ordered to vacate its prayer house. The Minsk City Economic Court has ordered New Life Church to vacate its prayer house by 5 December. The church council decided that they will stay in the prayer house 24 hours a day and ask God to bring the authorities to their senses and show them what to do and how best to react to their actions. On 4 December, the owners of the building (Minsk municipal authority) withdrew their claim and the eviction court proceedings were discontinued.
According to The Economist, Belarus occupies the fourth highest place in the world for divorce, behind South Korea, Russia and Aruba. The Belarusian Statistics Agency has recently published fresh data on marriages and divorces in Belarus. It also suggests the growing unpopularity of traditional family lifestyles among Belarusians. At the same time, marriages to foreigners are becoming increasingly commonplace. Many Belarusians, particularly women, deliberately look for foreigners who can marry them and take them away from Belarus. Weddings with Russians and Ukrainians happen most often. Germans, Israelis, Turks and Balts also feature highly among Belarusians' preferred partners. Of course, not many of them know Belarus' ranking on divorce.
Politicians in social networks, civil society in politics, geopolitical preferences of Belarusians and the state of small business were, among other topics, in the focus of Belarusian analysts over the last few weeks. Belarusian Politicians Have Nothing to Catch in Social Networks? – Naviny.by analyses what Belarusian politicians do in social networks and blogs: reveal personal secrets or promote their parties and movements. Most of the politicians use Facebook, broadcasting the same messages for Twitter and "VKontakte", as a form of communication with the people. However, so far there are not many politicians in the networks: during the parliamentary elections of 2012 only about 6% of the registered 364 candidates to the House of Representatives used the capabilities of the new media, mainly the opposition and independent candidates.