Belarus, the post-communist country that was freed from Soviet occupation in 1991, got in trouble again right away… The people elected a guy in Wellington boots, straight from the post-Soviet collective farm to be president of the country. As it turns out, this was a very bad idea… The people were hoping that a simple guy would be guarding the interests of the majority, but they made a huge mistake that is going to cost future generations since the national debt is growing exponentially. The elected president was taken from the collective farm, and instead of milking cows, he has been milking the entire nation for more than a quarter of a century!!!
So what is the story behind this and how come there is a dictatorship in modern Europe in the 21st century? Let me explain what happened…
Belarus is surrounded by Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine. Given that it shares its boundaries with so many countries, Belarus has always had a history of conflict. The country lost half of its land to Poland in a war and then suffered huge population and economic losses in the second World War. The country’s modern borders were set up in 1939, and after the post-war years, the republic redeveloped and reshaped.
The dissolution of the USSR helped Belarus gain the status of an independent country, and in the year 1991, Belarus declared independence, ending a long history of international conflict. But what followed was not what the citizens of Belarus had hoped for in their new picture of freedom and independence. The country had not seen new leadership since its first democratic election, and the public was duped and looted by their own president, Alexander Lukashenko.
Formation of Belarus
Belarus was born out of linguistic nationalist sentiments. Although, Belarusian is not much different than Polish. The modern Belarus territories were an earlier part of Soviet Russia and Poland.
The Russian approach to Belarussia was to suppress its linguistic identity. They didn’t allow any documents in Belarusian until 1905. The part living in Poland too was feeling resentment due to the Poland-ization drive in the country.
During World War II, the nation had to face the worst of situations. Even after the Germans left, the region couldn’t gain its pre-war status until 1971. This long-time resentment resulted in the nation declaring its independence in March 1990. However, circumstances haven’t changed much on a grassroots level.
Regime of Lukashenko (1994 – ongoing)
The first elections of the independent republic of Belarus were held in mid-1994 in which Alexander Lukashenko defeated six other candidates to become the first president of the Republic of Belarus, and is still the only president of the country. He has served six terms as president.
Originally, a term is supposed to last only five years, but by a referendum in 1999, he extended his term for two more years and later got re-elected for another term. Since then, it has been the same story every election term. More recently he was elected in the beginning of 2020 for his sixth term. All the elections since 2001 have been called rigged or unfair. And he has been termed as the “last remaining dictator of Europe” by the U.S. and the European Union.
Alexander Lukashenko came from a humble background of farmers and joined the armed forces; he rose through the ranks in the army and later joined a political party as a mere member. He worked his way up in the party, and his victory in the first ever democratic Belarus made him the president of Belarus in 1994. The first election was very crucial as it was being conducted on promises of development and economic revival, and the promises were made, and Belarus seemed to be doing well in the first term of its new president.
The real trouble started when the elections were supposed to be held for a new term. The president introduced a new referendum and amended the constitution to increase his serving period for another two years, which postponed the elections from 1999 to 2001, and this marked the beginning of the dictator rule of Lukashenko.
In the second election held in 2001, he was again re-elected as the president, but the election failed to meet international standards and thus was called “duped” by many people of the country and also by the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In this term only, Lukashenko was accused of aiding the likes of Saddam Hussein, and he received heavy critique from the EU and the U.S. and was also banned from a few nations. During this term, he announced another referendum to amend the constitution to increase the limit to contest the election for the president after two terms, as his term was near its end. Again, the standards for these elections were questioned by the OSCE, but the referendum was passed, and he was again capable of contesting the election for another term. So far, he had amended the constitution twice to make sure that his personal interests were protected and he could again be president.
So, for the third term all the opposition parties in Belarus came together and presented a single representative against Lukashenko to increase the chances of removing Lukashenko as president. But this strategy failed when Lukashenko, in one of his campaign speeches for the 2005 election, openly threatened anyone who dared to go against him. The OSCE again said that the election was rigged, and the people were intimidated and suppressed at the ballot box and prevented from exercising their free will. Lukashenko used the forces at his disposal to make sure that the votes at the ballot box were not casted against him. These elections invited heavy criticism from leaders of all twenty-five EU countries. He was also accused of falsifying the results of the election. There were no opposition members from a total of 110 Parliamentary seats.
The next election of 2010 saw ten opposition representatives only to be defeated in the rigged election by Lukashenko. These elections were again declared compromised by OSCE and faced major outrage in the public domain. Thousands and thousands of protestors opposed Lukashenko’s win, but they were beaten, jailed, tortured and criminally prosecuted under the charges of causing mass disturbance.
The situation has remained the same in the following terms and is still the same today. There is a huge public revolt against Lukashenko, but it seems to have no effect on him. He continues to rig elections and to use armed forces to suppress rebellions and extinguish even the last embers of freedom of speech and press in the country.
Policies of Lukashenko Regime
Economic
Lukashenko in the early years of his presidency showed favoritism towards Russia. He introduced trade laws and signed treaties with Putin to make a union between Russia and Belarus. These actions allowed free travel and trade across both countries. But soon, the Belarusian failed to stand his ground and became too dependent on the Kremlin. These policies were good for boosting the long sleepy economy and to counter high unemployment rates for a shorter period, but they were beyond inadequate when it came to helping the economy in the long run. And thus began the economic downfall of Belarus.
The country suffered a large devaluation in 2011 and has been going on the same path since. The actions and the governing responsible for the poor state of the country is often called Lukashism by the opposition and is described as the authoritarian way of deciding the fate of the nation. In a recent development, the value of the Belarusian Ruble has fallen so low that citizens are on the streets to protest in huge numbers and also to convert what remains of their money to Euro and USD, as they suspect the value of their currency can go even lower than the all-time low of 2.64 Belarusian Ruble to 1 USD, as most of the population considers Lukashenko incompetent at tackling a crisis.
There are protests and slogans raised at every Lukashenko public appearance, but it seems to have no effect on him as he continues to lead the country down the path of poverty and adversity. The corruption levels in the country are at an all-time high, and the public unrest has resulted in major strikes and gathering, resulting in closed factories and damaged public properties further aiding the economic turmoil of the country.
The country is in a huge debt, and half of its $16.6-billion-dollar debt is owed to Russia. Russia has also offered Belarus another loan of $1 billion dollars to shore up its sinking economy. The country is in its worst economic state while Lukashenko uses the public money to fuel his lavish life and fill his pockets by running scandals and scams on public money.
Public Health Care
The health care system in Belarus is poor in comparison to its European neighbors. The health care system is public and is overseen by the Ministry of Health since the independence and is paid for by general taxation. But the system is incapable of catering to the entire population. Citizens can opt for private health care, but because of low wages and the economic downfall, only a certain group of people can afford private health care. The Lukashenko government is out of ideas and ambition to help the poor of the country.
Freedom and Rights of Citizens
Since the start of his second regime, Lukashenko has been accused of rigging elections and threatening the opposition as well as openly issuing violent threats to anyone who dares oppose him. The government has been facing criticism from people in the form of protests for a long time now, but the attempts from the government to suppress such gatherings have also increased. Despite the nation’s poor situation, its security forces are still loyal to the president and carry out heinous violence in the name of national interests. The cases of police brutality and violent suppression of protestors has increased vigorously in recent years.
The freedom of journalism is next to nothing in the Republic of Belarus. As, the government controls most of what goes before public view and also the image of the nation in international news. So free journalism is a thing of myth in Belarus. Whatever information comes out in the public view is through private journalists or through leaked videos and pictures as most private news organizations have been shut down by the government, and the foreign journalists working there are also under constant surveillance.
Atrocities and Controversies
- Lukashenko has been known to have issued pro-Nazi statements. He has said that “The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus. Germany was raised from ruins, thanks to firm authority and not everything connected with that well-known figure Hitler was bad. German order evolved over the centuries and attained its peak under Hitler.”
- Lukashenko has been known to make anti-Semitic statements.
- Lukashenko has also made homophobic comments about a gay European delegate (Westerwelle). In a meeting, when he was referred to as “Europe’s last dictator” by Westerwelle, he responded by saying “better to be a dictator than gay.”
- Lukashenko has been accused in the conspiracy of disappearance and murder of the opposition leaders Yuri Zacharanka and Viktar Hanchar, along with their business associate Anatol Karsouski. He has also been linked in the disappearance of a journalist named Dzmitry Zavadski.
Public POV
The independent public polls are severely restricted in Belarus. And the results of the polls conducted by the government are either not declared or are used to promote propaganda. The last independent poll in Belarus was conducted in 2016, and it showed only 30% of the population to be in favor of the reigning president. This number has expected to have fallen to a low of 3%, thus inducing mockery of the president in the form of memes and the various internet videos, giving birth to the term “Sasha 3%”.
Conclusion
The people of the Republic of Belarus need a change of leadership and a new beginning. It might be tough since the current dictator is preparing his son to take over. If the Lukashenko regime doesn’t make the required changes in administration and in the policies, the Republic will soon be crushed by its humongous debt and the demands of the nation should be met. As a nation is made by its people, the people responsible for the wrongdoings should be held accountable and punished under the constitutional guidelines.
The Lukashenko regime is backed by Putin’s Russia, who, of course for sure want to annex the entire country. It makes it difficult for other nations to help to end the regime since nobody wants to get in trouble with nuclear power – Russia.
Let’s hope Belarus does not become the North Korea of Eastern Europe…
