Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights: Belarus – from the Soviet Union to Europe’s last dictatorship

29. November 2010 – Belarus – from the Soviet Union to Europe’s last dictatorship

Belarus has been ruled by Aleksandr Lukashenka for almost sixteen years. In this time, the post-Soviet state transformed into an isolated, authoritarian country where the violation of human rights is an everyday issue.

The 1980s were the era of dramatic changes in the Soviet Union: Gorbachev introduced his policy of Glasnost and Perestrojka, which aimed to reform the state and led to historical reassessment and revived public opinion. These reforms did not affect Belarus until the late 1980s. Things started to change in the autumn of 1988, when the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) was founded. The organization had its stronghold in the city of Minsk and was mainly representing the Belarusian intellectual elite. The Communist party leadership considered the BPF as a serious threat, so the organization was obliged to hold its founding congress in Vilnius, Lithuania.

According to key members of the BPF, the formation of the organization derived from three key events: The discovery of the mass graves in the Kurapaty forest, just outside Minsk, the impact of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and the debate about Belarusian language and national identity. Slowly the political turmoil in Moscow started to influence the public opinion in Belarus.

This was the political climate in which the leaders of the Belarusian, Ukranian and Russian Soviet republics gathered at a dacha near the Belarusian village of Viskuli, on the 8^th of December 1991. Stanislau Shushkevich, Leonid Kravchuk and Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Soviet Union and replaced it by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Yeltsin played out his rival Michael Gorbachev and the former Soviet republic of Belarus became an independent state.

Lukashenka’s road to power

Total disillusion with communism was not an issue in Belarus, unlike in Ukraine and the Baltic States. Thus, not much changed for the citizens of Belarus: Old Soviet structures like the KGB and the old party elite stayed intact. Nevertheless, the ‘shock economy’ which was introduced by Yeltsin’s government in Russia had an enormous influence on the Belarusian economy. Russia had become the most important trade partner of Belarus and pumped millions of Roubles in the Belarusian economy. Therefore, the economic crisis in Russia had a major influence on Belarus. The first years of Belarusian independence where characterized by economic hardship and an internal power struggle between the main politicians. Unlike in Russia and Ukraine, the nationalists of the BPF did not have enough middle ground to cooperate with the communists. The nationalist discourse simply did not appeal to enough citizens.

At that time, Aleksandr Lukashenka was the director of a collective farm and head of an anti-corruption committee. He gained his political fame through his work for the anti-corruption committee and managed to gather the required signatures to participate in the presidential elections. The country’s first elections where held shortly after the acceptance of the first constitution in July 1994. The new constitution introduced a presidential republic. According to several scholars, the introduction of a presidential republic reduced the chance of a successful democratization in Belarus. The country did not have a strong tradition of local government and the regional authorities where politically weak compared to the centre in Minsk. The first elections took place in summer 1994. The most important candidates on the left side of the political spectrum where prime-minister Kebich, Novikau (Party of Communists Belarus), Dubko (Agrarian Union) and Aleksandr Lukashenka. During the election campaign, Lukashenka presented himself as an ordinary man of the people, full of nostalgic Soviet feelings. Many Belarusians saw him as the perfect answer to economic hardship and corruption. Lukashenka won the first round with 45,1% of the votes, followed by Kebich with 17,4%. In the second round, the voters again chose overwhelmingly for Lukashenka. He scored 80,1% of the votes.

In the first months after his victory it seemed that Lukashenka was assembling his cabinet with leading figures from the previous administration. But things soon proved to be the other way around: During an interview on national television, he threatened to remove all government representatives from their position if they would not agree with his government policy. By the end of 1994 almost all newspaper editors in Belarus where replaced. Lukashenka did not seem to accept any criticism. In late December 1994, a new amended version of the constitution was published. This new version gave Lukashenka powers that are unknown in other parts of the former Soviet Union. The new constitution allowed him to exercise unlimited power over all political institutions, the parlament and the court of justice.

But Lukashenka went even further: In spring 1995, Lukashenka issued a referendum on four controversial questions:

Do you agree that the russian language should have the same status as the belarusian language?
Do you support the President’s effort to create an economic Union with Russia?
Do you support the proposal for a new state flag (similar to the one used during the Soviet Union) and new state symbols of the Republic of Belarus?
Do you agree with the need to introduce changes to the Constitution, anticipating the pre-term dissolution of the Supreme Soviet by the president of Belarus in cases of systematic violations of the Constitution?

The referendum was passed as announced. Thus, when Lukashenka consolidated his power, he introduced new national symbols based upon Soviet nostalgia. The post-Soviet white-red-white flag was replaced by the flag that was used when Belarus was still a part of the Soviet Union. Russian was introduced as a second state language. These measures assured that nationalism is almost non-existent in Belarus now.

International relations and human rights

Like Russia, the European Union is also taking interest in Belarusian politics: Major pipelines stream from Russia through Belarus into the EU and supply millions of people with gas. Belarus profited from a cheap gas deal for years, but it seems that the Medvedev- administration decided that former Soviet republics have to pay the normal market price. EU representatives are worried that – when it comes to a gas crisis - the Belarusians would close the pipelines, like the Ukrainians did in January 2009. This would leave new EU member states like Poland and the Baltic states without gas.

Another reason why the west is taking particular interest in the actions of Lukashenka is his critical attitude towards Western Europe. Lukashenka made several provocative statements towards the west and seems to lack concern about the international opinion on Belarus. One example is his interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, in which he praised Hitler’s effort to reconstruct Germany after the First World War. Another example is his flirt with the Milosevic regime in Yugoslavia: During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Lukashenka offered Milosevic his support against the West. The Belarusian parliament even discussed the option to incorporate Yugoslavia into a future Russian-Belarusian Union. Nevertheless, the EU included Belarus in its European Neighbourhood Policy. The CoE released a document titled ‘What the European Union could bring to Belarus’. Some of the offers mentioned in the document where easier travel terms for Belarusian citizens, cross-border cooperation and financial support to boost the economy. Due to Lukashenka’s authoritarian leadership and the lack of progress on human rights issues, Belarus got far less assistance than other countries in the programme, for example Ukraine and Moldova.

EU representatives worry about the fierce human rights abuses that occur in Belarus on an every day basis. According to the NGO Human Rights Watch, the situation in Belarus got even worse in 2009. Four new political prisoners where placed behind bars, several demonstrations where violently dispersed and NGO’s and newspapers where denied registration. Civil society groups nevertheless remain active. They are an easy target for the police and the judicial system, because they often do not possess the right administration papers. The authorities also regularly prevent the international community from entering the country.

Lukashenka will run for his fourth term during the presidential elections on the 19^th of December. A strategically chosen date, right before Christmas, when the attention of the media is limited. Like during previous elections, an OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) mission will be deployed to monitor the elections.

Sources:

- D.R Marples, Belarus, a denationalized nation, (Amsterdam 1999).

- E.A. Korosteleva e.a (ed.) Contemporary Belarus, Between democracy and dictatorship, (London 2003).