10/24/2020 0 Comments Protests Against the August 9th Election in Belarus Grow in Number and the International Response Since the August 9th presidential election in Belarus, a political storm has become increasingly polarizing for Belarusian citizens. The headline facts are that President Lukashenko was re-elected in a landslide victory regarded by critics (including American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo) as not being “free and fair”. During the campaign cycle, Lukashenko stymied competition through threats and arrests. The wife of prominent opponent Sergei Tikhanovsky joined the race late in the cycle and became the main opposition candidate after a conference amongst Lukashenko’s challengers. This is President Lukashenko’s sixth term in office but the first election where international observers were not present to monitor the fairness of the election. Since May 24, 2020, the protests have been in full swing with over 100,000 people protesting in central Minsk (capital-city) calling for the resignation of Lukashenko.
After Lukashenko allegedly won the election, the protests that erupted across Belarus were criticizing the potential lack of fairness in the election. These accusations were only fueled by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s (Lukashenko’s primary opponent) video she posted regarding moving to Lithuania to protect herself and her children after openly contesting the results of the August 9th election. The support for the protests has been mixed in Belarus. Given the seemingly large numbers of protestors on the streets of Belarus’ major cities, Lukashenko’s supporters have claimed that he is an integral pillar of Belarusian stability. Likening Lukashenko to Stalin, his elderly supporters have claimed that while they lived under fear with Stalin, there was respect and order within Belarus. They also claim that democracy is twisted and doomed and inherently produces people that are more selfish. With these statements and a substantial support system for Lukashenko, the protests are not representative of every Belarusian. President Lukashenko is fully engaged in undermining opposition to the election and himself. Reporters and protesters allege a campaign of state violence: the detaining of opposition figures and protesters and the use of torture to strike fear, echoed by this POLITICO piece on September 1 where opposition candidate and claimant to the presidency Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said about 70 protesters had gone missing. Lukashenko is also fighting over the airwaves: calling protesters “rats”, implying that protests were connected with NATO interests in Belarus, The police have predictably been aggressive towards protestors. On the night after the election, in the first wave of protests, it is estimated that 3,000 arrests [occurred] in Minsk and other cities. Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades, not seen before in Belarus, to disperse crowds. The details emerged of alleged police brutality [also emerged], with detainees badly beaten and forced to endure overcrowded jails. While the international community or the United Nations has not taken any decisive action against the Belarusian government’s response to the protests, every European country (except Moldova), the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, and Afghanistan have all openly criticized the violence against the protestors and have openly refused to accept the results of the contested election that has been deemed “neither free nor fair” by the European Council. Despite widespread international support for the protestors, key nations like Russia, China, and Turkey have supported Lukashenko and have in fact supported the Belarusian government’s use of violence against the protestors. Amid the events unfolding in Belarus, it is up to the international community and the United Nations to decide what the next steps will be for this contentious election and an evidently contentious world issue.
0 Comments
![]() History
Works Cited Basu, Zachary. “Protests Erupt in Belarus after ‘Europe’s Last Dictator’ Claims Election Win.” Axios, Axios Media, www.axios.com/belarus-protests-election-933b5fa4-c2fa-4132-b10d-568e542393a6.html. Accessed 11 Aug. 2020. BBC Monitoring. “Protests Shake up Belarus Presidential Election.” BBC News, 7 Aug. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53650867. BBC News. “Clashes Erupt after Disputed Belarus Election.” BBC News, 10 Aug. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53717834. Biedron, Robert, and Petras Austrevicius. JOINT STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR OF THE DELEGATION FOR RELATIONS WITH BELARUS, MEP Robert BIEDROŃ, AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S STANDING RAPPORTEUR ON BELARUS, MEP Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS on the on-going crackdown on opposition figures and civil society activists in the run-up of the Presidential election in Belarus. European Parliament,2020, www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/207948/Robert%20BIEDRON%20&%20Petras%20AUSTREVICIUS_Joint%20statement_crackdown%20on%20opposition%20and%20civil%20society%20before%20the%20Presidential%20election.pdf. Accessed 11 Aug. 2020. “Belarus Opposition Disputes Leader’s Landslide Win.” BBC News, 10 Aug. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53721410. Hodge, Nathan. “As Belarusians Protest, Xi and Putin Rally behind Lukashenko.” CNN, 10 Aug. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/08/10/europe/belarus-lukashenko-election-analysis-intl/index.html. Petkova, Mariya. “Who Is the Woman Challenging Belarusian President Lukashenko?” Al Jazeera, 7 Aug. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/woman-challenging-belarusian-president-lukashenko-200807102413488.html. Reuters, Thomson. “One Protester Dead as New Post-Election Protests in Belarus Prompt Police Crackdown.” CBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, 10 Aug. 2020, www.cbc.ca/news/world/belarus-lukashenko-s-re-election-rigged-1.5680359. Roache, Madeline. “The Leader of Europe’s ‘Last Dictatorship’ Is Facing an Unprecedented Challenge. Here’s What It Could Mean for Belarus.” Time, 7 Aug. 2020, time.com/5875494/belarus-election. Wikipedia contributors. "2020 Belarusian presidential election." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Aug. 2020. Web. 11 Aug. 2020. ![]() On July 25, 2020, Poland’s Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro announced that Poland will withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention was signed in 2011 among the nations of Europe. This agreement was a commitment by the European Union and non-EU countries to crack down on domestic violence against women which includes stalking, psychological/physical/verbal abuse towards women, encourages the ratifying parties to invest in awareness initiatives and establishing a hotline for domestic abuse, et cetera. The Istanbul Convention also requires “gender-based violence to be recognised as a form of persecution when establishing refugee status” (European Parliament). By 2015, Poland signed and ratified this agreement. By 2019, every EU member either signed the agreement or signed and ratified it; however, this will change with Poland withdrawing its ratification and signature of the Istanbul Convention. Mr. Ziobro stated that this agreement “violated the rights of parents and "contains elements of an ideological nature" (BBC News). This decision has also come after the reelection of Andrej Duda who has sworn to protect Poland’s Catholic values and traditional family values. As Marta Lempart told Reuter News at one of the many protests throughout Poland’s cities to the anticipated withdrawal, “The aim is to legalize domestic violence.” Works Cited “Istanbul Convention: Poland to Leave European Treaty on Violence against Women.” BBC News, BBC, 25 July 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53538205. Andrzej Duda was elected for a 2nd term in the Polish election that concluded on July 12th. The election’s result was very close since Andrzej Duda received a bare majority of votes (51%) over his rival Rafał Trzaskowski who won 49% of the vote. While Andrzej Duda won the election by a slim majority, his victory has many critics in Europe and abroad fearing that Duda will push for a more nationalist agenda in Poland and push Poland further toward the far-right.
These fears aren’t unfounded. During Duda’s first term as President, he and PiS (Law and Justice Party and the party that officially endorsed him for President in October 2019) began reform on the media laws so Duda’s administration would control the news outlets and dramatically reduce the number of news stations that are critical of PiS. Duda and PiS have also decried foreign media companies in Poland who they believe have been part of string up opposition to Duda and the Law and Justice Party. More media reforms to strengthen government power in the media can be expected in Duda’s second term as President. Duda’s moves to strengthen government power over the Constitutional Congress and the legislative branches have brought Poland under scrutiny by the European Union who at one point tried to “trigger the so-called Article 7 disciplinary process on charges that Warsaw is breaching the EU's fundamental values. If that process went all the way, it could see Poland stripped of its voting rights in the EU” (Politico). Duda’s administration has also fought with the European Union over the EU’s carbon emission neutrality goal. In fact, Poland is “the only member country not to commit to drastically limiting carbon emissions across the bloc by 2050” (Politico). With the second term as President, the world and Europe can expect further diplomatic conflict between Poland and the European Union. Critics have also noted Duda’s unnerving attitudes towards the LGBT community. According to a BBC article, Duda called the LGBT ‘ideology’ “more destructive than communism” (BBC News). Duda passed the “Family Charter” in June of 2020 which “includes pledges to prevent gay couples from marrying or adopting children and to ban teaching about LGBT issues in schools” (BBC News). Duda’s re-election is representative of the global trend towards far-right politics especially eastern Europe’s growing attraction towards populist authoritarianism. As LGBT Rights activist Robert Biedron said, Duda’s policies “are reminiscent of the most brutal... times of Polish and European history” (BBC News). Works Cited “4 Takeaways from Duda's Reelection as Polish President.” POLITICO, www.politico.com/news/2020/07/13/andrzej-duda-poland-reelection-takeaways-359578. “Polish Election: Andrzej Duda Says LGBT 'Ideology' Worse than Communism.” BBC News, BBC, 14 June 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53039864. |
AboutAny geopolitical events in Europe (including Russia) or updates with the European Union or any news from alliances on the European Continent. Archives
October 2020
Categories |