WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:23.120 New Eastern Europe podcasts in response to the rigged elections on August ninth, twenty 2 00:00:23.399 --> 00:00:29.800 twenty and the violence used to suppress peaceful protesters, Alexander Lukashenka was attacked by 3 00:00:29.879 --> 00:00:36.520 cyberpartisans or cyber guerrillas in Belarus. That's much more than the actions of hakkas. 4 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.320 The very word guerrilla or partisan is of great importance here, As the 5 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:50.759 philosopher Amira Osmanova says, this is a very important factor in this year's campaign. 6 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:55.880 The phenomenon of cyber guerrillas should be considered in two dimensions. First of 7 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.479 all, the very name of cyber guerrillas and about the Russian context, means 8 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:04.879 a lot for Belarusians, because we're talking not about the hackers, but about 9 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:11.760 gorillas. In other words, someone who controls and efficiently uses technology and says 10 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:18.280 I want to oppose the repressive regime. This is of course a new generation, 11 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:22.519 but what I'm referring to is the continuing tradition of the guerrilla struggle, 12 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:27.079 which is inscribed in the genetic code of Belarusians. This term is close to 13 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:33.840 the heart of every Belarusian. Gorillas are a kind of hallmark of Belarusian history. 14 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:38.159 Both in terms of the Second World War in Belarus and the tradition of 15 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:44.239 post war Belarusian literature and cinema. There's a reason why the largest Belarusian film 16 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.799 company, Belarus Film, is commonly known as guerrilla film. But this picture 17 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.480 also refers to the fighters for Belarusian independence and culture in the nineties. That's 18 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:00.000 why the character of the cyber guerrilla combines these two especially important things. On 19 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:05.159 the one hand, a new generation and new technologies, and on the other 20 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:14.280 hand, it's a cultural code that now has political meaning. There is nothing 21 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.680 strange about this. Even before the protests, help and support of this kind 22 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:23.599 had been developing. Campaigns that arose even before the pandemic were highly active. 23 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:29.599 Their activities had been intensifying since roughly March, so the crowdfunding and technological base 24 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:35.520 for social mobilization already existed. If we're talking about the role of I strictly 25 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:40.000 in this year's election campaign, the wy Zent and voice platforms played a particularly 26 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:46.159 important role because in previous years everyone knew that the authorities would rig elections, 27 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:51.560 but it'll be exceedingly difficult to prove it, to unmask it almost impossible. 28 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:57.080 Now it's thanks to these platforms that it was possible to record it and show 29 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.919 it to the whole world. Thanks to these initiatives, it was possible to 30 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:06.840 gather enough evidence in data to convincingly prove that the elections had been rigged and 31 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:13.360 even reveal the scale of the forgery. This is an unprecedented situation for Belarus. 32 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.000 This is one of the most important features of the impact of it and 33 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:34.439 new technologies on the current situation. So far, protests against the rigged presidential 34 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:39.039 elections have been peaceful. It is the authority that users force people die, 35 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:46.000 they are hurt, arrested, lose their jobs. A sociologist Olgadrandva warns against 36 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:54.080 the use of violence by protesters, even if it's cyber violence. Boy, 37 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.879 this is not so clear my opinion, especially when it comes to the issues 38 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:06.560 of protection and access to personal data. In the West, this is an 39 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:12.599 extremely sensitive topic. On the one hand, this can be a very bold 40 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:16.160 and brash kind of move, but it's also a sign that some active citizens 41 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:21.319 are stuck for other means don't work. The tools used by cyber gorillas are 42 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:26.839 employed. If the peace agenda didn't work. The flowers that the women gave 43 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:31.879 to she wal beaks the military strong men didn't work, and the responsive violence 44 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:38.759 the regime received digital and virtual violence in response to physical violence. You can 45 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:42.839 understand this, but you have to be sensitive. Even in our situation. 46 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.399 Let's remember that in these actions of cyber gorillas there's lots of insults, hate 47 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:54.000 speech and verbal violence. Such a reaction in an acute crisis is understandable, 48 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:00.079 somewhat natural, but the tendency itself doesn't bode well because the appeal to go 49 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:04.639 out on the street with posters bearing personal data and people then following the information 50 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:10.240 disclosed, coming to houses, breaking windows and so on. This is one 51 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:15.519 issue for me that is personally problematic and it may have a negative effect in 52 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:26.000 the future. The political scientists emphasizes the extraordinary role of youth in protests, 53 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.040 the fact that the weapon they have decided to fight the regime of Alexander Lukashenko 54 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:39.240 is largely when it comes to young people, I would emphasize creativity and above 55 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:44.279 all humor, such good political humor and a shift of power in a manner 56 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:48.399 that's perfectly accurate. But at the same time gentle I did not expect this 57 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:54.800 kind of humor from young people, especially after all the violence massacre and brutality 58 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.279 on the part of the authorities. I hope someone will hold on to all 59 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:03.360 those hundreds and thousands of slogans and posters. This here is our political historical 60 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:09.319 legacy, and the fact that young people approach the beastly regime with such a 61 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:15.279 perversely positive humor means to me that we have here a new generation, a 62 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.639 generation that has nothing to do with this regime and doesn't identify with it in 63 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:26.120 any way. Even though this is a generation that grew up under Lukashenka, 64 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:30.000 they had no other president, but they also grew up in the conditions of 65 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:34.720 globalization, had contacts with foreign countries, and they traveled. At the same 66 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:39.519 time, when these young people go abroad, if anyone finds out where they're 67 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:45.279 from, they're only asked about Lukashenka and they're ashamed. Young people live with 68 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:50.000 Lukashenka in a parallel reality, and their creative approach to the protest encouraged ordinary 69 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:56.199 people to participate. They talked about the protest using language that was understandable and 70 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:00.480 witty. Of course, the fact that the authorities hit and torture and broad 71 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:03.800 daylight is terrible, but on the other hand, it also matters when people 72 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:09.879 habitually come out with posters and make fun of the authorities. Yes, they 73 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:15.079 simply make fun and it's in public. This has not happened before. It 74 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:21.399 also desecrates Botska's image. Open mocking of the autocrat greatly influenced the public mood 75 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:27.240 in the first weeks of the protest, and it proved once again the Belarusian's 76 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:32.879 protest only peacefully. Young people actively use social networks, which have largely been 77 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.160 the driving force behind the protests. Although it can't be said that it's a 78 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:43.600 youth only operation because all retirees also protests, but it was the youth that 79 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:55.319 made such a cool, creative engine of protest in the beginning. The sociologist 80 00:07:56.120 --> 00:08:13.360 is not surprised by the active role of youth in the protest movement. Quantum 81 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:20.800 of this participation of young people is not surprising under all social law, as 82 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.800 young people are the most flexible part of any society. All over the world, 83 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:31.279 activists are primarily young people. This is a natural process. The youth 84 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.159 has always been the driving force behind Belarusian protests, as it was a few 85 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:41.679 or a dozen years ago too, but in this protest its importance is immense 86 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:48.440 the youth themselves have changed. For example, students not only aren't afraid to 87 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.759 protest in the streets, but also at universities, they're not afraid of being 88 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:58.879 expelled. And there's a much lower possibility of intimidating youth with dismissal than there 89 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:13.960 is with adults. Optionous to maximiza a politic university. NaSTA Ya Krasova, 90 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:20.320 the Proosian single and ethnologist, draws attention to the growing solidarity among young people 91 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:37.399 students students who have experienced fundamental repression such that they cannot speak, who have 92 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:41.279 been deprived of the right to vote, who have been removed from the student 93 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:50.039 register. They also come in and protest in defense of their colleagues other students 94 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.279 because they know that it affects everyone. They go because it doesn't only affect 95 00:09:54.279 --> 00:10:00.960 an adult or a working person, it also affects students. Student in Belarus, 96 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.120 the first year student is not yet eighteen years old, and miners have 97 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.559 been taken or seized in a very brutal manner right before the eyes of many 98 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:15.279 people. No law works, and so a person understands regardless of age, 99 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:18.200 but it's not normal that you have to rebel against it. You have to 100 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:22.639 shout about it, and I'm very happy that the students solidarity is being born. 101 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:26.399 It's there, it used to be. It seems to me that it 102 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:41.360 wasn't on this kind of scale. Kale Max Roust from the University of Warsaw 103 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.399 underlines the role of changing and opening world in which young Belarussians live. Like 104 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:58.600 other young Europeans, there has been a generational change. Today's millennials in the 105 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.279 twenty and thirties are completely different people, completely different youth who are even five 106 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:07.960 years ago. In this civilization and European aspect, it has changed a lot. 107 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:13.399 And I'm not talking only about the development of the IT industry and communication 108 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:18.080 technologies, but more Belarussian youth are the same as their peers in European countries. 109 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.320 In the United States, They've watched the same series programs, use the 110 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.120 same social media, use the same YouTube, Netflix, Hbo or other similar 111 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.200 services. And in recent years young people have also got used to the fact 112 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.399 that the world is open. That these young people know languages. Maybe they 113 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:39.399 have a limited access to travel to Europe, but they can also travel cheaply 114 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:45.600 around Europe via Vilnius or Warsaw. The greatest neglect of the authorities was that 115 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:48.399 they did not fully notice, in my opinion, that belter Russian youth live 116 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:54.440 on networks just like their peers and neighboring countries, and the digital environment for 117 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:00.200 these young people is the natural environment. For the authorities, however, is 118 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:05.799 still quite an unexplored area. And secondly, today's youth also has completely different 119 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.320 expectations not only for themselves but also from the state, from the world and 120 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.879 looks completely different at how the state should function, how education and business should 121 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:18.120 function. That's why there are so many startups. So simply, this crew 122 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:22.519 Soviet rhetoric which the Belarussian ruling elites used all the time, it does not 123 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:28.960 appeal to contemporary Belarussian youth and it is symptomatic not only for the Belarussian government 124 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.799 but also for the old opposition that it does not seem to be able to 125 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:39.440 manage. And that is why young people are also so active in these protests. 126 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.440 And these young people are also so much that with the development of today's 127 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:46.799 technology, they are not afraid that, for example, they will lose their 128 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:52.320 job, will be thrown out of university, because they know that somehow online 129 00:12:52.399 --> 00:13:05.039 or offline, they will continue their education to online to offline. The generational 130 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:11.480 change alone does not explain the willingness of jang Bilarussians to protest. Alexandra Papco, 131 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:16.720 a journalist from Bill sat TV, describes the specific situation of people who 132 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:26.120 found their way to the rapidly developing IT industry a ludicia truly near comfort of 133 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:33.440 tim cry. People felt uncomfortable in this country, in this political regime. 134 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:37.080 You can, of course fence yourself with a fence that is longer than in 135 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.399 reality, go for winter in Bali, or spent your vacation in Paris while 136 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:43.720 your parents your bank account is in Belarus, and everything that concerns you. 137 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:50.559 The various absolutely absurd acts of the authority as work. The repressive actions of 138 00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:56.320 the authorities also affect you. And these people simply fear me and have more 139 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.279 time to think about how to continue living and whether it is worth having in 140 00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:07.120 a country like that. Rebellion against the system is the domain of the most 141 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:13.200 active people. Secondly, the least connected with the authorities. With the power 142 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.279 that has the fewest instruments to influence you feel less connected, less blackmailed. 143 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:22.440 You can act. I think the life of an ordinary worker is much more 144 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:26.720 difficult. He hears much more intimidation than a representative of the IT industry. 145 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.320 But this fear that he may slow down, that may come to him, 146 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:35.080 and he will not leave the country in a few hours as he can as 147 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:46.879 an IT representative. It is this fear that makes him not protest. The 148 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:52.759 authorities do not seem to understand that Bilarus has changed and a new generation of 149 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:58.720 people using new tools has arisen. According to the Belarusian political scientist Babo Usov, 150 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:11.039 we are dealing with an analogal regime in a digital world. It is 151 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.919 about welfare, about the standard of living, about technological development. The situation 152 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:22.679 has changed a lot anyway, This revolution was impossible without technological changes in society. 153 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:28.120 Today, every student, young person or employee of state earned enterprises in 154 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:33.080 Belarus has a smartphone an iPhone and can film what is happening. This is 155 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:37.000 where the regime that uses analog technology is and a society that uses digital technologies 156 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:46.240 clash. When such traditional mass media shouts down. People using telegram already know 157 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:52.120 everything anyone can communicate. That is the social networks. Communication networks are so 158 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:56.799 developed, even more developed than in Poland, because in an authoritarian state. 159 00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:00.840 People have to look for some other possibilities or channels that connection. In Belarus 160 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:06.240 and Russia, telegram channels have become a very powerful tool to fight the system. 161 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:11.480 Telegram, also Facebook, even the Russian at Naclassniki of contact Ye. 162 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:18.519 So this information progress in Belarus is very high. Contact actually post ten in 163 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:30.399 Bardosk Belarussian authorities. So the IT industry only as an element of economic development, 164 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:36.240 a source of hard currency and a method of using young talents for the 165 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:45.799 needs of the country's economy Antonio Center for Eastern European Studies at the University of 166 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.600 Over the past seven to ten years, the government has been carefully building the 167 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.399 country's IT image because it's so some economic opportunities in it. For the simple 168 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:07.519 reason that Belarus, what it inherited from the Soviet Union was generally dependent on 169 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:11.000 Russia, so it was dependent on raw materials, it was dependent on parts. 170 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:15.200 That is, the economic dependence remained, and in the IT sector, 171 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:21.119 the IT direction could give some economic independence. Of course, there was a 172 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:26.079 prospect of a few that was a high technology park built near Minsk. Also 173 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:30.319 a political activist but also an activist of Lukashenka's power was at the head of 174 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.759 this. Previously he was the chairman of the Belarussian Youth Alliance, and it 175 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:40.359 somehow developed. There people willingly stayed in Minsk. They did not go abroad. 176 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:44.240 They could stay in Minsk and decent money, go work with uber, 177 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:48.559 have fun on Friday and Saturday nights. Even for this reason, this many 178 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:53.559 entertainment district in Mints Ports created, which is informally called Zabidska, that is 179 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:57.200 a series of small streets with bars, pubs and restaurants in the old town. 180 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:03.119 It unfolded on the way all these transformations started With the fun of this 181 00:18:03.319 --> 00:18:07.480 it development, young people were more and more willing to stay in the country. 182 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.240 Accordingly, in August everything started. People who tried not to participate in 183 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:15.599 political life by not accepting certain elements of the reaction to society on the part 184 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:21.559 of the authorities began to participate more and more actively. We remember that a 185 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.839 man who lives in Minsk but works and has contacts with foreign countries can often 186 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:29.240 afford to go somewhere else, for example, for a weekend in Europe, 187 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:33.519 on vacation or on business. Of course, it can compare. And it 188 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:37.359 just happened at some point, not that it fired, but that it simply 189 00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:42.240 passed from sleep to such an active phase. From a certain excess of it 190 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:47.839 specialists. One of these forms was created, that is cyber guerrillas as a 191 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:52.440 form of peace protest. First, there have always been provocations to show the 192 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:57.079 appropriate TV picture later right and closed the case. However, no provocation succeeded 193 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:02.720 this time because society after the three days of protests cared for the image that 194 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:11.000 these were peaceful protests and one such forms were actually cyber activity. So the 195 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.599 beginning was quite simple that I would say today we are attacking the site sort 196 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:18.000 of state structures, state institutions, and then it has already started to develop. 197 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.319 People who got involved in this movement saw some perspective in it. I 198 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.000 cannot say that this is one of the key elements. This is interesting for 199 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.920 now as a phenomenon. There is a high probability that this will develop. 200 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:36.480 It must be understood that these are people who do not all sit in Belarus. 201 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:40.079 They are mainly foreign people. They work, have different views, come 202 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:44.079 from different backgrounds, and there are certain processes which this movement must go through 203 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.640 in order to shape the only front of action and shats. So for Belarussians 204 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:51.680 in general, there was no surprise because the only way for us to live 205 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:56.119 a normal life in quotation Marks was to go to Java courses, study after 206 00:19:56.200 --> 00:19:59.559 six months and find a job. Even a lot of my colleagues, from 207 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:03.039 the knowledge of history have gone this way or gone to work, for example 208 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:15.279 as a tester in World of Tanks, World of Times. The prospects of 209 00:20:15.319 --> 00:20:21.119 a good life and relative freedom have attracted open minded people to the IT industry. 210 00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:26.720 The combination of technical skills in the pursuit of freedom outside one's own country 211 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:33.519 resulted in the awakening of a movement that is still difficult to define. No 212 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:38.440 wonder that Alexander Loukashenko's quasi Soviet regime does not understand it. Business vanzan is 213 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:49.279 protest or high tech business within the internet sector plays a key role or has 214 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:55.839 become such an icon of protest if they do not support the protest. The 215 00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:00.720 picture that has been presented, the picture that has been present entered that this 216 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.799 is such a force leading these protests is largely true, and in my opinion, 217 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.920 it is related to the fact that this sector has become such a reservoir 218 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:11.839 of people with most liberal views. It in Belarus is not just an industry 219 00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:15.759 of the economy where for ten years the most active people have gone who could 220 00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:21.519 possibly find themselves in other industries from medicine to art. Only due to the 221 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:25.240 fact that this sector is integrated with the whole world and that wages there are 222 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:29.440 at a global level and not at a Belarusian level, people consciously chose to 223 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:33.240 work in IT rather than go to perhaps more heartfelt but not so well profitable 224 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:38.519 sectors. Because of these market dysfunctions in Belarus, Because of these distortions caused 225 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:42.680 by state regulation, the distort in Belarusian economy, people were going to the 226 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:48.279 IT sector, and this sector gathered not just talented people whose talent was that 227 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.799 they write code nicely, but that the sector gather people with a high imagination, 228 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.200 open world views, and many other qualities that are not definitely important for 229 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:02.880 the IT sector but also important for society as such. One should not be 230 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:07.440 surprised if we see the largest number of patrons among this sector, people supporting 231 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:11.759 the protest activity with money. One should not be surprised if we see people 232 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.279 they're inventing new forms of protest, if we see people participating in protests. 233 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:19.680 There little is known about cyber partisans. We do not really know who the 234 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:25.359 cyber gorillas are. As an ordinary citizen or as a man watching the protests, 235 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.079 I see literally a few of their actions. The first is blocking the 236 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.440 websites of some offices. The second type of action as the publishing of lists 237 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:37.720 of people cooperating with the regime. Only again, is it an activity that 238 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:42.880 requires knowledge of the IT industry or just access to people working in power structures 239 00:22:47.359 --> 00:23:04.880 Temple Luji. Modern technologies also make it possible to disseminate information about events in 240 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:11.559 bi larrous reports are often published immediately on the internet on social media. It 241 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:18.680 underlies the role of civic journalism. The analyst Vernica Laputka underlines that the Russian 242 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:33.880 Awakening is not only the domain of young people protests, dentivis parts via. 243 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:38.119 The scale of these protests among young people and students is very large, and 244 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:45.640 journalists who in actuality work in military conflict contracts also play in a specially important 245 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:51.079 role. What they do is work that is terribly dangerous for them and terribly 246 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:55.720 important. Without journalists, there wouldn't be so much information about what's happening. 247 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.400 It can be said that there's a growing number of so called citizen journalists, 248 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:07.039 people who shoot videos NonStop document what's happening in Belarus and transmit it via channels 249 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.559 on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, transmit it to the whole world in fashion. 250 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:22.640 I'd like to emphasize the role of Belarusian pensioners who joined the protests and 251 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.440 the solidarity chains, and people with disabilities, because I believe that they are 252 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:33.200 truly more vulnerable to attacks by the militia simply for physical reasons. They may 253 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:37.119 be physically weaker and not so quick to run away, and they keep going 254 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:44.079 on, and of course it's double courage on their part that they participate in 255 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:48.359 the protests and in the solidarity chains and demonstrate also that they cannot put up 256 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:59.799 with what's happening in Belarus. We invite you to listen to podcasts devoted to 257 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:04.200 other aspects of the Belarusian awakening, the art of protests and the role of 258 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:14.519 women. Podcasts are produced by Free Range Productions.