WEBVTT

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New Eastern Europe podcasts and been.
The Russian woman who participated in the protests

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that broke out after the rigged presidential
elections in the summer of twenty twenty told

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her story. For security reasons,
she asked for anonymity somewhere. I am

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no hero. I'm an ordinary Belarusian. When we found out about the election

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results, I felt cheated. It
was like being spit in the face.

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It was like a statement of contempt
for my own nation. My story began

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when I went to see the results
from the election commission. There were disturbances

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already at that stage. We were
with a group of other people, and

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then the militia transports arrived and started
taking the man and we were shocked of

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what was happening. After all,
we just came to see the results.

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It was terribly upsetting. Even then, people were being driven mad. Together

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with other women, we tried to
rescue the men, but those from the

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military services, you know, were
stronger, so they took them all.

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Later on we saw that from the
very beginning there had been brutal beatings for

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no reason. After the announcement of
the results, I went to all the

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protests and demonstrations I also did not
hide my position on the internet on my

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profiles and forums. In fact,
from August eleventh, I took part in

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all the rallies and marches. The
last time I was at a demonstration was

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on September seventeenth. It was in
Guiraudno where there was a race of cylinder

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bikes in support of the president.
In September, most of the demonstrations were

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held on weekends, but for this
rally there was a large demonstration on Thursday.

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There were already a lot of residents
in the city center, so I

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came. I do have a child, but of course I came alone.

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A lot of people gathered, girls, women, guys. We stood,

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of course, with flags, symbols
and posters with white balloons. Soon the

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first car drove up, a lot
of them got out what we call ninja

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undercover officers dressed in plainclothes and jeans
and without any identification marks, and ninja

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because they have a specific sort of
black face mask by the clawathing that covers

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their entire head and face. From
the start, covertly from under their face

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coverings, they began pointedly recording us
on camera phones. They did it ostentatiously.

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Right next to your face so we
can see we're being taped. But

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we stood our ground and peacefully kept
on. Then another bus drove up,

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a ninja jumped out of it like
a madman. More ninjas broke into the

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crowd quickly, and an ordinary roundup
began. They caught everyone who struck back.

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One of the ninjas at the girl
next to me, knocked her down

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and violently twisted her arms. It
was obvious that it hurt her a lot.

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She was lying face down on the
asphalt and the undercover cop was standing

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on top of her. He pressed
his boot between her shoulder blades. The

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girl was screaming and howling in pain, and he only shouted at her and

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humiliated her. The other girls around
her started yelling to confuse him a bit,

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but it didn't help. And then
I decided to rip off his balala

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clava to bear's face so he'd let
go. I tore it off, and

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he looked at me furiously. It
couldn't see much because I immediately started running

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away through the crowd. I ran
away because I know the story of a

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girl from Minsk who did the same
thing. She ripped the mask off of

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Omond officers and she got shards as
a criminal for it, allegedly for attack

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of an officer, and she got
a year in prison. The crowds were

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huge. There were so many people, so much noise. That's why I

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managed to escape. I ran to
the car I had parked in the lot

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just a few streets away. I
drove home quickly, and on the way,

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I got to thinking about the fact
I was wearing pretty distinctive clothing,

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that I had also been videotaped by
the service and so on. So if

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he wants, he'll find me.
My neighbors a former policeman, and he

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told me that the Belarusian services have
had facial recognition programs since as early as

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twenty ten, so they certainly have
even better methods. Now I realized that

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I was in danger, that they
could come for me, put me in

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jail just like that. It would
be a piece of cake for them.

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I understood that I was in a
bind, so I was scared. I

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was so terrified. I went to
a friend, the person who was watching

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my child. We chatted and I
realized that it was too dangerous to stay

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in the country. I quickly went
home, packed my suitcase. In the

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space of an hour, returned to
my friend. I spent the evening and

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that night with her, and then
I called my neighbor from a foreign cell

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phone to ask what had been going
on, and the neighbor said that in

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the evening everything had been fine,
but that morning, when she left for

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work, the door to my apartment
had been opened. I have a metal

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door, and they just ripped the
lock, the handle. They broke everything.

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It was evident that they used specialized
equipment, which is strange because no

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one knows when had happened. No
one saw or heard anything. At this

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point I made the decision that I
urgently needed to leave. I ate breakfast

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quickly, we went to the station. I caught the first mar schrutkaminibus and

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we managed to enter Poland. Once
I arrived at the border, I told

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them that I only had a one
way ticket and there was no way back

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from me. I was quarantined here
and now they have formally admitted me into

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Poland. I am now a refugee. Nasa, the Pularussian singer and ethnologist,

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emphasizes the importance of ordinary women,
who played an extremely important role in

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the protests. Tashi Kobeko pictures of
women who went out with flowers and augusts

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circulated around the whole world, and
a white salidarity chain was set up next

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to the Komorowski Market. There were
women who stood in Victory Square and sang

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Lulla byes, women who gave flowers
to men, women who lined up next

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to the Red Church on Independent Square, women who came out with pictures of

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beaten men and looked fiercely in the
eyes of officers and showed them these pictures.

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Women who defended with their own bodies
the men who were hunted by shiwoviki.

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It all shows incredible courage and rationality, restores a sense of justice,

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and at the same time it shows
that these are women who are a significant

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for women who know what's most important, because without freedom there is no life,

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and so it directly affects them.
But they also know what the threat

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is, how it can be dangerous
in the future, so they want to

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prevent this from happening, and they're
calling for an end to this violation,

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for new elections and for the release
of all political prisoners. Veronica Analysts points

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out that women have become the key
actresses of the events in Belarus. Kai

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Symbola protest. There are women who
have become symbols of these protests, women

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who are now in prison. I'm
mainly talking about Mariya Kalnikova, Setlana Tikonovskaya

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who have to remain abroad. Veronica
Takkalo too, Monica Kovakova, Sfetlana Alexeyevich

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or Belarusian Nobel Prize winner also play
an important role. But the role of

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girls, women who have organized themselves, who have formed groups on the telegram

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messaging app, and who organize themselves
in various cities and towns in Belarus.

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This role cannot be underestimated. The
fact that women have been involved in these

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actions for the first time in the
history of modern Belarus shows how outrageous what's

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happening in Belarus is and how strongly
the women have been feeling and confident,

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certain that they can fight for their
rights, for freedom, for things that

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are important for democratic development in Belarus. For values at Belarusians share with various

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countries, especially in the West,
was prostra The awakening of Bela Russians,

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especially women, was a surprise.
Nastaya Krassova beliefs that women have always played

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an important role in the tradition and
history of her country, although they have

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often been overlooked as symboli opposite,
the world has already spread photos and recordings

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with the symbol of the Belarusian opposition
from the nineties and eighties. Also Miss

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Nina Baginskaya, amazing women such as
Lena Chanca, the basketball champion who was

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in prison and previously spoke out in
defense of oppressed people. Natalia Dulina is

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an associate professor in the Italian language
department of Mentical Linguistic University who supported her

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students and was dismissed and she's currently
in prison. Of course, we're not

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talking only about women, because it's
the entire society. Students, for tirees,

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the disabled, farmers, the IT
industry, medics, scientists, lecturers,

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factory workers and of course artists.
It's the whole society. I thought

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that the role of women in culture
couldn't be overestimated, starting with folk tradition,

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when birth, baptism, weddings,
funerals saw very much the domain of

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women. For instance, when it
comes to birth, there's the well known

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figure of the greeting grandmother, the
person who would oversee the birth of a

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child or oversee the baptism itself and
the singing of the baptism songs. This

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is the domain of women and well
and weddings such a focal point in folk

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tradition. There are also songs that
are often performed only by women. It

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seems to me that it comes from
here, from folk culture, in the

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presence of women in every sphere of
life that we know. Just as Fetlana

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Alexeyevich wrote about the unwomanly face of
war, that war is nothing like a

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woman. It's this role of women
that's always been overlooked when rebuilding cities,

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in the economy, rebuilding life after
war, after the war, it was

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a women who took this responsibility on
their shoulders. During the war, they

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guarded the home, worked in administration, helped with the wounded, and also

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fought. And this is the wisdom
that women have one through the history,

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that women and men create together.
But somehow in our history the role of

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women has been mainly reduced to only
a mother, a caretaker kind of object.

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It's only recently that there is an
awareness of the suffragette movement started in

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Great Britain and the United States in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,

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and that started such a great discussion
about the role of women and its importance

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nowadays. When modern tools fail to
fight or justice is established with the old

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methods, women take responsibility once again
to correct this injustice. Or they defend

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men. They defend this world so
that it can function. In Belarus,

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women have likewise come to the four
although so far language in the public space

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and the media, so far it's
been very unfavorable, as the statements of

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politicians testify. Even mister Alexander Lukashenko
speaks very carelessly about women. But it

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seems that twenty fifteen was such a
positive point in our recent history, when

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Selan Alexeyevitch became our only No Well
Prize winner, and this is a woman

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who's been recognized internationally. It's as
if women's status had risen a little in

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everyday consciousness. Anyway, until twenty
fifteen, there were no such strong political

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figures among women, and here in
twenty fifteen, Tatsiana Karapkievich became the first

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woman in Belarus to register as a
candidate for the presidency of Belarus. She

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ran for the office of president in
the twenty fifteen elections and in twenty twenty,

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we can already see this intensified movement
where three amazing women unite and became

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such an expression of solidarity and also
such wisdom irrespective of gender. But it

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was women who made such an act
of solidarity, such support for all those

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who were unfairly treated and repressed,
and who stood up for the Belarusian society

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and decided to represent the Belarusian people
in the presidential elections. There is the

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amazing example of a woman's love from
her husband given by Svetlana Tikonovskaya. She

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hadn't intended to stand for candidacy,
just to put forward her candidacy, and

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she undertook entirely the huge effort of
being a candidate, organizing all those meetings

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and an election campaign. Later after
the elections, she also managed to remain

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a strong figure in Belarusian politics nowadays. Veronica Tecalo and Maria Kalesnikova are symbols.

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Maria kales Nikova is the woman who
chose Belarus and became a symbol of

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a justice warrior's courage. She could
have left the country, but nonetheless,

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after being kidnapped, she ripped up
her passport at the border so she couldn't

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be deported. She made us all
realize that it's the concern of every citizen

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to move freely, to leave and
enter the country. She's shown that she

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works within bounds of law and exposes
these criminals by simply showing that there's a

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law that no longer functions. That's
time will come, however, everyone will

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be held accountable for their deeds.
Nawa, she don't trust. According to

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Max Roust from the University of Warsaw, so far, the power of Alexander

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Lukashenko has largely relied on the support
of women. Electoral opinions, name Lukashenka's

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electorate in recent years has been primarily
women. This was also indicated by various

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surveys of public opinion. While the
perception of the role of women has recently

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started to change and more than half
of women in the latest results from recent

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surveys emphasized that women in Belarussian politics
are not duly represented but often it was

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also such an established myth that women
are the core of Alexander Lukashenka's electorate.

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I think that the women's protest here
worked a bit against the authorities because it

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played a bit of a Soviet right
that is often used by President Lukashenka.

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The women here referred to such an
association, which is in addition to a

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political slogan which is not clear to
most of society, which mode of the

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society does not share. But for
example, how the marches of women began.

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Women showed precisely that such a myth
from the Great Patriotic War, that

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fighting comes from mothers, fight comes
out as sisters wives of men who are

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either fighting or in captivity. And
it was such a clear message and a

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message for most of society. And
on the other hand, these women are

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very symbolic because the Belarussian states,
Belarusian society is quite patriarchal and raising a

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hand to women, including wives,
there are also mothers. Most of all,

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there would be grandmothers. It was
like raising a hand to certain holiness,

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and society could not fail to take
it very negative, bagdon negative.

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As a geologist Aleena Garisheva points out
that the government's attempt to brutally pacified peaceful

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protests played a major role in activating
women. From the beginning, there were

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women's solidarity campaigns and solidarity chains,
which later turned into women's marches The catalyst

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for this activity was the unprecedented scale
of violence by law enforcement agencies, especially

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at the beginning of the postelection protests. Between the ninth and eleventh of August,

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demonstrators faced brutal violence. Immediately after
this, the first Solidarity Changed took

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place. So women come out to
fight for their freedom and demands, but

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also for their husbands, brothers,
and their children who have been beaten or

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arrested in any case that the demonstrations. Now there are lots of posters with

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slogans like my husband brother son is
in custody in prison, so I will

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not stay at home, or they
tortured my husband now he's an invalid.

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I have no choice but protest.
It depends on how you understand the slogan

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women's revolution or gender revolution. I'm
reminded of the misogynistic rhetoric of Lukashenka,

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who often said that politics is a
matter of men, that the Constitution was

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not written for women. That's why
women are now publicly and loudly declaring that

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they are independent and being independent,
they are political subjects. They have their

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demand and rights, and they want
to actively participate in politics. That is

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to say they're not just objects,
they're citizens. The civic active role of

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Belarusian women did not fit into the
rules of understanding reality by the regime of

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Alexander Lukashenko, whose approach to women
stems directly from the heritage of the Soviet

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Union. As Anton Saifulio Warsaw University
ideal with Eastern Europe cultural anthropology and belarus

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Soviet Lakashenko is a Soviet product,
and so something was said about the Soviet

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Union. But women were relegated to
perform so roles and certain duties. So

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the Soviet edition of socialism worked,
chauvinism functioned. Of course, it moved

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later into the nineties, that is, into the post Soviet period, when

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a woman in general, the image
of a woman was on a mass scale

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through popular culture and above all sexualized, and of course this was somewhat reflected

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in the actions of the government,
which is a Soviet product. Yes,

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we remember that Lukashenko is a representative
of those later elites, and he also

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had an appropriate approach to women.
If we look at women and the apparatus

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in this system of power, they
are classic representatives of the nomenclatura. They

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look the same, they say what
the leader wants, that is, they

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perform certain duties. And the famous
statement of Lidia Yamashina after the two thousand

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and fifteen elections, the chairman of
the Election Commission in Belarus that why are

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you pushing yourself to the square?
Women? Go back to the kitchen and

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cook boshu. This perfectly defines the
attitude towards women in this cultural and anthropological

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sense. He computive fack. In
Presidian women had previously attempted to fight for

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their rights, but President Lukashenko twarted
all these efforts before the elections. The

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most significant action by women were protests
related to the introduction of the law aiming

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to counteract domestic violence. The draft
bill was on the right track, and

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not only civil society but also ministries
had joined in. But Lukashenka, as

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usual, in one of his stupid
talks, said something like I beat my

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children. Everyone lays in the kids. They turn out all right. In

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fact, he ruined the work of
many years and many people, and there

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was an immediate reaction to this.
A women's campaign emerged that became the nucleus

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of the women's protest movement. In
my opinion, there's been a fundamental change

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in my own perception of myself.
Many women stopped identifying with the domestic hand

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began to act socially and politically.
For many of them it was unthinkable until

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recently. I have no doubts that
this line regime will soon collapse, but

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the political structures changing now and women
have become a constituent element. Of course,

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in time, many of them will
stop being politically active and return to

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ordinary life, but likewise many will
remain in social and political life instrumental.

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The representatives of the regime did not
understand and that the woman Sidlala Tianoska appealing

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here to be a Russians could pose
a real threat to the power of Alexander

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Lusta. But I do it March
in twenty twenty. In the summer during

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this pre election campaign, of course, Lukashenka gave even more signals when Sikhanoskaya

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remained alone and it was going to
be light and, as he said,

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an elegant victory. It turned out
that the public trusted Sihanosa and Kelisnikova,

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and hence new statements such as the
president can never be a woman because she

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will not bear the burden of being
the president in Belarus on her weak shoulders.

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The mere fact that he eliminated his
men as his main rivals, Barbara

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and Sikhanowski, is as if the
way was clear. On the other hand,

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the fact that society at the time, which had destructed to power for

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a very long time and only strengthened
this feeling, gave such a credit of

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trust to these new leaders, new
presidents, who spoke to it in an

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accessible language. It is also worth
emphasizing that these new faces in Belarussian politics,

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they do not speak the language of
the old political elite. They do

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not speak about national issues. They
do not speak about the language they say

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that you only must go west break
off relations with Russia. This is not

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their rhetoric. Their languages are conversation
with society that we want changes, we

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will lead to these changes, and
then we will decide together what to do.

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The public trusted, even after Tihanaskaya
was driven out of the country then

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forced to record these degrading videos on
the Internet. Society trusted and supported Chikhanaskaya,

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Kalesnikava and Tipkala and the new symbols
of the female version of this revolution.

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A perfect example is Ninavaginska for example, this grandmother who has been protesting

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for thirty years. The authorities,
which clearly missed this moment and received a

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blow from an unexpected side, began
to try to make it up show that

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women's support. Lukashenka basically had started
to just imitate what the protest does.

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What people do when you imitate,
of course, this imitation will have distorted

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forms well. One such imitation after
which this issue was rather abandoned, was

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a concept for women. There is
an emphasis on this thread that it is

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a female process, that it is
female marches, while it is asexual.

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If it is this asexuality seems to
be present all the time, and it

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generates people's trust. They do not
care if it's a woman or a man,

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or so one Lukashenka eagerly decided to
show an image of such a matcho

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that would take care of all the
women they were there and kissed him,

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bending on their knees beside him,
which of course was very rude and funny.

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And ultimately they turn this issue around
and the authorities just abandoned it.

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Abouts of Amirosman of, a feminist
researcher and a philosopher, points out that

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the changes in the situation of women
in Belarus are part of the wider process

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of awakening civil society. Mildium Staigne. It's a company of nia. Since

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the turn of spring and summer,
the role of women in the political process

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has been deeply deliberated and reconsidered.
Women did not wait for new political powers

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and abilities to be given given to
them. They came for them themselves and

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just took them for a long time. The authorities were not ready, and

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the Lukashenka regime, in my opinion, is still unaware that women are a

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separate social group with huge political potential, so he was not ready to acknowledge

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subjectivity and the female agenda. And
yet, despite the sexist language of the

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former president of Belarus, women's actions
and their reaction to the violence and the

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stolen elections began to take shape under
conditions that were very difficult and dramatic,

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But the seeds of this activity were
visible before. I've been researching Belarusian civil

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society and its institutions for years,
and I can see how this entire new

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Belarusian generation is sensitive to the feminist
issue, both young men and young women.

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There has emerged in recent years.
This sort of understanding of the political

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subjectivity of all citizens. Polto calls
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