Social Injustice in Belarus

Every 4th of July, millions of Americans celebrate the right of freedom they have enjoyed since this nation’s birth nearly 240 years ago. We enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of the press and many more liberties that allow us to live our lives the way we see fit. We also have the freedom to choose who we elect to represent our individual communities on a national level as well as the person who speaks on behalf of our entire country. The freedoms we enjoy are so vital to our lives that it is impossible to imagine living without them. Unfortunately, as many Americans know, not all countries enjoy this same type of freedom. Most Americans know about countries like North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran as places where freedom is stifled and the government rules with an iron fist. However, most Americans don’t know that country that is supposedly part of the western world suffers under the same lack of freedom found in a country like Iran. That country is the Republic of Belarus. The citizens of Belarus live under an oppressive government regime that doesn’t think about the best interests of its people. This political and social injustice has lead to widespread poverty and human rights abuses. The roots of these modern injustices in Belarus go all the way to the days when the Soviet Union still dominated the country. Belarus became a constituent of the Soviet Union in the 1920’s and as such adopted is communist ideology. Immediately after the end of World War II, Joseph Stalin began to isolate Belarus from the rest of Western Europe in order to establish a communist regime that backed the Soviets. Part of this integration with the Soviet Union and communism meant that many Russians were placed within the Belarusian government in order to keep an eye on its inhabitants. The use of the Belarusian language was severely limited and replaced with Russian. The government of Belarus was extremely oppressive to private enterprise and freedom of the press, in keeping with the ideals of the Soviet Union. The government controlled all aspects of life; people had no freedom to choose how the worked or who represented them, they couldn’t speak for themselves. Eventually the Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its own communist policies, this lead to several nations that formerly made up the Union to gain independence. In 1990, Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union with the first free elections coming in 1994. This could have meant an end to the long economic, social, and political oppression of the former Soviet backed government and its policies. Independence could have meant a wave of capitalism and democracy reviving the stagnant economy and brining new freedoms to the people of Belarus. Other former Soviet constituents such as Estonia and Lithuania were able to successfully incorporate capitalism and democracy into their countries with some problems at all. Some nations even experienced a post-Soviet economic boom with the introduction of capitalism. Unfortunately this was no the case for Belarus. After the first open elections were held in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected as president of Belarus; the title he still holds today. Lukashenko was a strong proponent of the Soviet Union and communism. He was the head of a state run agriculture firm in Belarus and spent time in both the Soviet Border Troops and Soviet Army. Almost immediately after his election, he made a proposal to the Russian government in Moscow to form a union between the two nations. He also retained a number of policies from the days when Belarus was a member of the Soviet Union. He maintained state ownership in of key industries and continued limit freedom of speech. His election to the presidency and his government has led to the widespread injustices in Belarus to this day. The government of Belarus today is one of the most oppressive in the world. Each year heritage.org lists 178 countries of the world in the order of their freedom. The score is based off of things like economic, political and social freedoms and is taken out of 100. Belarus has a score of 49.8, this gives it the classification of a country that is repressed, the lowest possible classification. When compared to the world average score of 60.4, 49.8 might not seem so bad, however it is also important to compare the score of Belarus to the average score of the nation around it, which is 67.0. In light of that score, 49.8 is extremely poor. In fact, the only country in the Europe region of the data that has a lower ranking than Belarus is Ukraine, with 46.9. Heritage.org also provides a breakdown of the individual scores used to create the final one given to Belarus. This breakdown is instrumental in showing just how oppressive the government of Alexander Lukashenko truly is. For example, in the Rule of Law section, Belarus has extremely low property rights and freedom from corruption scores of 20.0 and 29.0 respectively. The authoritarian regime of Lukashenko controls much of the business in Belarus and does not like private enterprise. When his government decides they want to make a business their own, it is not in the best interest of the people to say no. This style of rule has led the government to become very corrupt and opaque. The government does not has to disclose anything it doesn’t want to the people and has a complete lack of accountability for its actions. This severe lack of freedom permeates all aspects of daily life in Belarus. The government continues to keep control of nearly all of the countries broadcast, radio and print media outlets. Freedom of the press is nearly non-existent in Belarus with the government’s controls. A law was passed in 2008 giving the government control over all information concerning political, social and economic affairs. Part of this law contains provisions designed to protect the president and all high ranking officials from any sort of criticism by labeling it as libel, which is a criminal offense. There are only two newspapers that aren’t under direct control of the state and those who work for it are subject to harassment and beatings. Those who are try work as freelance journalists or for newspapers located in other countries can receive harsh punishments as such work is a criminal offense. Many Belarusians have turned the Internet to try to break away from the state controlled media but even this could soon no longer be a possibility. The same media law from 2008 applies to the Internet and because the government is the sole Internet service provider, the law is strictly enforced. All internet cafes are required by law to track their users internet activities and the government frequently blocks access to informational websites. By law, any website or blog that is deemed to be informational comes under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Information and its censors. Both religious and academic freedoms are also severely encroached upon in Belarus. All religions must be registered with the state and are subject to its control. The government has censored religious texts and doesn’t allow any foreigners to lead religious groups. The only religion that has managed to avoid such repression is the Belarusian Orthodox Church, which signed an agreement with the government. The government also tightly controls academics, with the university curriculum being forced to adhere to what is deemed ok by government higher ups. Students and teachers face harsh punishments for pursuing liberal ideas and students can lose their degrees if they participate in opposition groups. One of the most important aspects of the freedom we enjoy in the United States is the freedom of assembly. If someone doesn’t like a particular law or politician, they can find other like-minded citizens and organize a protest against that law or person. In Belarus, the type of protest and freethinking is nearly impossible under the current government. While protests are not explicitly outlawed by the government, there are rules in place that make such assemblies extremely hard to pull off. The hardest part of protesting in Belarus is the fact that all protests must have authorization from the government in order to happen. The decision to allow a protest or not is completely arbitrary and groups that the government considers part of the opposition have no chance of ever getting their requests approved. The freedom of assembly isn’t only denied to protestors either. Between 2003 and 2005, the Belarusian government closed nearly of the NGOs in the country that were the most active. Another law passed in 2005 made participation in a political party that wasn’t registered with the government a criminal offense. The government has also banned all forms of foreign assistance to NGOs and political parties if they decide the foreign assistance undermines the government’s authority. The oppressive restrictions in place by the government go as far as to interfere with the personal autonomy of the countries own citizens. All citizens are required to have passports just to travel within different regions of the country. This makes it very easy for the government to impede the movement of those it deems as opponents. Because Belarus remains largely a command economy, the economic freedoms of its citizens are severely limited. Those who don’t work for state owned companies face extreme difficulties in making enough money. The government also uses compulsory labor to force its citizens to work in certain sectors of the economy. Upon graduation from college, students are forced to work in a specific area for a certain number of years by the government. The strict government control of the economy has led to a large gap between the income of many and the income of women.

Works Cited
"Belarus History." History, Belarus. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

BBC. "Profile: Alexander Lukashenko." BBC News. BBC, 09 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

"What Is Not Permitted Is Prohibited: Silencing Civil Society in Belarus." Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

"Belarus." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption. Heritage.org, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

"Belarus." Freedomhouse.org. Freedomhouse, 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.