Author Archives: Harriet Ainscough and Sam Fisk

Opinion: Liberal Youth take on a Dictator… with teddy bears

In Belarus, a country within Europe and bordering the European Union, Alexander Lukashenko’s regime continues to stifle free speech and fend off calls for democracy. We’ve previously posted about how clapping in the street can earn you an arrest, now it seems a photo with a teddy bear can do that too.

Last week a Swedish PR firm parachuted teddy bears holding messages about democracy over Minsk, democracy in an attempt to break through the heavy media censorship. This caused a diplomatic dispute, with Lukashenko asking all Swedish diplomats within Belarus to leave. Since then two journalists have been …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | 3 Comments

Opinion: The struggle for democracy persists in Europe, not just the Middle East

In December last year, Alyaksandr Lukashenka was re-elected president of Belarus, with 79.7% of the vote in elections deemed to fall massively short of OSCE standards. Under his leadership, the Belarusian regime systematically violates basic liberties. The past week has seen a worsening of the situation, with the oppressive regime using unjustifiable violence against protesters seeking democracy and freedom.

Despite a ban on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, in an attempt to try and stifle the protests, the capital Minsk has seen huge anti-Lukashenka demonstrations. The response of the Belarusian Government has been appalling. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tim Leunig
    The EU has been pretty clear that we could join the customs union - not sure they would be so keen to have us in the single market. Baby steps to rebuild trust ...
  • Tim Leunig
    "The cost of living is spiralling, wages are stagnant" - not so, average pay rises have been higher than inflation for over a year now - https://www.ons.gov.uk/...
  • Tim Rogers
    Jenny Barnes. Trouble is millions of people understand simple answers and vote for it....
  • Mick Taylor
    Mark Frankel is always 110% on the side of Netanyahu and the Israeli state, but his comments are not wholly wrong. I do feel angry that far too many people try ...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might it be appropriate to promote whole nation-beneficial policies and their marketing, rather than concentrate on attacking other parties? Might it help to...