Issue and Opposition: Often labeled as “Europe’s Last Dictator, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has been in power since 1994. Lukashenko’s most recent election victory was his sixth and like the previous five before this, time too he won almost uncontested. Protests erupted all through Belarus after the news broke about Lukashenka’s decision to run for the presidency for the sixth time. Belarusian public and democratic opposition resisted his decision but to no avail. On August 9, 2020, after the results of the election were out and Lukashenka was re-elected as the president by a landslide victory, almost the whole of Belarus got down on the streets of the Belarusian capital Minsk to protest alleging that the election was far from fair and free. Needless to say, anti-Lukashenko protests broke out in different parts of Belarus. In 2020, according to an estimate, more than 33, 000 Belarusian activists were tortured, detained, and arrested by the Belarusian police under Lukashenka’s instructions. Noting that protesters often brought their children with them in peaceful rallies and mass gatherings, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko announced that bringing children to anti-government protests would be considered illegal and any adult doing so would be arrested and punished. The punishment could vary from hefty fines to even losing the children’s custody. Igor’s rationale was that since he was officially entrusted with the responsibility of protecting child rights in Belarus, he had the authority to this action against protesters. In reality, this was yet another strategy of the Lukashenka government to suppress dissenters. Children of Belarus, organized by the activists, took part in a dilemma action to show their discontent against Igor’s announcement.
Dilemma Action: Activists found a unique way to push back against this government rule. Instead of simply bringing the children to the political assemblies and rallies, they made the children participate. Children carrying anti-Lukashenka slogans on posters were seen on the streets of Minsk.
Outcome: The action attracted international media attention and images of Belarusian children holding anti-government posters and banners went coral on social media. Had the government arrested the children, it would have drawn a lot of negative reactions from the international community and Lukashenka did not want to risk that. The dilemma action was successful to the extent that no punishment was meted out to the protesting children although the action itself was not strong enough to overthrow the dictator.