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. 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.
Dilemma Action: On November 17, 2020, protesters used their footsteps to write Long Live Belarus on snow. The authority went to the site the next morning and attempted to erase the words on the snow by using their feet. The slogan “Long Live Belarus” (often “Long Live Free Belarus”) has a long history. It originated during the rebel movement of 1863–1864 and later was made popular by its usage in poems and songs.
For example, in 1905, Belarusian poet Janka Kupała ended his poem “This is a Cry That Belarus Lives” with this slogan. In 1917, these words were inscribed on the flag representing the First All-Belarusian Congress.
Outcome: The dilemma action became popular on social media, particularly Twitter. People all over the world on social media responded sympathetically as the images of the writings on snow spread like wildfire. Although the writings were erased by the police soon after, the action had already made its mark in the hearts of people globally. There was no concession as a direct impact of this action but protests of Belarusians through the anti-Lukashenka campaign had caught the world’s eye prompting the international community to take action against the oppression and brutalities of the Lukashenka regime. The United States and its allies jointly imposed sanctions on the Belarusian government for its repressive acts against democracy, human rights abuse, and violation of international norms. Added to the concerns was the issue of large-scale migration of Belarusian refugees to the border states of Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. The European Union accused Lukashenka of weaponizing the migrants by forcing a mass exodus so that the border states become overwhelmed in containing the refugees and sheltering them. Inside Belarus, the number of protests against the rigged election slowly decreased under the pressure of the regime, although the sanctions remained in place.