{"id":11401,"date":"2022-04-22T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-looking-to-appoint-civil-society\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-looking-to-appoint-civil-society","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11401\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka\u0161enka looking to appoint civil society"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t * Reprinting permitted\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b>The Belarusian ruler seeks to build mock-up civil society by enacting special legislation. Officials do not understand the concept of civil society \u2013 grassroot organizations formed by concerned citizens and not associated with the government.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Imitation society<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Belarusian officials are thinking of creating imitation society. Earlier this year, the government enacted a new constitution as part of the effort.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In a recent development, Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makiej sent out letters to urge European politicians to engage with Belarus. In hypothetical negotiations, Minsk would be able to make the point that Belarus is not a dictatorship because it has civil society.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cTime has come to pass a law and write down in it that our civil society is not about NGOs [non-governmental organizations], nonprofits and all that rubbish and that we have public organizations. And specify what we have, namely trade unions, the BNYU [the Belarusian National Youth Union, a government-established youth organization], and associations of veterans and women,\u201d Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka said in October 2021.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Obviously, he referred to government-run trade unions. Earlier this week, police raided offices of independent trade unions and arrested leaders and activists in a new crackdown on groups independent of the government.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Luka\u0161enka seeks to impose his perception of relations between society and the state through the new law.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In January, he reiterated the need for a civil society law, and suggested that members of civil society could be elected as delegates to the All-Belarusian People Assembly, another body that it to be established by the government in an effort to imitate democracy.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Luka\u0161enka revisited the idea at his meeting with the justice minister on April 21. \u201cYou must send a clear signal to people and society what civil society is, what it consists of and recognize it in laws.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Officials do not seem to have any second thoughts about the absurdity of attempts by authorities to build something that is normally created by free people to defend their interests from them. &nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Extremism under the guise of volunteering<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The government has shut down hundreds of nonprofits in a major crackdown that followed 2020 post-election protests. Officials see NGOs as the fifth column and the West\u2019s hybrid warfare method.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cWe will axe all scoundrels that you have financed . . . If we have not liquidated someone, we will liquidate them soon,\u201d Luka\u0161enka told BBC in November 2021.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The government has closed down not only political groups such as the Movement for Freedom and \u201cTell the Truth!\u201d and critical media, including tut.by and BelaPAN, but it has also targeted nonprofits dealing with environmental issues, promoting healthy life styles and aiding people with disabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t For instance, it accused Achova Ptu\u0161ak Backa\u016d\u0161\u010dyny, an environmental group, of extremist activity under the guise of volunteering to save birds.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The regime is afraid of any activity that it cannot control. Luka\u0161enka narrowly escaped losing power during the 2020 protests, which were largely a result of society maturing and self-organization.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t After his security forces suppressed the protests, he ordered authorities to purge the country of nonprofits and civil initiatives and establish government-organized non-governmental organizations and pro-government associations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Ministry of Justice said that it shut down 116 NGOs in the last six months. Belarus has a total of 2,978 associations and NGOs, it said.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Big work ahead<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Luka\u0161enka announced big work ahead \u201cin party building and establishing proper order in public associations.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>The government is likely to<br \/>\nclose down the remaining opposition political parties, which currently keep low<br \/>\nprofile for fear of closure. The Belarusian ruler had repeatedly demanded that the<br \/>\nMinistry of Justice launch a campaign to re-register political parties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting permitted The Belarusian ruler seeks to build mock-up civil society by enacting special legislation. Officials do not understand the concept of civil society \u2013 grassroot organizations formed by concerned citizens and not associated with the government. Imitation society Belarusian officials are thinking of creating imitation society. Earlier this year, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11401","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Luka\u0161enka looking to appoint civil society | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting permitted The Belarusian ruler seeks to build mock-up civil society by enacting special legislation. 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