Fourth webinar of the series of online workshops

Fourth webinar of the series of online workshops “New Facets of Political Mobilization in Belarus”

University of Tartu Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and The Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies (CEURUS) have successfully held the fourth webinar in the series of “New Facets of Political Mobilization in Belarus” on 21 September via Zoom. The webinar focused on social and political lessons of COVID-19 crisis in Belarus

The team of panelists consisted of the following people: Andrei Yeliseyeu, Research Director of the Eurasian States in Transition - EAST Research Center, Gennady Korshunov, European Humanities University, Vadim Mojeiko, Analyst of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies.

Andrei Yeliseyeu discussed the coverage of COVID-19 in the Belarusian state media, the government’s approach to pandemic, including abuse of the situation with the purpose of fulfilling its political interests and authoritarian practices.

Gennady Korshunov transitioned from the government’s perspective to the question of how the pandemic and the government’s failure to handle it was perceived by the Belarusian society. He discussed how interrelation between the individual, society and the state was undermined, in terms of separation of the power and state in the eyes of the Belarusian society.

Vadim Mojeiko touched upon the issue of “imaginary security” and debunking of the so-called security myth. He discussed how pandemic affected the everyday practices of Belarusians and prompted them for horizontal self-organization in social media and offline.

The next webinar will be held on 19 October on the topic of Belarus migration and border crisis with Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. The registration form is available on project’s main page.

For additional information and inquiries please contact Jaak Erik Laja, jaak.erik.laja [ät] ut.ee

Under initiative supported by the 2020 – 2023 Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Eastern Partnership countries programme of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs