Belarus: Paths to Freedom" round table, September 9, 2021

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As part of the Matinées de l'Observatoire de l'Europe médiane contemporaine, the Centre de Recherches Europes-Eurasie-CREE (Inalco) is proposing a debate focusing on the Belarus crisis and bringing together specialists (academics, experts, journalists, diplomats...) from the states and societies of Medieval Europe.

In-person (PLC auditorium)

Organizer
Adrien Nonjon, PhD student (Inalco, CREE)

Contact: adrien.nonjon@inalco.fr

Thursday, September 9, 2021 - 8:30am-11:30am - Auditorium (PLC - 65, rue des Grands Moulins - Paris 13ème)

Belarus: The Paths to Freedom

Argumentary

Since August 9, 2020, Belarus has been undergoing the most serious political crisis in its history. Re-elected under disputed conditions, Alexander Lukashenko - in power since 1994 - finds himself head-on against his population. Over and above the internal issues raised by the protests still underway in the country, the situation in Belarus calls into question its regional specificities in a number of ways. Located at the crossroads of two major geopolitical poles, Belarus' diplomatic policy is characterized by a multi-faceted policy of integration towards the East and the CIS, as well as towards the West and the European Union within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. This neighborhood has enabled Belarus to take part in various cooperation networks in which it has played a mediating role. However, it is now an area of tension and mobilization. While the demonstrations and their repression have had the undesired effect of provoking a new geopolitical and cultural rift between the West and Russia, a traditional ally of the Belarusian regime, they have nonetheless enabled certain EU members - led by Poland and the Baltic States - to regain legitimacy by establishing themselves as the main shield against the regional order promoted by Moscow. The region's shared historical experience, embodied in the former Republic of the Two Nations, has probably played its part in giving these powers a particularly clear understanding of the aspirations of pro-democracy Belarussians. Faced with the violence of the regime and the risk of destabilization, new networks of solidarity and negotiation were created across the region.

Speakers

Anaïs Marin - Researcher at Chatham House and Warsaw University, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus.
Emilija Pundziute Gallois - Researcher at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Tatyana Shukan - Researcher at the Centre d'étude de la vie politique - Université Libre de Bruxelles
Andrei Vaitovich - Franco-Belarussian journalist and reporter, director of the documentary "Razam (together), a Belarussian novel.

The Observatory of Medieval and Contemporary Europe

The aim of CREE's Observatory of Medieval and Contemporary Europe is to organize debates open to the general public, bringing together specialists (academics, experts, journalists, diplomats...) from the states and societies of Medieval Europe, to provide contextualized insights into current issues and to question the perception of the civilian populations of this region on political and social mutations or phenomena that are the subject of debate. As well as addressing current issues, the Observatoire de l'Europe Médiane will also focus on longer-term societal issues, such as internal politics, the socio-economic situation and transformations, and cultural and media issues.

Created on the model of the Observatory of Post-Soviet States (CREE), which has been in existence since the 1990s, the Observatory of Contemporary Medieval Europe responds to the need to nurture knowledge, information and debate on a geographical area stretching from Finland to Greece, including the countries of Central and Balkan Europe, but also occasionally, depending on the issues, dealing with its "margins", countries situated between two historical and political spaces, such as the Baltic States (both ex-Soviet and EU members), Ukraine or Belarus (ex-Soviet and Middle Europe).