An identity that upends dictators

For the people of Ukraine, an election in neighboring Belarus Jan. 26 was well worth watching. It was an example of what they are fighting against. The rigged election kept a dictator of three decades, Alexander Lukashenko, in power – and kept his country of 9.5 million people well within Russia’s orbit of influence.

Yet after the election, officials in Ukraine noted that eventually it will be “the people, not one person,” who will determine whether Belarus becomes democratic. They should know. Ever since the Russian invasion of 2022, Ukraine has relied on its people to not only fight the invaders but also unite around a renewed identity of civic and cultural values – separate from those dictated by the Kremlin.

Ukraine’s struggle has inspired many in Belarus – and those forced to flee the country – to follow suit. “Belarusian national identity, cultures and language are our strongest weapons against the Russian world and Russification,” stated exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya last year.

That task of identity-building began in earnest in 2020 after the last election. To most observers, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya won the vote, a rare case of President Lukashenko allowing a legitimate opposition figure to run. When he kept power, it ignited the largest protests ever seen in Belarus. A harsh clampdown on pro-democracy activists then forced some half-million people into exile.

“My sense of identity is more Belarusian now than it was before 2020,” Kseniya Halubovich, an exiled film director and journalist, told The Kyiv Independent. “I make a conscious effort to avoid reading or watching anything Russian, and I’m grateful that my mind feels so clear and free from that imperialistic influence.”

Much of what connects the exiled community is renewed interest in speaking the Belarusian language – regarded as a symbol of freedom – and in learning about the country’s history and arts. One example is a current exhibit in Scotland. It shows 200 figurative drawings of political prisoners held by the regime and was done by artist Ksisha Angelova, who fled her country in 2021.

The exiled author, Hanna Komar, said the struggle to define a cultural identity has changed him. “The identities I once took pride in, like being a writer or an activist, now feel distant,” she told The Kyiv Independent. “More and more, I find myself thinking that what truly matters is simply being a decent human.” Sometimes standing up to a dictator first requires knowing what you stand for.