Check your Free Speech in at the Border
According to the definition of "freedom of speech" - it is a person's right to freely express their thoughts. In our time, the concept of freedom of speech has become widespread. It includes free expression of thought on the Internet, on the street, in the texts of newspapers, and on television. There is no concept of freedom of speech in Belarus. Why? Because there is no freedom of speech for ordinary people and independent journalists in Belarus.
Do you want to experience a dictatorship? Do you want to see what it is like to live without a free press, freedom of speech and free elections?
We warmly invite you to Belarus – the only dictatorship in Europe.
- The quotation about the human rights organization «Belarusians in Exile» American site about tourism skift.com
Our dictatorship does not prevent anyone from living and developing.
There is a separate article on freedom of speech in Belarus on Wikipedia . This is a globally acknowledged fact, therefore in today's article we will consider the forbidden topic - Freedom of Speech.
Limited word
The main criterion of freedom of speech is the possibility for ordinary people to freely express their thoughts. But, there is a narrow circle of people to whom everything is allowed. These people include high-ranking politicians and their close relatives. The main person in this circle is the president. Having unlimited power he likes to say flowery, but often silly, nonsensical phrases. In this way, he doesn't limit himself. Sometimes his phrases shock the population of the country. In addition, the president often publicly gives promises to the people that he does not fulfill. To monitor the promises of the Belarusian politicians, a website was created.
At the very beginning of his political career, Lukashenko had taken the very clever step of understanding that the only way to force people to trust his political machine was to take control of the media, therefore, mass media became the main means of his seizure of power. Already, nobody trusts the public TV channels. For this reason, other avenues are explored in order to find real information.
Recently, on Amazon's website, there were candies with Alexander Lukashenko's quotes for sale. A set of chocolates was called "The last dictator of Europe".
2017 became the next record year in infringement of freedom of speech. Last year saw an active repression of journalists take place. For the distribution of accurate information, more than 100 journalists were detained.
Freedom House
According to an independent resource, in the world ranking of countries with no free press, Belarus occupies the 192nd of 199 places of rating, just a few points behind North Korea.
War of the state against the truth
In Belarus, all information is controlled by a single state body, where corrupt journalists are ready to print whatever they are told to in order to garuantee their paychecks.
The authorities constantly block separate information resources. What resources? The government blocks Websites on which independent investigations of the actions of the authorities are conducted. Information resources that criticize the government and the president are declared illegal, and access to them for residents of the country is forcibly blocked.
One of the most discussed examples is the blocking of a popular Belarus website - Charter97.org. In response to the blocking, the reaction of some independent news agencies followed. The "Reporters Without Borders" human rights organization gave the following statement:
"It is one of the leading independent media organisations in the country, and Alexander Lukashenko's regime tries to silence them"
- Johann Bir, head of department of RSF of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Source
Europeans negatively assess Lukashenko's behavior. They repeatedly make negative remarks towards him, but he just ignores them.
It is only the beginning of this war with the truth. After separate websites became blocked for showing the truth, Belarusian authorities have paid attention to "the last bastion of freedom of speech" - YouTube.
Concerning the 19-year-old blogger who has created news YouTube channel, "Nexta", have brought a criminal case for Lukashenko's insult. In one of the videos, it has compared Lukashenko to Sherlock Holmes (Lukasherlok).
These words most likely offended the president.
Police officers came to the house of the mother of the young blogger. One was in the uniform of the Investigative Committee, the second in civillian clothes. The popular and forbidden «Belsat» resource reports about it. According to the blogger, Stepan, law enforcement authorities took the laptop and the small video camera he used. At the same time, they didn't given Stepan's mother any copies of documents pertaining to the investigation. Police officers literally do everything that they are ordered to do.
Freedom of speech - Reporters without borders
The Reporters without Borders (RWB) is an influential, international, non-governmental organization. The organization fights against censorship, and for the release of the journalists who are in prison because of the professional activity. At the same time the organization is guided by paragraph 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Their central office is based in Paris.
"Reporters without borders" have included Lukashenko in the list of "enemies of freedom of the press". People who actively squash freedom of speech are included in this list.
In addition, there is the World rating of the free press. In this rating, the attitude of all countries towards freedom of speech is displayed. In this system, the higher the number is, the worse the situation is. Belarus takes the "honorable" 153rd place from 180 (Worse, than Russia and Ukraine). It is the worst indicator in Europe.
Police against common sense
In the Belarusian police, there is a special department which watches over the actions of citizens, on social networks and the Internet.
One example of their work – A resident of the city Grodno was sentenced to two years, conditionally, for the publication of a candid photo on her social network.
Diana Selivanova received a penalty for "the publication of a picture with pornographic elements" on a social media network, "VKontakte". What actually occurred? She had kept, in an album, a photo on which the genital of a man were allegedly, partially visible. She had just put a like on the photo. After that, Diana Selivanova received a suspended sentence of 2 years and a fine of $350. She was left without work as her job decided to not keep her on.
It is not isolated case. For example, according to official figures within the period from 2013 to 2015, about 100 criminal cases have been brought to trial. Most parts of these cases are very similar to the situation described above with the Diana Selivanova case. The authorities officially control any actions on the Internet. Steemit not being an exception.
But, there were exceptional cases when common sense won. Unfortunately, they are not enough.
Traditionally in my articles, a conclusion from a situation leaves much to be desired. You are not free to express just any kind of thought in Belarus. Perhaps in the near future scientists will invent a device which will allow for the reading of thought. If this occurs, then Lukashenko will begin to send Belarusians to prison for the "wrong" thoughts. Until this has occurred – the only legal way to keep your thoughts legal, is not to express them.
The country seems to be back to Stalin era laws. Government tax departments asks people to write reports on neighbors if they "live too well". The government will send people to assess the things you own and compare them to what you earn, and fine you or confiscate the goods if they deem you are living too well. All from a tip from a neighbour.
It is not always safe to speak on the street about Lukashenko, and about the powers-that-be either. Your conversation can be written down and then transferred to the police.
President Lukashenko spreads totalitarian anti-democratic methods. He creates conditions in which one part of the Belarusian people suppresses others.
- Grigory Yavlinsky, 1997
Belarusian insider
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