On August 9th, Belarus held presidential elections that were set to change the course of politics in the country.
An unprecedented opposition movement had been gaining support and gathering tens of thousands of people in weekly rallies called by candidate Sviatlana Tikhanouskaya.
A trained translator turned presidential hopeful, Tikhanouskaya used to say, if elected, she would not stay at the job too long – her project was to free political prisoners (her husband included) and put in place conditions for free and fair elections to be held.
But her project has yet to see the light of day. Belarus’ election commission say Tikhanouskaya won a mere 10.12% of the vote, something her teams (and a large number of voters in the country) dispute.
“Belarus: Unfinished Revolution” tells the story of a grassroots political movement that represents the biggest challenge faced by the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko in the nearly 30 years he’s been in power.
This short piece is a collection of individual stories – a look at what brought people to the streets and drives them to continue protesting one month on despite the crackdown and the intimidation.
It’s about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.