Call for Participants: Raising civil society awareness in Belarus
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and CEURUS, in cooperation with Belarusian Student Support Association and Honest University, is pleased to announce a call for Belarusian students and activists to participate in a series of online workshops on the topic of “Raising civil society awareness in Belarus”.
Participants have to hold Belarusian nationality/citizenship. The organisation of the workshops is supported by the 2020 – 2023 Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Eastern Partnership countries programme of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The series of workshops is composed of seven webinars spanning from April to November 2021. Each webinar will last 90 minutes. The language of the webinars is predominantly Russian, while knowledge of English will be an asset for certain political and technical terminology. Registration is free of charge, there is no limit to the number of participants. In particular, the participation of young civic activists and students who aim to uphold democratic rights and civil freedoms, but who have suffered from political repression due to their activities, is encouraged.
The first webinar (held in Russian) will take place on 13 April via Zoom from 17.00 – 18.30 (EEST, UTC+3) as an online panel discussion on the special Belarus’ issue of political journal “New Perspectives” (SAGE Volume 29 Issue 1, March 2021). The panelists will discuss the following:
- Aliaksei Kazharski (Charles University in Prague): Belarus’ new political nation and anti-authoritarian protests as identity-building
- Tatsiana Kulakevich (University of South Florida): National awakening in Belarus – elite ideology to ‘nation’ practice
- Elizaveta Gaufman (University of Groningen): The gendered iconography of the Belarus protest
- Piotr Rudkouski (Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies): Russia’s cultural leverage in Belarus
Discussion moderator – Andrey Makarychev (University of Tartu)
Post-event summary by organisers
More information about the project
The main objective of the workshops is to create a communication platform for political activists and representatives of Belarusian civil society to allow an exchange of experiences, discussion of the most pressing issues in relations between the Belarusian state and society, and study of the political experience of other countries.
Upon successful completion of the webinars, 12 active participants will be selected who will be invited to spend a week in Estonia in the spring of 2022, during which they will have the chance to visit local state institutions and NGOs. NB! The visit will only take place if the virological situation so allows.
For those interested in completing the entire series of workshops, the registration form is available here. It is also possible to join only for selected workshops.
For additional information and inquiries, please contact Mr Jaak Erik Laja, Project Manager, at jaak.erik.laja@ut.ee.
Forwarded by: Maili Vilson, Head of Communications, maili.vilson@ut.ee