As mass protests broke out in Belarus following the stolen presidential election on 9 August 2020, in which Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed to have been re-elected with 80.23% of the vote, it was no surprise that the so-called “last dictator of Europe” had Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan at the forefront of his mind. As he watched the main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya challenge the results and unprecedented mass protests unfold across the country, he claimed: “There will be no Maidan, no matter how much anyone wants one. People need to quiet down and calm down. […] The response [to the protests] will be appropriate. We will not allow the country to be torn apart.”
Lukashenka is right to fear a Maidan in Belarus. Maidan refers to Ukraine’s Euromaidan, a wave of popular protests that started in the Maidan square in Kyiv in November 2013 and spread across the country. The protests were in response to the government’s decision to suspend the signing of an association agreement with the European Union, widespread abuse of power and rampant corruption, leading to the overthrow of President Yanukovych’s autocratic regime and the ushering in of a new government and democratic reforms. The last thing he (or Putin, his dictator-in-arms across the border) wants is a Maidan in Belarus.
But, then again, neither should the people of Belarus – at least not without the learning of some valuable lessons. Though synonymous with the overthrow of a kleptomaniac regime and people power, Maidan also epitomises how outgoing regimes may easily escape accountability for crimes against humanity perpetrated as part of their last-ditch efforts to hold onto power.
