Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Belarus crackdown reaches students studying in Europe

Transcript

Belarus crackdown reaches students studying in Europe · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Belarus has long targeted political opponents, journalists, and activists. Now
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: it's going after a university. The regime of Alexander Lukushenko
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: has designated the European Humanities University in neighboring Lithuania as
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: an extremist organization, putting students, alumni, and their families under
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: growing pressure. Some have seen their home search, Others say
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: they're afraid to contact their parents. The w's Lisa Luis reports.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Here in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, the European Humanities University
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: had so far been a safe haven from political pressure
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: by Minsk, at least for those who are studying here.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Some of ehg's students take online classes from Belarus, but
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: since the university was declared an extremist organization, even the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Belarusian students who study here now live in fear. Two
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: of them agreed to talk to us, but only if
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we discuss their voices and did not show their faces.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: In early June, their authorities came to my family home
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: back in Belarus. They asked threatening questions and were looking
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: for documents linking me to this university. Luckily, I asked
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: my family to destroy such documents. But when I heard
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: about the search. I was panicking. I was crying and shaking.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: According to human rights group VIASNA, dozens of current and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: former students have had their family home searched. That's instilled
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a climate affair even amongst those not yet hit by
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the searches.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: It was scary when they were doing the searches. Every
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: morning I turned on my phone hoping my family was
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: still all right. We all told our parents to wipe
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: our chats from their phones, and we have created these
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: fake stories that we are badly behaved children who don't
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: talk to our parents and that's why they don't know
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: anything about us.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: One hundred and fifty Belarusian students have dropped out of
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: the university since the fourteenth of April. That's when Belarus
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: labeled the university as extremists, accusing it of attempting to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: undermine the country's constitutional.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: Order Belaruski.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: Route because of it Mite dich school finance, WI in
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: your pomas Ada.
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: And politic group work attacks on the.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Zazi.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: The university's rector denies these allegations.
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: Well, the university tasks is the high education. If we
• 2:42
  Speaker 7: are teaching young people to critically evaluate different sources of
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: the information. We as any other university where or the faculty,
• 2:53
  Speaker 7: we're having the dialogue with different people. So this is
• 2:57
  Speaker 7: this is again not with some kind of intention, but
• 3:02
  Speaker 7: the natural life of the university.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Activists say President Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia's Vladimir Putins,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: is trying to further consolidate his grip on power.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: The thirties continued a campaign of repression that has effectively
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: escalated into terror against specific segments of the population deemed
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: hostile to the state. More and more groups are being
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: targeted every day. We see new practices emerging beyond the
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: persecution of universities as part of the academic community. These
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: actions fall under the category of so called transnational repression.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: That repression has been sharpened considerably after Belarus broadened its
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: definition of what constitutes an extremist organization. Alexander Lukashenko has
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: been using this label against civil society actors to stifle
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: this scent and opposition, and so what he calls extremist
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: groups include musicians, theater groups, this university, and media organizations
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: such as Deutsche Vale. In the meantime, the Belarusian authorities
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: moved to outlaw the university has fundamentally changed the youngsters
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: vision of the future.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: I cannot allow myself to be a carefree young person.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: We have to be strong, but I cannot deny that
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I regularly have mental breakdowns. Events like this just ruin
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: your life.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: My big dream was to study in Europe and travel
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: to other countries. Now it's only about being in a
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: safe place and running as fast as possible to save
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: my mental health at my parents' safety.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: They say that going back to that country is no
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: longer an option while the current regime is still in place.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Joining me now is Shelby mcgeege's deputy director of the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Atlantic Council's Erasia Center. Shelby, it's good to have you
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: with this. You know, when most people hear the term
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: extremist organization, they usually think of violent groups, not a university.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: What does this designation say about the state of the
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: regime in Belarus? The regime led by Alexander Lukashenko.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me, and it's a great question. There's
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: an absurdity to it to a certain extent. You have
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: one of the most repressive regimes a dictator. Yet he
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: continues lashing out at musicians, as is noted at students
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: at civil society organizations. I've even heard of bird watching
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: clubs being labeled as extremists. The regime is trying to
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: crush any civic space, any room for community, for independent thought.
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: And that's both in the country and outside the country.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: And so this desperation is shown by acts like this,
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: going after the university and trying to put fear into
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Belarusians at home and abroad.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: You know, the students in our report describe police searches,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: intimidation of family members, and fears of simply staying in
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: touch with loved ones back home. Is this now the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: defining feature of repression in Belarus, targeting not just dissidents
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but anyone connected with them.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Yes, and unfortunately this is not new. It's, of course,
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: as I said, absurd to go after students and their
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: family This has been happening for a range of people,
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: for journalists, for anyone connected to the political opposition, those
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: people that spoke out against the fraudulent elections. Their homes
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: are raided, their families questioned, their property sees. They're trying
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: to put fear into those people to stop their activities,
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: to silence them. So we see this as a major
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: part of the repression at home. Of course, political prisoners
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: are still a major issue as well, but this is
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: also part of the transnational repression that we're seeing outside
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: of Bellers and inside the EU.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to talk about that in just a moment.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you what's the message that Lukashan
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: is sending to young Belarusians who want a different future
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: for their country.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: I think Lukashenko has always feared the West and Western thought,
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: so he's trying to send the message that there is
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: not a future with the West. There's not room for
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: critical thinking, and you're not welcome at home if that's
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: what you're going to be viewing.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And the European Humanities University, and it was driven out
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: of Belarus more than two decades ago, and it rebuilt
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: itself in Lithuania. Why does Minsk, why does the regime
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: in Belarus still see this institution as such a threat.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: They see it as a threat because it's about more
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: than a university. It's about a place for students and
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: young people to see a future, to look to the West,
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: to learn independent thought, academic freedom, freedom expression. These are
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: all things that Lukashenko is trying to crush at home,
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: and so there being an institution that is still seen
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: as Belarusian but a broad is a threat to him.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: But also he's worked his way down a long list
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: of other institutions and individuals that have already been labeled
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: as extremists.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, to the n outsider looking at this story,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: you would think that the regime must have a high
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: level of paranoia.
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, I think that's true. I also think that
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: this is part of a whole strategy of trying to
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: put fear not only into Belarusians but also into their
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: host communities. And so Lukashenka and his regime might be
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: trying to so distrust you know, you hear that extremist label.
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: It is a scary label if you don't know what's
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: going on. You think students are they terrorists? Know they're
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: students that are just trying to learn. But so we
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: can be trying to drive a wedge between Belarusians and
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: their host communities as well.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: So let's look beyond Belarus for a moment. Our report
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: points to what activists called transnational repression. Explain what that
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: means and how far beyond Belarus's bored is Lukashenko now
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: willing and maybe able to reach.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: So transnational repression is trying to repress people not just
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: within your own borders in your own country, but trying
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: to go after them, intimidate them, curb their freedoms abroad.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: And so this is happening in Europe, but there's also
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: reports of it happening in Canada in the US. This
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: is a tactic. It's part of hybrid attacks. I believe
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: that Bellers and Russia do, and so it's important that
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: it's being discussed. You know, see that this is a threat,
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: but also there needs to be more work on actually
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: addressing it and protecting these people.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: And isn't a result of this a brain drain Your
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: best students who want to be academics or who want
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: to be professionals. They're going to have to leave Belarus,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: aren't they.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, it's very sad what's happening in Belarus. It's important
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: that we're talking about what's happening to people outside of Belarus.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: But there are still people there that want to their lives,
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: fight for a free, democratic, prosperous Belarus, and Lukashenka regime
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: is trying to crush that. The future looks grim there.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: I hope that it's not, and so to go after
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: students is just a very obvious way to try to
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: crush that hope.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's really sad for students and their families.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: What does this mean for Belarusian students living abroad is
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: the message from the regime to them coming home is
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: no longer an option.
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: I know that Vyasna, the human rights group, is warning
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: people affiliated with the university not to go back to
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: Belarus because they know that once they're in Belorus they
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: can also face arrest or other issues. That works well
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: for the regime as they don't want these independent minded
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: people at home. This contributes to the brain drain, but
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: the regime also hopes to crush any dissenting voice, any
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: civic activity outside of the country, and to show that
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: they have this control and strong regime you know that
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: can reach you wherever you are. I don't think Lukashenka
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: is as strong as you would like to portray, which
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: is why the paranoia of going after students really points
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: to that.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And what about the political opposition that is in exile
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: that would like to see a change in Belarus? Do
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: they have any influence at all on what happens to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: these students or do they just have to, you know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: stand by and watch.
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: So they've been organized for years and they of course
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: have faced this repression as well, and so they have
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: some resources, they have a community, and they're also a
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: great example of the regime can do transnational repression, harass
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: their families, harass them, you know, surveil them, and yet
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: they're not able to crush these voices. There are still
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: people that are fighting for future for Belarus, and so
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: they're together working and you know, they don't always agree,
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: but they're trying to work on this future. And it
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: is great that they are in the EU in Poland
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: and Lithuania largely, and so I know they have some tactics,
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: but they could certainly use more support.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, Shelby Moggy, good to have you on the program.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Good to get your insights on this story that I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: think will surprise a lot of people as well. Thank you, yeah, yeah,