Round table discussion about Ronan Hervouet‘s book: The Suspended Revolution. Belarusians against the authoritarian state, published by Éditions Plein Jour.

While Belarus has been frozen for twenty-five years under the influence of an authoritarian regime ruled with an iron fist by Alexander Lukashenko, there is hope for a change as the 2020 presidential election approaches. Since August and the following months, the citizens rose en masse. They denounce the large-scale electoral fraud and demand the departure of the dictator. The struggle is intense, the period, revolutionary. The whole state and police structure is shaking. But the movement comes to an end because of a fierce and extensive repression. Hundreds of thousands of people flee abroad.

As a sociologist, Ronan Hervouet has documented the protests, repression and exile. He met the Belarusians who have found refuge in Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. The book that came out of this research will be discussed by Hélène Bienvenu (Le Monde, Le Courrier d’Europe centrale) and Adrien Beauduin (CEFRES/CEU).