Lukashenko may be attacking the press, but technology is winning

The Belarusian regime has never advertised itself as an advocate of the free press. But at various points during the last three weeks, it made working conditions for journalists as bad as they can get outside of a war zone. In some respects they were worse than war zones.

Between 9 and 12 August, a period of intense crackdown, journalists not only got caught up in the arbitrary terror, but were sometimes direct targets of it. Some were shot at with rubber bullets despite having press jackets. Others had their equipment destroyed. Over 70 were arrested, and four dozen either seriously injured or beaten while detained in jail.

With diplomacy suspended over those days of hell, a foreign passport offered only limited protection. The Independent was one of only a handful of international outlets to be accredited by the regime. The others worked undercover and at considerable risk.

But it was, as always, the local media that suffered most. Their journalists disappeared for days on end. One was deliberately shot at from a distance of 10m. Others were beaten and abused in jail. Printing houses refused to print some of their editions, ludicrously claiming the presses were broken.

The internet was also turned off for long periods, with government just as ludicrously claiming it was the result of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks from abroad.

Given the regime’s longstanding hostility to journalism, the pockets of resilient, free Belarusian media that exist seem almost miraculous. In truth, they are as powerful as they are only because of the pressure.

Alexander Lukashenko’s clampdown on free media, for example, forced many abroad, and to anti-censorship platforms online like the Telegram messenger app. These features allowed them to continue broadcasting during the protests, and even while the internet was off.

One resource in particular became pre-eminent. Nexta, pronounced Nekh-ta (or “a certain someone”), was up until the disputed elections of 9 August little more than a radical leaning opposition blog. Over August, it became the go-to media, registering upward of a billion page views, and pulling in user-generated material from millions of Belarusians. Based in Poland, Nexta’s admins exert almost unhealthy levels of control over the protest movement.

Lukashenko’s analogue dictatorship has been many steps behind such technology, with faintly ridiculous attempts to redress the balance with primitive competing Telegram channels. It was just one of many moments in the last month that has hinted at the self-limiting nature of closed regimes.

The revolution in Belarus has demonstrated just how difficult it is for authoritarians to control the flow of information in the global communications era. It has also shown how attempts to regulate it can backfire and push citizens to encrypted platforms elsewhere.

In time, regimes like Lukashenko’s might even conclude it is in its interests to let pesky journalists in to do their work unhindered.

Yours,

Oliver Carroll

Moscow correspondent