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Belarusian Opposition
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko (allied with Vladimir Putin), whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism. Background The modern Belarusian democracy movement originated in the late 1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika and the Chernobyl disaster exposed the serious shortcomings of the Soviet system and galvanized a significant section of Belarusians around the issues of environment, de-Stalinization, national revival and democratic change. The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought about a brief period of democracy from 1991 to 1994. However, since his election in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko established an authoritarian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of Belarus (1918, 1991-1995)
The national flag of Belarus is an unequal red-green bicolour with a red-on-white Rushnik, ornament pattern placed at the Glossary of vexillology#Flag elements, hoist (staff) end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardisation of the Republic of Belarus, and is adapted from a design approved in a 1995 Belarusian referendum, May 1995 referendum. It is a modification of the flag of the Byelorussian SSR, 1951 flag used while Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of communism, communist symbols – the hammer and sickle and the red star – as well as the reversal of the colours in the ornament pattern. Since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by Belarusian government officials and agencies have been modelled on this national flag. Historically, the white-red-white flag was used by the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918 before Belarus b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Politics Of Belarus
The politics of Belarus takes place in a framework of a presidential republic with a bicameral parliament. The President of Belarus is the head of state. Executive power is nominally exercised by the government, at its top sits a ceremonial prime minister, appointed directly by the President. Legislative power is ''de jure'' vested in the bicameral parliament, the National Assembly, however the president may enact decrees that are executed the same way as laws, for undisputed time. During Soviet times, present day Belarus had a communist political system that was constitutionally defined as a Marxist–Leninist single party socialist republic guided in part by the political ideas of Karl Marx, one of the fathers of historical materialism, as well as by Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin. The sole legal governing party was the Communist Party of Byelorussia (CPB), which was permitted according to the constitution. Belarus' declaration of sovereignty on 27 July 1990 did no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of Belarus
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the supreme basic law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 148 articles. Adopted in 1994, three years after the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union, this formal document establishes the framework of the Belarusian state and government and enumerates the rights and freedoms of its citizens. However, the United Nations and various observers challenge that the rule of law is respected or that the judiciary is independent in Belarus, highlighting the consolidation of power by the current president. The constitution was drafted by the Supreme Council of Belarus, the former legislative body of the country and is heavily influenced by Western constitutions. The constitution has been amended thrice under controversial circumstances since the original adoption, in 1996, in 2004 and in 2022. Two referendums that were disputed by independent observers and government opp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Belarusian Referendum
A seven-question referendum was held in Belarus on 24 November 1996. Four questions were put forward by Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, on changing the date of the country's independence day, amending the constitution of Belarus, changing laws on the sale of land and the abolition of the death penalty. The Supreme Council put forward three questions on constitutional amendments by the Communist and Agrarian factions, local elections and the national finances. All of Lukashenko's proposals were approved, namely changing Belarus's national day, amending the constitution, and retaining the death penalty and a ban on land sales. Voter turnout was said to be 84.1%.Nohlen & Stöver, pp256–257 The referendum, like its 1995 predecessor, was condemned by international organizations including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as falling far short of democratic standards, while others said it was a further consolidation of Lukashenko's dictatorship. Background In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Belarus
The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belarus. The two chambers of the National Assembly are: *the Council of the Republic – the upper house *the House of Representatives – the lower house. While each chamber has specific duties, both chambers have the ability to veto the decrees of local administrations that deviate from the Constitution of Belarus. The chambers of the National Assembly are convened to two regular sessions every year: the first session opens 2 October and its duration cannot be more than 80 days; the second session opens 2 April and does not last more than 90 days. The House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic may be convened to an extraordinary session. Extraordinary sessions are convened under a particular agenda upon an initiative of the President or upon a request of at least two-thirds majority of the full membership of each of the chambers. Any bill must be initially considered in the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 Belarusian Presidential Election
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 23 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July. They were the first national elections held in Belarus since the country seceded from the Soviet Union three years earlier. The result was an overwhelming victory for Alexander Lukashenko, who received 81% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout was 79% in the first round and 71% in the second. Background On 15 March 1994 the Supreme Council adopted the Constitution of Belarus, which made Belarus a democracy with a presidential system. Until the ratification of the constitution, Chairman of the Supreme Council Myechyslaw Hryb had effectively ruled as both the head of state and head of the parliament. On 6 April the Central Commission of the Republic of Belarus for Elections and Referendums established a timeline for the first presidential election, which outlined the role of local initiative groups in nominating candidates. Candidates Six candidates who were recognized by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supreme Soviet Of The Byelorussian SSR
The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (Belarusian language, Belarusian: Вярхоўны Савет Беларускай ССР, ''Vyarkhowny Savyet Byelaruskay SSR''; Russian language, Russian: Верховный Совет Белорусской ССР Romanization of Russian, tr. ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Belorusskoy SSR'') was the Supreme Soviet, supreme soviet (main Legislature, legislative institution) and the highest organ of state power of Belarus (Byelorussia), then known as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR from 1938 to 1991. It was the only branch of government in the republic, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs are subservient to it. The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was preceded by the All-Byelorussian Central Executive Committee (1920-1938) and the All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets (1919-1937). The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was briefly disbanded in 1941 due to the Eastern Front (World War II), G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glasnost
''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissibility of hushing up problems. In Russian, the word ''glasnost'' has long been used to mean 'openness' and 'transparency'. In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union within the framework of ''perestroika'', and the word came to be used in English in the latter meaning. Historical usage In the Russian Empire of the late-19th century, the term was used in its direct meanings of "openness" and "publicity" and applied to politics and the judicial system. Some reforms were introduced permitting attendance of the press and the public at trials. After some liberalization under Alexander II of Russia, the openness of trials started to be restricted ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belarusian Popular Front
The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" (BPF, ; ''Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie"'', ''BNF'') was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s whose goals were national revival of Belarus, its democratization and independence from the Soviet Union. Its leader was Zianon Pazniak. It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia, and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania. Creation The predecessor of the BPF was the civic organization "", whose goal was to commemorate the victims of Soviet political repressions in Belarus. Among the significant achievements of the organization was the 1988 uncovering by Pazniak of the burial site of Kurapaty near Minsk, a major NKVD mass extermination site of Soviet political prisoners in the 1930s. The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1989, following the examples of the Popular Fronts in the Baltic states. Its founding conference had to be organized in Vilnius because of pressure from the au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches. Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources. This is the now accepted meaning in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the nearest equivalent to the martyrology are the Synaxaria and the longer Menaia, both sometimes known as Menologia. Simple martyrologies only enumerate names. Historical martyrologies, also sometimes called passionaries, also include stories or biographical details. Oldest examples The martyrology, or ''ferial'', of the Roman Church in the middle of the fourth century still exists. It comprises two distinct lists, the '' Depositio martyrum'' and the '' Depositio episcoporum'', lists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurapaty
Kurapaty (, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, where a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD and in particular, during the Soviet repressions in Belarus. The exact count of victims is uncertain, as NKVD archives are classified in Belarus.Памяць і забыцьцё Курапатаў // , 28.10.2009 According to NKVD archives, up to 35,000 were shot in Byelorussia (Belarus) under Stalin, the vast majority of them during the Great Purge.У. Адамушка. Палітычныя рэпрэсіі 1920–1950-х гг. на Беларусі ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Satellite state#Post-World War II, Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism included the creation of a Rule of man, one man totalitarian police state, rapid Industrialization in the Soviet Union, industrialization, the theory of socialism in one country, forced Collective farming, collectivization of agriculture, intensification of the class struggle under socialism, intensification of class conflict, a Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, cult of personality, and subordination of the interests of foreign Communist party, communist parties to those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which Stalinism deemed the leading Vanguardism, vanguard party of communist revolution at the time. After Stalin's dea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
