Cartoons of the Third Way Belarus Internet Community as a Threat to the Dictatorship in Belarus

Belarus today is a unique spot on the map of Europe where the dictatorship continues to tighten its grip. Political leaders and activists have been the targets of repressions for over a decade. The regime does not limit its oppressive actions only against the most prominent political opponents, such as ex-candidate for president Aliaksandr Kazulin, political party leader Stankevich, or the leader of the youth branch of Belarusian Popular Front party Seviarynets—civil society activists are in danger too.

The internet community the Third Way Belarus www.3dway.org felt first signs of pressure from the authorities in August 2005. Founded a year earlier by graduate students from European Humanities University closed by the authorities, the civil initiative Third Way had gained significant popularity among Belarusian youth.

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The initiative used humor and laughter as weapons against the dictatorship

The Third Way’s innovative approach to the oppositional activities differed greatly from those of the rest of the oppositional organizations. Those were not demonstrations or oppositional political slogans that attracted volunteers to join the community. It was a new common platform of believes and values of a free civil society that the members of the community shared together with new forms of activities. The initiative used humor and laughter as weapons against the dictatorship of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The Third Way made distribution of independent information about the events in Belarus and production of cartoons and other entertaining materials about the regime its major field of activities.

Thus, in August 2005, Pavel Marozau, initiative’s coordinator, Andrei Abozau, web site administrator, and Aleg Minich, initiative’s volunteer, author of the cartoons, were detained with the charges for “insuling” President Lukashenka. Two-minute-long cartoons were created by Aleg Minich and posted on one of the community’s web sites http://mult.3dway.org. The activists were taken to KGB, and their personal computers and other equipment were confiscated. The charges brought against them may have resulted in up to Five years in prison. Since there were precedents of imprisonment for libel against Lukashenka, it was highly probable that the Third Way activists would be jailed for cartoons. As a result, fearing for their lives, Aleg Minich had to flea to Germany, and Andrei Abozau left for Estonia.

The opposition activists and the international community recognized the threat to the Third Way as another prove of oppression of basic human rights in Belarus. International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) recognized the threat to the Third Way activists and supported them. The cartoon scandal augmented to the extent when the International Union of Cartoonist announced that if KGB did not cease prosecuting the Third Way’s activists, they will invade the internet with thousands of cartoons on Lukashenka.

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Cartoons and laughter have become the Third Way's brand.

Pavel Marozau expressed his reaction to sudden actions of KGB, “I believe that it is questionable to state that there can be insult of somebody in cartoons. It says on theMultclub web site that it is pure fiction. Moreover, the cartoons are posted in the virtual space; they do not belong to a particular geographic territory. A person from any country can watch them. The server is in Russia, while the domen name .org is registered in the U.S. Thus, the cartoons technically do not belong to Belarus.”

The KGB’s threat did not reach its goal. It does not destroy the initiative and scare away volunteers. On the contrary, it led to a greater popularity of the cartoons as weapons against the dictatorship. Andrei Abozau comments, “Since our computers were confiscated, we cannot shut down the project. Now due to a wide news coverage of the incident, including reports on Russian and Ukrainian TV-channels, the cartoons are being copied in the internet. People show increasing interest in the Third Way’s web site. We get a lot of response and support from people. Cartoons and laughter have become the Third Way's brand.”

However, the case was renewed a year later, when Pavel Marozau, the initiative’s coordinator who was still residing in Minsk, received a phone call to come to police office as a suspect in “Multclub case.” Mr. Marozau was advised to contact his lawyer and to prepare for the court hearings that were due in two weeks with the charges of the “Multclub case.” Knowing to what extent the Belarusian court is arbitrary and realizing the regime’s desire to crash the initiative, Mr. Marozau left the country for Estonia. He says, “I had an opportunity to go to Austria or Germany. There are people there who sympathize with the Third Way and are willing to give us a helping hand. I decided to go to Estonia, as some of my friends presently study here. Moreover, it is a convenient location to continue my civil activities.”

Today, the Third Way is a community of volunteers operating throughout the world, Belarusians and concerned individuals from other countries being among them. It is a platform for collaboration and partnership which are the core elements for developing a free civil society. It continues its activities and looks confidently into the future. Its activists and volunteers have plans for future activities and keep on building a strong community of a new generation of Belarusian all over the world. They know that the dictatorship is powerless in front of laughter.