Monthly Archive: August 2010

BULLETINS INFOFOCUS № 8

E-bulletin of IISEPS Center for Documentation, N 8, 2010 – ISSN 1822-5578 (only Russian) Content: Introduction 1. Basic trends of August 2. Chronicle of key events 3. Politics 3.1. A personality conflict 3.2. Whose opinion poll is mightier? 3.3. Between Yin and Yan 4. Economics 4.1. The forecast did not presuppose a crisis 4.2. Petroleum …

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RELIGIOUSNESS AND MORALS OF BELARUSIANS

The results of the September opinion poll gave some answers to the questions about the attitude of the population to religion, marriage, family, and alcohol and tobacco consumption.

PROSPECTS FOR EXPANDING A SOCIAL BASE OF ALTERNATIVE YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS

(Русский) В аналитике, подготовленной НИСЭПИ по результатам мартовского опроса общественного мнения, делался вывод о том, что “сегодня, спустя десятилетие, можно сказать, что “битву за молодежь” выигрывает скорее власть, чем оппозиция, поскольку именно власть сделала серьезные выводы из бурных событий 90-х годов…

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE POPULATION

As the IISEPS research proves, there is a rather mixed attitude towards human rights defenders in the Belarusian society. In many respects it is connected with the fact that official organizations (courts, militia, the public prosecutor’s office and other special services) called to stand sentinel over the law are not perceived by the population as human rights guilds.

“BELARUS IS OUR RUSSIA”

The data of the IISEPS September opinion poll of 2010 concerning the geopolitical preferences of Belarusians testify to a slight advantage of pro-European attitudes over the pro-Russian ones. However, there is no complete unambiguousness in the answers, and some trends possess contradictory character (Table 1).

“THE GODFATHER” IN THE MIRROR OF THE PUBLIC OPINION

The run of the three parts of the series “The Godfather” on the Russian channel NTV has become one of the most significant events in the Belarusian-Russian relations for the last months. Tough criticism towards A. Lukashenko, accusations of corruption and other crimes – everything which had been present in the pages of Belarusian opposition and western press before, was broadcasted by the Russian TV.

ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH AND YOU’LL BE HEARD

In the course of public opinion polls respondents were asked questions about their awareness of the campaign “Tell the truth!” and about their attitude to it the second time in succession. The campaign “Tell the truth!” started from scratch. Its initiators, judging by numerous statements of experts and party activists, possess rather serious resources by Belarusian standards; that is why the obtained results quite clearly illustrate agitation potential of the opposition, as well as the level of support of opposition ideas in the society.

TO THE WORLD LEVEL! PASSING THE EUROPEAN ONE…

Speaking at the press conference for the representatives of the Russian regional mass media on October, 1 A. Lukashenko defined the electoral resource of the opposition candidates as 100-150 thousand people. According to him, the opposition group of activists includes 400 people, and the number of the prospective meetings participants does not exceed 800 people.

THE PROBLEM OF BURIDAN’S ASS

In 1997 a fourth of Belarusians preferred planned economy (Table 1), and there were considerably more supporters of market economy – 69%. 13 years have passed. The share of “planners” has visibly decreased (from 25.7% to 15.7%); however, the numbers of market economy advocates have not grown. This became possible at the expense of an increase in the share of those who found it difficult to answer: from 2.3% in 1997 to 12.8% in 2010.

BETWEEN THE DICTATOR AND THE FATHER

The desire of the first Belarusian president to extend his term of office yet again lets us put a question about the personality cult of the “only Belarusian political figure” formed in the country. Within the bounds of the political system which has appeared out of the debris of its Soviet predecessor such statement of the question should not surprise. The principal of separation of powers was declared in the USSR, but was never observed in practice.