Laying Blame On Somebody Else

The other day the chairman of the Central Election Commission of Belarus announced the passivity of voters.

Yarmoshyna’s statement raises a number of questions that I would like scientists to answer, but without government interference in their activities.

1. Why do social passivity, apathy and isolation exist in the modern Belarusian society? Why are they so obvious? 2. What are the causes and conditions of their formation? 3. What are the mechanisms of their formation? 4. What are the factors of their existence? 5. What is the dynamics of changes in the social passivity, apathy and isolation of Belarusians in the last 20 years?

One can agree that these are topical issues for our society. Isn’t it an absurd to recognize the relevance of the problems, and even not to make attempts to investigate them? It is normal that no dissertations have been defended and no monographs have been published, in which social passivity, apathy and isolation of people the modern Belarusian society were seen as relatively independent phenomena? By the way, once it will become a subject of separate research.

And today the reluctance of scientists to address the issue of social passivity and apathy is caused by the fear of Belarusians for the consequences of objective research and of its findings. Today, it’s suicidal to formulate scientific conclusions that the 20-year rule of existing power a) exterminated activity in the behavior and character of Belarusians; b) that authoritarianism, lack of democratic elections in the country, lack of people’s confidence in power, the ongoing crisis, habit of people to rely on themselves contributed to that; c) the passivity, apathy and isolation of Belarusians disfigured the cornerstone for the modernization of the country and the revival of the nation.

Liudmila Mirzayanava, the UCP