Ploshcha

Minsk, the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Belarus- In March 2006 a rigged president election was arranged, sothe "dictator", Alexander Lukaschenko, was re-elected with 82 % of the votes. Independent observers have estimated Lukashenko could merely win 40 % of the votes due to massive propaganda and oppression. Since Lukasheko's presidency started in 1994, he has turned Belarus into a more dictatorian country based on a Soviet style authoritarian leadership. In much of Belarus, the notion that the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 is not valid, the Soviet Union just diminished and gradually turned into present day Belarus - much of the Soviet system and mentality goes on in the country. Unlike Russia, the country didn't undergo any remarkable transition from plan economy to market reforms, thus avoiding to much chaos and instability in society, but the price has been an increasing lack of personal freedom and economic development. Thus the young generation got enough of corruption, plan economy, censorship, state harassment, lack of hope and arbitrary use of state intervention by the secret police, which still goes by their old name: the KGB! For the first time the people were brave enough to defy the regime on a large scale and show their resentment towards the president, led by the young generation in the so called "jeans revolution" for freedom.