CBEES Advanced Seminar with Alesia Rudnik, Södertörn University

Bottom-up mobilisation in the 2020 Belarusian protests: Repertoire and Resources of Collective Action

Speaker: Alesia Rudnik, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Culture and Education, Södertörn University

Discussant: Ilkin Mehrabov, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Communication, Lund University

Chair: Çağla Demirel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CBEES, Södertörn University

Venue: MA796

Abstract

The chapter provides an in-depth examination of the organisational structures that facilitated protest mobilisation in Belarus in 2020. We analyse the human capital of the movement, tracing the role of emerging leaders and networks. We also scrutinise the technological resources used in the Belarusian protest episode in the summer of 2020 (Mateo 2022; Wijermars & Lokot 2022). Relying on interview materials, we trace the micro-structures of social relations as channels for social interaction and the diffusion of mobilisation ideas and narratives. The analysis builds on recognition of both formal (e.g., parties and churches) and informal (e.g., friends, neighbours) organisations’ contributions to the aggregation of personal grievances through the development of various mechanisms, structures, and processes (McCarty 1996). To understand the mobilisation repertoire and resources of the Belarusian protests, we draw on interviews with activists, politicians, and editors of major Telegram channels engaged in framing, mobilisation, and coordination during the summer 2020 protests. The chapter discusses how strategies and tactics were developed to expand the scope of protests and examines the material and technological resources utilised by protest leaders. Our interviews highlight practices such as business funding and crowdfunding for electoral initiatives (Holos, Honest People, ZUBR, and others), as well as the integration of sophisticated technological solutions into pre-protest electoral campaigns and the mediation of the Belarusian protest episode (Wijermars & Lokot 2022), including digital voting tools, multiple Telegram chats and groups, and visual content produced for Instagram and other platforms.

Alesia Rudnik is a postdoctoral fellow at Södertörn University, Media & Communications, a VR International Postdoc grant-holder. In current project Rudnik examines relations of BigTech, EU policymakers and exiled communities from Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia.

She defended her PhD in political science at Karlstad University with a thesis on protests & technology in Belarus in September 2020. Until January 2025, Alesia was the director of the think tank Center for New Ideas, one of the largest Belarus-founded and exile-based think tanks. Alesia is also a board member of the Belarus Analytical Digest. Rudnik won the 2022 European of the Year award by the Swedish European movement for her work on promoting democracy in Eastern Europe. She has published academically, analytically and journalistically about Belarus and the region. She was the chairperson of Sveriges Belarusier 2018-2021. Her website with biography, publications and comments is alesiarudnik.com