The Belarus Democracy Act is heading to the Senate

As Belarusian protests continue for the 129th day since the widely disputed August 9th presidential election, the bill HR 8438 (more commonly known as the Belarus Democracy Act of 2020) is making its way to the Senate after the House of Representatives passed it on November 18th. To raise awareness of the importance of this […]

Vera Sauchanka

12/15/2020

Building digital society from scratch. Is e-government our future?

Estonia is a small post-Soviet country of about 1.3 million people, located in Northern Europe. However, it’s famous not for its size or population. Being called “the most advanced digital society in the world,” it now runs 99% of all government services online, becoming the first e-government country on the planet. In 2014, Estonia introduced e-residency — […]

Vera Sauchanka

12/13/2020

Women across the US protest against Trump, Pence, and Barrett

Despite the pandemic, Women’s Marches were held across the country this weekend. Thousands of women took to the streets of Washington, DC, New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, and other major cities across the US. Additionally, there were digital streams for those who did not feel comfortable to participate in person. In San Francisco, March for […]

Vera Sauchanka

10/19/2020

Belarus protests: a look inside the strike

A miner at Belaruskali, Yuri Korzun was never particularly interested in politics. “I have a family to take care of, so I always worked a lot and just didn’t have time for it.” It all changed this year when the coronavirus pandemic hit.  “This year, Lukashenko put every Belarusian at risk, ignoring coronavirus,” Yuri shared. […]

Vera Sauchanka

09/29/2020

San Francisco adopts the Resolution in support of Belarus

On September 1, San Francisco joined the national agenda and became the first U.S. city to adopt the Resolution in support of Belarus on a local level. Sponsored by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, the Resolution was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors. The Resolution condemns the arrests of peaceful Protesters in Belarus and declares solidarity […]

Vera Sauchanka

09/02/2020

The world lights up for Belarus. Will San Francisco join?

As Belarusians passed the 16th day of protests amid the rigged presidential election and brutal violence against peaceful demonstrations, solidarity events continue happening all over the world in support of the Belarusian nation’s fight for freedom and democracy. So far, six people died during the protests, 81 missing, and thousands have been tortured behind bars […]

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08/24/2020

Belarusians are united as one: Lukashenko must go

If you’ve never heard about Belarus before, it probably changed recently, as it made cover stories around the world this Monday. The country in the center of Europe, which has been ruled by “the last dictator” Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, has sent its message clearly: his time is up now. While all the Belarusian elections […]

Vera Sauchanka

08/18/2020

Solidarity Lines held across the globe in support of Belarus

This is a developing story, check back for updates. Last updated July 17 at 2:30 pm PST For the past few weeks, Belarusians of over 70 cities on five continents worldwide came out to peaceful protests against the repressions ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in Belarus. Amnesty International described the government’s brutal crackdowns and […]

Vera Sauchanka

07/10/2020

B for Belarus, and why the world should take a lesson in unity over fear

Updated on July 2, 2020 at 12 pm PST. People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. © V for Vendetta (2005) Apocalyptic future in a police state in Europe, where the government brutally suppresses anyone who thinks or says differently. Secret police grab people in the middle […]

Vera Sauchanka

07/01/2020

Belarus: a social media revolution clashes the fear

This is a developing story, check back for updates. Last updated on June 18, 2020 at 11:00 PM PST “The people and the government came to the roundtable. The people were holding the Constitution, and the government came in… the tank.” That’s how Belarusian independent journalist and blogger Tatyana Martynova described a myriad of pre-election […]

Vera Sauchanka

06/18/2020