As modern Belarus seems to be caught in limbo between the West (EU\NATO) on one side, and Russia with her post-imperial ambitions on the other, it is still undecided where it really belongs. Some observers claim that the modern Belarusian state is Soviet by its origin and design, but there were also suppressed historical alternatives to it in the recent 20th century Belarusian past. Aliaksandr Paharely, Visiting Scholar, Center for Belarusian Studies, Southwestern College, Kansas, will address the putative evolutionary and revolutionary scenarios of social change and nation and states building that were debated in Poland’s West Belarus during the interwar years.

Few are aware that prominent figures in the Belarusian opposition movement are motivated by Christian conviction. Journalist Geraldine Fagan will trace how Lukashenka’s restriction of religious freedom prompted Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants to turn to democratic activism, as well as their rediscovery of religious freedom as a long-standing core value of Belarusian identity. Her findings draw on interviews conducted in Minsk in the aftermath of the December 2010 presidential election, including with Christian opposition activists subsequently jailed.