The campaign of the “fighting women”: the Belarus election of 2020 and its aftermath – a conversation with Veranika Tsapkala

Abstract

ABSTRACT On 29 October 2020, the Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta sponsored a Zoom webinar organized by David R. Marples and featuring Veranika Tsapkala, one of three female members of the opposition campaign in the Belarusian presidential election of 2020. Their campaign replaced that of three candidates who were denied registration to run. Tsapkala represented the original electoral campaign of her spouse, Valeryi, which combined with that of Viktar Babaryka (represented by Maryia Kalesnikava) in support of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaia. The women’s campaign galvanized the opposition and drew large crowds around the country, in marked contrast to earlier elections. In the transcript of the webinar that follows, Tsapkala explains how the campaign started, its impact on the country, and the repressions that followed the huge protests as the long-time incumbent president, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, tried to cling to power. She responds to questions from Dr. Nelly Bekus of the University of Exeter; Maryna Maskaliova, a Belarusian community leader in Edmonton; and an audience of over 130.