Ben Zand visits Belarus. To find out what life is like in a dictatorship, he bathes in the rumoured source of the president's powers and comes face to face with the KGB.
I'm watching this while there are huge demonstrations in Belarus, and hearing that lady say it's a stable country without protesting is quite a weird feeling.
I.. I love, I love, I love Belarus! Belarus Belarus Is always in the head. Our motherland Will always warm a heart. Alexander Is our own king! We might we might have been inside Russia, But no but no It doesn't change a thing Our land will Always be in someones Heart "Singing"
Yes, Belarus is a safe country with very little crime and I guess the have the dictatorship to thank for that, but that's about all. You can only live freely in Belarus when you agree with Lukashenko or hide your true thoughts. Otherwise: no university, no travelling and worse. Yes, the country is beautiful and the people are very friendly, but once you leave the city you'll also see how little Lukashenko cares about the well-being of the people. Most houses have no running water, no central heating and electricity is also problematic. Alcohol is a big problem because people have few opportunities. I might go visit the country again, but I'll always be glad that in my own country I can say anything I want.
Julischka ...they have values....the West lost it all.....full of lies and fucking immigrants....Belarus is some clean country...woman can walk on street middle of the night...Belarus does not creating Wars...like the West...
well then explain to me why are swedish women in heavily islamified areas scared to go outside, why is sweden rape capital of the europe and why did they ban free speech there?
Adrian Bittman pretty sure it's UK(Scotland) followed by Belgium and Sweden, Germany. Keep in mind like you said, Sweden is super feminist so "sexual assault " (as they define it btw) can literally be touching a person or "staring" at a girl inappropriately lol. Isn't that the right's favorite joke? Everything is "rape" to feminists. lol Funny you overlook that when ever referring to Sweden as the rape capital of the world so you can blame immigration though. oops almost forgot source: euronews.com/2017/11/24/which-countries-have-the-highest-rate-of-sexual-crimes
It is lovely. I didn't get to spend so much time there, but Minsk is lovely, clean, and the people there are polite and nice. I would like to go again someday.
but he was very biased. lukashenko build good economy that is self sufficent. he build natioalistic spirit and destroyed crime there, also he fights homelessness
great series, i love how they try to show everyday life in a dictatorship and not just focus on politics. also: i'm aware they're not a recognized country, but in Transnistria the secret service is called KGB, too.
that makes all the difference, in western europe they are free to harass people in city centers, pickpocket with impunity and inject heroin in public restrooms and under bridges and society seems to be unable to deal with the problem
what you're trying to say is that the state provides home and work for each and every citizen, cleaning streets is an honorable job, meanwhile western capitals are full of drug addicts, crime and racial tensions
Best regards from your western neighbours. Hope we'll have the opportunity to help you someday. You know, we have some experience in overthrowing dictatorships like back in 1989 :D.
Сяржук Сай Im worried about fact that our far right goverment seems to get along with Lukashenko, however people obviously are very supportive for belarussian oposition. Mostly because many Poles remember communist times, so they see many paraboles to their own history. But you know, the main problem is Russia. Putin will probably shit his pants when he learns that Belarus would like to go pro EU and pro NATO. Poland and especially rest of the smaller Visegrad Group countries don't want to mess with Russia(because they are very protective about Lukashenka), and i would'nt put much hope in the Weimar Triangle either. So, without the change in Russian goverment, not much can change in Belarus.
I was about 4 times in this land. A perfect place for safe, interesting and cheap holidays. As a 20 y.o. girl I could walk in the midnight alone, visit beaches, countryside, parks and didn't get in trouble. There are a lot of freaks and members of different subcultures in Belarus too and even some feminist organisations, free WiFi in every hotel/hostel/public place. I don't think it's common for the dictatorship.
oh, so free wi-fi huh - is that what it takes to not be a dictatorship? :)))) try to protest Luka - while being belarussian, you will see a whole different reality. You should bear in mind - coming here for a week while being English speaker - you are seeing the tourist side, not the actual life.
Calling Belarus 'Europe's last dictatorship' never made any sense when Putin's Russia exists. Belarus is a much cleaner and more orderly country than Putin's Russia, and has vastly superior infrastructure.
"Only someone who has never been to Russia can call it a dictatorship" Um, look at my videos and you'll find that I have been to Russia. It's not what my media is telling me. I'm very familiar with Russia from my own experiences of travelling there on multiple occasions. A dictatorship doesn't necessarily have to be orderly to be a dictatorship. Cuba and Iran aren't particularly orderly, for example.
Actually, Dagestan has little in common with the Central Asian countries. Despite being Muslim, they're culturally and ethnically much closer to Georgia and elsewhere in the South Caucasus than anywhere else. The videos I have were not recorded with the intention of showing that Russia is a dictatorship, I just mentioned them as proof of me having been in Russia to counter your statement that "only someone who has never been in Russia would call it a dictatorship". I never recorded any videos in Moscow or St. Petersburg because there's already thousands of such videos.
Whats so wrong about a dictator when he actually loves and cares for his own people, his own faith and native culture that represents his majority native population where he does everything to encourage people to work to build their own nation or empire to a powerful status and for the minorities who also have lived in their own native lands for a very very long time also happen to be under political control of the dictator but he makes them a republic or duchy province to have their own elected or selected native leader to represent them in order to any blame of oppression from the central government to keep a good opinion between the two or many other cultures.
If you love someone, you let them go. The image of a loving father is incompatible with a father who doesn't let you be free. But then you'll say, "b-but humans can't allowed to be free or they will destroy society!", but then you'll remember how human rights have only truly flourished in democratic countries so you promptly shut up and go make humanity a better place instead of maintaining the dinosaurs of a dying breed.
You are Belarusian right, How is life in Belarus? Do you like Belarus? Do you think that Belarus is a good country to live in? Do you like Lukashenko? I just want to know facts about Belarus, since here in Spain we don't hear a lot about Belarus. PS: My favorite game is Worldof Tanks, which is a Belarusian game.
Yes, I am. As I said this movie is pretty objective . It Is pretty depressive to live here .Its like driving your car over the highway without a steering wheel - you have no much control over your live. I like Belarus for beautiful women and nature but our government is so shitty , actually our country is ruled by one person (Lukashenko , I mean) who thinks that he is smart and professional guy in every aspect of humans life - but he isn't .He is so unprofessional that he can't even realize it. There is literally no policy in Belarus-people are afraid to compete with him cause in early years of his presidentship some politics and journalists who critisized him have just disappeared an nobody even have found their bodies and there was some evidence against people from Luka's entourage. People say , there was a group of spec ops called Black Squadron , whom first where created to kill local criminal leaders but then Luka begin to use them against his competitors.
See how clean the roads are, fancy cars, people having basic life requirements and more, how in the world is that dictatorship? if they're having a blissful life then what more is there to ask for?
little to no recourses and still higher standards of living than in russia or ukraine. He should stay in power as hes doing a rather well job for the common man
So many people in the comments rushing to defend their dear dictator. There is a reason so many people try to immigrate to the west and not this shameful regime. NATO states might have problems but at least you can speak without being beaten.
>Not in American "Universities", you can't . So let's hypothetically say there is repression in US (which there is), now what? Does this now mean we suddenly have to tolerate human rights abuses? No, your country is still shit (and, since you care about the competitive aspect so much, yes, it is way shittier than US, even though I don't even like that country either).
I can read reports/studies/and articles from reputable sources, yet what do you have? The media in your country? The information I read isn't less reliable only because I don't live there. And anecdotal evidence has always been a flawed metric to come to conclusions. Also it's funny how you say I only watched YT videos when I said in my last post that I was basing myself off of Human Rights Watch reports.
Oh, no HRW reports :D. Now you got me. HRW is the most biased propagandist machinery that can ever be. Now you proved yourself having been thoroughly brainwashed, so you are excluded from any sane and thoughtful discussion from now on.
As a belarusian, There was some shit and everyone decided that it would be better if he would be the president until his death and you can't say that he's a dictator because he doesn't have the power a dictator does and no one is too poor neither too rich btw life is ok there and we aren't being oppresed.
I wonder how he was allowed to film this propaganda film against that country if it really is a terrible dictatorship. At least they dont have western war, western junk food, people in squalour by the millions. Not for me to say how the government should be in other countries, nor for anybody else from outside.
He literally said that it looks like a western country, the people are nice and it's fine but he's not focusing on it in this series. He's going to surviving dictatorships he has an opportunity to go to and showing the things they do that are different and frightening. Sure he could've filmed the day to day life in Belarus but that's pretty similar to other countries. He's looking at the bad parts of the government, not the things most free, western people experience.
pan72 how would you know ? I lived in Ukraine until I was 10, then we moved to the U.K. and after to Ireland . I can tell you for sure that life is in Ukraine is a struggle for many yes, but it's not all bad! Nowhere near like Somalia or anything like that. I love to go back. EU is my home now but I visit Ukraine 3-4 time a year and love to go back .
Excuse me but Ukraine isn't a bad place to live in At least we dont have a dictator What is up with Kazakhs and belarussian thinking Ukraine is a dictatorship and life there is worse than in Africa Also, ukraines economy isn't crumbling, the hryvina went up in value recently and the gdp is $90 billion compared to belarus' $40 billion
Belarus is fine, i have visited it like 4 times last 10 years and i love it. You can leave your car unlocked in Minsk and nobody would steal anything, try this in some other post soviet state and you wont find your car :D And Minsk is super clean, full with flowers and stuff - like im in Singapore or something :D:D
Why did you pick dark eyes for your music? It's neither Belarusian, nor is it even Soviet, nor is it about autocracy, it's a cabaret song from Tsarist Russia. Odd pick.
Patrick Ellis It's not political! Not aligned to anything! It's a song about love and the depth of it, you don't need to make out everything as political.
Actually the journalist from West Europe always will badge any leader who is friends with Russia.People in Belarus actually love Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus.I saw you made a video about Kazakhstan too but I reckon people there also would be in love with Nursultan cause how he made that country into an industrialised and a powerful player.As far as west Journalist are concerned remember how they had been presenting Mummar Gadddafi and what happened after he died and what happened in Iraq after Saddam was taken dpwn.And yes Bashar Al Assad is another story I think he is a dictator though cause him belonging to a specific sect or clan I'd say that barely makes up 11 % of the country's total population.
His name is Lukashenko. Poroshenko is Ukraine's president. And you sound dumb. Lack of free elections means lack of democracy. Why aren't they allowing opposition if the people love them so much?
yeah yeah I sound dumb your name sounded like a very smart intellectual though .I corrected Lukashenko by the way.Cause you don't know the culture here.People are pretty happy to have Alexandar Lukashenko here in Belarus cause they're very well aware that NATO backed revolutions like so called Orange revolution and what they did in Libya turn out.The Freedom they brought in Iraq that democracy worked pretty well too.
These so called dictators are the ones who made these countries into something They're the reason these countries are stable else it would become a another Ukraine and Libya or Iraq. Biggest Dictator was Obama who signed 10 times more drone bombs than that rascal Bush.And that so called Obama destroyed and lied about Libya.
The Only bad dictator was Robert Mugabe and few African ones this obese bastard Kim Jon Un of North Korea too. And that so called Jacob Zuma elected President of South Africa had been enjoying life and encouraging blacks there.Whites in South Africa are now forced to live in Ghettos.South Africa badly needs civil right moment from Whites as everyday a white farmer is shot in South Africa by blacks who say that they're just taking revenge from them past apartheid days.
Nice report. I am more concerned about the loss of freedom of speech in the West, however. I notice the folks in these dictatorships are well fed and clothed properly. They speak intelligently and are engaged. Compare the people of Tajikistan to the typical Walmart shopper in America and you begin to wonder what has democracy wrought?
Belarus seems just like any western country. Just more up front and honest with their oppression. You Brits are severely obsessed with talking shit on Russia or their allies.
You will never see any of these western fuckers talking shit in the same way about their beloved persian gulf theocratic dictatorships Cuz you know oil doesnt grow in the fucking trees
LeeNTien I'm not talking about our bullshit government-funded media. Those are obviously biased. But this is a fucking crime against free speech to be biased when you're an independent internet journalist.
It's a small documentary titled "dictatorland", about dictatorships in former soviet countries. Is is not a full documentary about a country or people there or even full cover of their governments. It is literally a small series of 3 films that says at the start, that the guy travels to certain countries and tries to find out about dictators ruling there. If you are after a full documentary - wrong place to look for it. Free speech is - say whatever you want and nobody will hold it against you. Anything. Pro-government, anti-government, anti-religious, pro-religious, whatever - as long as it is not personally offensive to somebody. A crime against it - is to try and stop it. By, for example, calling it "biased" and therefore it some weird sense - not free speech?..
yes, and join the club of western colonies with meager wages, no working institutions, presstitutes and political prostitutes...and economic migrants to UK, that's exactly what they can get from being "free"
Lol, I'm a Belarusian and I think I know this country better than you. Shortly: if you are able to live in another country, it would be foolish to stay in Belarus.
I can totally understand why you don't like NATO, I'm an American and I don't care for what NATO does either, nor do I like the EU especially with what they did to Greece and how they treated Yanis Varoufakis that being said I support the EU from a strategic standpoint of it keeps Western Europe mostly stable, but Eastern Europeans should avoid the EU for the time being, now as for NATO I would like to see NATO reformed and I want to clamp down on American military policy, work on making things less American led with NATO and more international if that makes sense. Ideally though you want NATO's protection you don't want to be its enemy right now, because of American imperialism, Russia isn't good either though and pulls the same kind of bullshit the US does, it seems out of the big three superpowers (Russia, America, China) China is the least malevolent on a world stage currently, that's not to say they wouldn't be more malevolent if they could though. Funny enough we have more people in jail than China in America. Just a fun fact for you when a American talks down to you about your country you can point that out to him. Another fun fact is that 50% of our population lives on 30,000 or less a year and that's not enough to really live on or really raise a family in America because of how expensive everything is, not with out a lot of stress and having to do extra work. Especially if you are a young person just starting out in life. I know quite a few people working more than 1 job for 60+ hours a week. We have a lot of other issues too, especially with our politicians being corrupt from what's essentially legalized bribery. Anyway take care!
Is this a joke? Canada has a speech code where you can't criticize anything the far left government does. People feel that they cannot speak out against their government here and cannot comment on negative social changes. That is the definition of totalitarianism. That is the definition of oppression.
ManAtWork What...? Can you give a single credible source on a "speech code where you can't criticize anything the far left government does."? The liberal party of Canada is hardly "far left" either, they barely get past being centrist.
This country doesn't seem that bad compared to other current dictatorships, even with that ridicilous dictator. I mean, it's not like western democracies don't try to shut down oppossing views either. Sure people are more free in western democracies and don't get directly jailed for oppossing views but to some degree it's often also an illussion of freedom.
