Opinion: Belarus shows how politics is changing all over the world

"On 9 August, a mass movement erupted in Belarus, with protesters furious about the disputed presidential election result. A brutal police crackdown against peaceful protesters followed. Along with recent protests in eastern Russia’s Khabarovsk region and clashes in the Bashkortostan area, how does this movement connect to a larger picture of global democratic awakening in the last year?

In fact, the protests in Belarus reveal some major trends in how the nature of political organisation has been changing around the world, from the US and Hong Kong to Beirut and the post-Soviet region.

Right now, we are undergoing the conscious act of changing the way that power is exercised, via the “feminisation” of politics. Three female faces have become the symbol of Belarusians’ discontent with the status quo: main opposition candidate and former teacher Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, along with Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova".