The Official State Narrative on the Belarusian Protests of 2020 and Its Correlations to Non-Official Uncredited Belarusian Media with Foreign Representations

Abstract

With the beginning of the protests against the presidential election fraud in August 2020, A. Lukashenka and the Belarusian state media attempted to create and promote their interpretation of the nature of the protests, which took place in many cities and towns across Belarus. These protests were the largest, both in terms of sheer size and duration, in the history of independent Belarus. Our critical analysis of the events and the way they were depicted through media channels consists of the following elements: (a) how Belarus’ state narrative about the protests developed in August-September 2020, (b) the rhetoric used by the Belarusian state to describe the protests, (c) the protesters, and (d) the use of force against the protesters. Using a short contextualisation, the paper aims to bring and highlight parallel rhetoric of non-accredited Belarusian media with its representations in the Russian and Ukrainian media.