A New Era of ‘Hacktivism’ -using digital tools to take action.

There are places in the world where it is unsafe to protest, so now to resist is to use digital tools. Dr Elena Korostleva Professor of International Politics and Director of the Global Europe Centre guests on this BBC Radio 4 episode of ‘Digital Human’.

‘Belarus is fighting back against a repressive regime’ Dr Elena Korosteleva talks to Aleks Krotoski on this episode of ‘Digital Human’ explaining how efforts to depose Lukashenko have evolved to include ‘hacktivism’ on this episode of Radio 4’s “Digital Human”.

‘Alexander Lukashenko has proudly called himself ‘Europe’s last dictator’. He has held power in Belarus since 1994, and has been known to repress opposition with brutal efficiency. In 2020 he was re-elected for his 6th Presidential term in an election US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned was “not free or fair”. This resulted in mass protests in the country, which was met with brutal crackdowns – the UN reported multiple violations of human rights, including reports of 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of people who were arrested during the protests following the presidential election. People have vanished, or died, and journalists have even been grabbed off diverted planes, jailed and tortured for publishing about the actions of the regime.’

Listen here.