Pomidor/off during a concert at Re:public club in Minsk. PHOTO: DAVID-EMIL WICKSTRÖM

Peer-reviewed articles The ethos of resistance in Belarusian rock. The 2020 protests and Russia’s war on Ukraine

This article, based on the analysis of media, video production and songs, as well as semi-structured interviews, pursues three objectives. First, it analyses Belarusian rock musicians’ modes of protest engagement in the context of the 2020 Belarusian post-electoral protests and the 2022 Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, it situates their engagement within the Belarusian underground rock artistic tradition that took root in the 1980s, but which was updated in waves as new impulses were given to protest. Finally, it provides an overview of four types of social logics that have historically contributed to the protest politicization of Belarusian rock music.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2025:3, pp 21-31
Published on balticworlds.com on October 23, 2025

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abstract

This article, based on the analysis of media, video production and songs, as well as semi-structured interviews, pursues three objectives. First, it analyses Belarusian rock musicians’ modes of protest engagement in the context of the 2020 Belarusian post-electoral protests and the 2022 Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, it situates their engagement within the Belarusian underground rock artistic tradition that took root in the 1980s, but which was updated in waves as new impulses were given to protest. Finally, it provides an overview of four types of social logics that have historically contributed to the protest politicization of Belarusian rock music.

KEYWORDS: Politicization, protest, rock music, Belarus

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Yauheni Kryzhanouski

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