At this moment, it is hard to say what will be the long-term impact of the Program on those who have left to study abroad, the Belarusian democratic movement, and the country as a whole. Over the last decade, tens of thousands of young Belarusian have gone abroad to work or study, and most have never returned. Compared to these numbers, 300 repressed students temporarily out of the country are a drop in the emigration stream. Nevertheless, the Kalinousky Program has become synonymous with “brain drain.” This stereotype has persevered in part due to aggressive state propaganda, but also because of the democratic movement’s fears that it will lose some of the most active leaders of the young generation. But Inna Kuley is convinced that the work of her Committee only strengthens the pro-democratic mood in society. She says that students now smile while facing the police during demonstrations, because they are no longer afraid. Young people know that someone has their backs.
The scandals surrounding the program are likely to be forgotten soon. But one of the most serious accusations facing its organizers is that the Program is promoting the emigration of Belarus’ “best and brightest.” Nobody can predict how many “Kalinousky students” will actually come back to Belarus after finishing their studies abroad. As well, many youth activists who have been expelled from the universities here now say that they don’t want to leave Belarus for several years. They are exploring possibilities for distance learning from neighboring countries.
The Program’s biggest scandal exploded in January 2007, when a “Kalinousky” student publicly declared that he was cooperating with the KGB and reporting on his fellow students. It was an extraordinary moment. All the fears and rumors about the opposition’s penetration by KGB agents were suddenly personified in this young, unremarkable guy. It was so much more real than an anonymous letter from some KGB officer occasionally appearing on some opposition website. The agent “Vector” had a name and a face. He forced democratic activists to take a closer look at their brothers in arms, and once again corrupting the movement with suspicion and mistrust.
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