Kuley track 5: “There and Back”

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.