The political potential of the feminist movement in the Belarusian revolution of 2020

Abstract

This article examines how the Belarusian protest movement of 2020 has generated a distinct feminist reconfiguration of political participation. Employing a qualitative, interpretive approach, the article draws on the experiences, practices and testimonies of the 2020 Belarusian protest movement to trace how care, mutual aid, and embodied forms of resistance have reshaped collective action under authoritarianism. The analysis shows that women’s mobilisation has transformed the aesthetics and infrastructures of revolution, shifting attention from heroic confrontation to the micro-practices of solidarity that sustain political subjectivity in the face of repression. It concludes that feminist movements in Belarus have broadened the concept of politics by focusing on care, relationality, and everyday survival strategies in revolt. This offers a durable framework for challenging authoritarian power beyond conventional institutional politics.