The study “Belarus Digital Brain Drain – an Industry in Exile”, published in the Center for European Policy Analysis Journal, https://cepa.org/article/belaruss-digital-brain-drain-another-casualty-of-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-part-one/ discusses the development of the Belarusian IT community and how it accelerated the anti-authoritarian revolution of 2020 and the pro-democracy movement that followed.
From crowdfunding platforms to sophisticated digital solutions for documenting electoral fraud, IT has contributed to growing civil unrest. As the regime cracked down on this uprising, digital solutions emerged to coordinate protests and strikes. For example, special chatbots in the Messenger app Telegram made it possible to automatically inform human rights activists about the arrest. Software was developed to de-anonymize Belarusian security officers who carry out brutal attacks.
All protest leaders and activists were arrested or forced to flee the country. Independent media were banned. About 45,000 people were imprisoned. The repression did not stop at the IT community, which in the eyes of the Lukashenko regime became public enemy number one. And yet the IT sector continues to function as a diaspora to support the emergence of a democratic Belarus.
Initiated by an IT company founded in Belarus and authored by Belarusian academic Tadeusz Giczan, the paper outlines the sector’s role in supporting democracy, the defeat of the revolution and the start of a mass exodus of IT professionals from Belarus, which has since accelerated significantly The outbreak of war in Ukraine gave rise to the phenomenon of the Belarusian IT sector in exile.
The research was sponsored by an international technology company of Belarusian origin, which aims to shine a spotlight on events in this part of the world. For the safety of their employees who are still in Belarus, their names may not be publicly mentioned.
It gives an overview of the two waves of IT emigration (before and after the war), detailing who left the country and where they went, what impact their departure had on the Belarusian economy, and the situation and prospects of those who left the country left and those who left stayed.
Professor Wilson explains: “For a time in the late 2010s, Belarus became known for something other than ‘the last dictatorship in Europe’.” The booming IT industry generated 6.5% of GDP and spawned famous global brands such as Wargaming and Viber .
“IT workers have been at the forefront of the 2020 protests. They helped develop apps to detect voter fraud; they coordinated and participated in demonstrations; and hacked the security services to expose their responsibility for the repression. “President” Lukashenko (he took office after the election) took revenge. He explained: “Tell me, what do the IT guys want? I have already created a paradise for them. But no, it turns out they want more.”
“Between 5% and 10% of the IT workforce will leave Belarus after 2020, with another 20% expected to do so in 2022. Most went to Poland, where as of October 2022 53,000 had participated in a Poland Business Harbor program. A large number went to Lithuania.” and Latvia. Ukraine, which also boasts a strong and often Russian-speaking IT industry, was considered a favorite prior to February 2022. Many Belarusians worked “offshore”.
Professor Wilson adds that the sector now offers hope for Belarus. “If Russia were defeated in Ukraine, most likely Lukashenko would also fall and they could return home,” he explains. “Although many Belarusian IT specialists were in exile, they continued to work online for a post-Lukashenko Belarus. The dynamism that Belarus had benefited from was dissipated, not destroyed. Belarus’ western neighbors, the global economy and the hoped-for digital transformation of Ukraine in the course of post-war reconstruction will now benefit from this.”
The paper was presented at the 8th Annual Belarus Studies in the 21st Century Conference in April, hosted by the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the Ostrogorski Center and the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum. A live streamed question and answer session followed.
The participants also attended a reception at UCL and toured the Belarusian Library and Museum Church “Francis Skaryna”.
Professor Wilson is the author of Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship. His latest book, Ukraine Crisis: What the West Needs to Know, was published by Yale in October last year.
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