FROM PRISON TO A MODEL OF BELARUSIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

This analytical essay is a fragment of the research devoted to the analysis of the organization and way of life and social relations in modern Belarusian penitentiaries after August 2020. The study proposes to consider the world of the Belarusian prison as a social model, which the Belarusian authorities are actively unfolding in modern Belarus. This model manifests itself especially in the situation when a large number of political prisoners appear in prisons, which creates situations of confrontation between two worlds. The author consecutively examines several lines of tension in the lifestyles and actions of two colliding worlds: identity and self-image, critical thinking, minority (Unmündigkeit), community connections and relations, the private and the public. The conclusion gives a general characterization of this social model and examines the phenomenon of communal sociality as a basic element for the formation of this kind of systems in the modern world. The research is based on the reflection of the author’s personal experience.