After a short return to "normal" life, we again faced the increased need for social distancing and new restrictions from the governments of different countries.

The second wave of coronavirus entailed not only tougher quarantine measures, but also a new round of controversy about their appropriateness, adequacy and timeliness. The imposed restrictions affect different communities in different ways, which leads to social tension and an increase in mistrust and discontent towards the state on the part of individuals and social groups.

However, is it possible to do without government regulation? Is it possible to count on the responsibility of each person when it comes to ensuring the common good? Is it possible to balance restrictions and personal freedom in a situation where the lives, health and well-being of the whole society are at stake?

The discussion is about limiting freedom and relations between a person, society and authorities from different social and professional perspectives with the participation of:

• Marina Yavorskay (Severodonetsk, Director of the Serhii Prokofiev Severodonetsk College of Culture and Art)
• Kristina Boykova (Svatovo, Head of the Department of culture, youth and sports of the Svatovo Regional State Administration)
• Vadim Gaev (Novopskov, Head of the Novopskov United Territorial Community)
• Irina Selnitskaya (Lysychansk, Head of the Public Organization "Mist 3.10")

Moderator: Tatiana Plis (Severodonetsk, Member of the Ukrainian-Belarusian Initiative Group "Opera and Dialogue", Dramaturg at the Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater)

Belarusians have been protesting for more than three months now, demanding new elections and respecting basic democratic rights. The power apparatus of longtime autocrat Alexander Lukashenko is trying to suppress the will to protest through repression and excessive violence from the security forces. To date, more than 30,000 people have been detained, nevertheless, the protests continue, acquiring new forms and ways of expression.

In this tense and emotionally difficult time, is there an opportunity to think about how life in our country with a new president should or could look like? How would we like to live? What kind of future do we need to design?

Many Belarusians should ask themselves these questions. And we discussed them during our online discussion — not in philosophical or economic terms, but at the level of ordinary conversation.

Moderator: Alexey Bratochkin — historian, ECLAB professor (Minsk, Belarus)
Co-moderator: Ingo Petz — journalist (Berlin, Germany)

Participants:
• Tatiana Gatsura-Yavorskaya — Chairwoman of the human rights association "Zveno", organizer of the festival of documentary films about human rights "Watch Docs Belarus".
• Boris Goretsky — Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).
• Andrei Khadanovich — poet, translator, president of the Pen Center in Belarus in 2009-2017, participant and organizer of yard concerts in August-November 2020.

The discussion was organized in cooperation with S. Fischer Stiftung.