At irregular intervals during the last 17 years, Europeans of the old communist Eastern Bloc countries have taught their spoiled Western neighbours the real values of liberal democracy. Little more than a year ago, Ukrainians camped in the cold streets of Kyiv for weeks, determined to fight for their democratic rights (compare with Florian Illies’ diagnosis in the hit book “Generation Golf”: West Germans – just extend that to West Europeans – don’t demonstrate anymore, it’s just too cold outside).

In the coming days, we might experience a new Ukraine – in Belarus. In an in-depth article in New York Times Magazine, Steven Lee Myers tracks the very steep uphill campaign of dictator Lukashenko’s rival Aleksandr Milinkevich. The campaign, Milinkevich explains, is not about the election on March 19. That will be won by Lukashenko anyway. Milinkevich, a “58-year-old physics professor and the unlikeliest of revolutionaries”, is campaigning for an uprising: “If our campaign is successful, then we will get people out into the street”. Lukashenko has threatened with severe consequences:

Any attempt to destabilize the situation will be met with drastic action. We will wring the necks of those who are actually doing it and those who are instigating these acts.

In this climate, newspapers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have challenged colleagues in other countries to print cartoons depicting Lukashenko. Check out the gallery.

The EU and US institutions support the Belarus opposition with funding of different projects and much-needed alternative information sources.

According to Myers, the group Zubr will provide the first demonstrators if there is to be an uprising in Belarus. UPDATE March 13: The Zubr website on www.zubr-belarus.com/index.php?id=1849&lang=2 now seems to be down, replaced by an advertising site. You have to rely on the Google cache.