Profile: Dr. Oleg Manaev

Because of his outspoken support for democracy, Dr. Oleg Manaev has been accused of plotting against the "legitimate authorities" in Belarus. When the state-controlled television channel threw up roadblocks to airing programs encouraging open markets, Manaev helped to establish a de facto nationwide television network of 16 independent, private television stations to get the word out. And when Manaev took aim at efforts in Belarus to re-establish a dictatorship there, he found himself under attack in the media.

Manaev is Director of the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic & Political Studies (IISEPS), a CIPE grantee. He is a professor of Sociology at Belarus State University, and he also serves as Chairman of the new Belarusian Association of Think Tanks. BATT was founded last year within the framework of the IISEPS/CIPE project on leadership.

The Government of Belarus has oppressed its political opponents and has now turned its attention to undermining NGOs, free trade unions, independent media, and think tanks. Viktor Sheiman, Secretary General of the Belarusian Security Council, recently told the National Assembly that "foreign sponsors" are helping "ideologists of the Belarusian opposition to create and impose propaganda myths oriented towards weakening Belarusian statehood and undermining socio-economic stability."

Under the leadership of Manaev, IISEPS has established itself as a voice for freedom, carving out a unique role for civil society in Belarus. The Institute has held almost 30 seminars around the country promoting democratic reforms, and it has published more than 770 articles in Belarus' independent press. Manaev himself has published almost 100 scholarly articles and written or edited ten books on problems of media and democracy.

Such extensive exposure has opened him up to crude Soviet-style propaganda attacks by the repressive government in Belarus, but Manaev says that these diatribes have made him work all the harder for democratic reform. "I continue my work not because of my political or ideological stance," he notes, "but because providing unbiased and objective information to the public is part of my professional and public obligation. Despite all of the obstacles, I can see concrete results of our activities, and that spurs us forward."