The fight for civic rights, for the respect of law, for a democratic government and for the precedence of public interest over that of the executive has a long and edifying history marked by victories and defeats, as well as more or less functional compromises. This book offers an insight into just such an ongoing struggle in Belarus. To those involved in the conflict only the current moment tends to really matter. Activists tend to measure achievements and setbacks in days and months, and rarely in years. Not surprisingly, petty personal quarrels are given too much attention, while structural changes in civic values that are crucial for the future and are measured in decades escape notice. This is the reason why we thought to bring together the activists of this political struggle along with observers and analysts for a moment of reflection, for a look at the past and for a look to the future. While its focus is on Belarus, this book also deals with matters of global importance, central to the political life of many countries. There is a striking similarity apparent when one compares the fate of Belarus with that of other former Soviet republics. It is a fact that the provincial, patriarchic and sultanist regime of Belarus makes it the European nation most similar to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.