Statements & Briefings
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Essential reading
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Racism is fundamentally incompatible with human rights — Our statement
The International Center for Civil Initiatives «Our House» consistently stands against racism, xenophobia, and national and gender discrimination in all their forms. We are an organization of activists who have been forced into exile for political reasons. That is why we understand all too well how destructive prejudice, hate speech, collective stigmatization, and discrimination can…
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35 Years Since the August Coup: The Road to Belarusian Independence
Thirty-five years ago, on August 19, 1991, the Soviet Union awoke to an attempted coup. A group of senior Soviet officials sought to remove Mikhail Gorbachev from power, halt democratic reforms, and preserve the authoritarian Soviet system. They became known as the GKChP — the State Committee on the State of Emergency The August coup…
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Reconceptualising Care: Why Democratic Theory Needs Care
Why do democratic institutions weaken even when they remain formally intact? This article argues that democracy depends not only on elections and laws, but also on care—the social practices that cultivate trust, participation and the capacities citizens need to sustain democratic life. Democracy is often judged by the strength of its institutions, yet institutions alone…
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Reconceptualising Democracy: Democracy as Everyday Practice
What makes democracy endure after elections are over? This feminist analysis argues that democratic resilience is built through everyday practices of care, trust, participation and solidarity, showing that institutions survive only when the social relationships sustaining them remain strong. Why do democracies weaken even when elections, constitutions and courts remain in place? This article explores…
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What Is Politics? Beyond Institutions and Elections
Politics is more than governments, elections and institutions. This article explores how feminist political thought redefines the political by connecting everyday life, care, lived experience and social relations with democracy, power and participation—revealing where political change truly begins. Politics is often reduced to elections, governments and institutions—but this leaves much of democratic life unexplained. This…
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OUR HOUSE: Rethinking Politics Through Feminist Perspectives
Democracy is shaped not only by institutions but by everyday life. This essay explores how feminist political analysis broadens conventional understandings of democracy, security, peace and participation, arguing that care, lived experience and social relations are essential to building resilient, inclusive and democratic societies. Introduction Contemporary political analysis continues to rely predominantly on institutional frameworks…