Foreign Correspondent: Feb 23

On Foreign Correspondent, “Women of the Revolution” shows Belarusian women have stepped on to the frontlines in a bid to topple their President.

“If you’re scared, go home,” says 27-year-old Maria as she heads out on another freezing day to front the police and protest against Belarus’ long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko.

In the lead up to last year’s election, Lukashenko locked up the men who stood against him. The women stood in their place and won huge support in the national vote. But the dictator refused to yield, declaring he’d won by a landslide.

Protests erupted and there were mass arrests of men. Again, the women stepped up and have been protesting ever since.

The revolution’s icon is 74-year-old great-grandmother, Nina Baginskaya. Short but fierce, Nina’s confrontations with policemen almost twice her size have made her a social media star.

“She’s a really inspiring person,” says Maria about Nina. “She’s not scared of anything. She doesn’t give a flying f*** about all of the police and everything.”

Working with local crews, former Russia correspondent Eric Campbell gives us a rare insight into a country where most of the foreign media has been banned.

We meet the ‘president in exile’ Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, now living in Lithuania. She became the main opposition candidate after her activist husband was jailed.

“The government got rid of strong candidates. But they didn’t know every strong man has a strong woman who supports him.”

We visit Nina’s country house, where she sews the banned Belarusian flag, in preparation for another confrontation with the police.

“Evil cannot win, fascism cannot win,” she says.

Maria is arrested and charged and while she has no intention of stopping, she admits the police brutality is taking its toll.

“I don’t remember a day when I didn’t saw [sic] a dream with police,” she says. “I’m dreaming how they enter my apartment, how they detain me. So it’s some kind of huge national trauma.”

Lukashenko’s strategy is to belittle the women.

“Our constitution is not made for a woman,” he says. “Our society hasn’t matured to vote for a woman.”

But it’s not working, and the women just won’t stay at home.

“It’s scary to think of the future but it’s even more scary to think what will happen to us if we will stop”, says Maria.

Tuesday 23 February at 8pm on ABC.