77

Drawing on the example of protest music, the article examines political constraints impeding public expression in Belarus and Russia. The new system of post-Soviet post-censorship is decentralized and implemented by relatively autonomous agents (private companies, media, public officials, collective movements). This system relies more on economic instruments than on formal bans; it is not permanently mobilized, but is set off “in waves”, following periods of intensification of politicization in the society (such as important protest mobilizations during electoral campaigns). It is as if, during these periods, specific constraints were applied to the activities of the artists (especially the most famous or the most radical of them) who have spoken up against the authorities.