Protests in Belarus: love for the country and hate for the state
“There is absolutely no reason to say that starting tomorrow the country will be thrown into a state of upheaval or some sort of confrontation or civil war. I proclaim that sincerely and guarantee it,” said Alexander Lukashenko, the long-standing president of Belarus, just hours before protests and outstanding levels of police brutality became the new reality.
On Sunday, Aug. 9, lines of citizens seeking to cast their vote in the presidential election started forming in Belarus. By midday, internet connection was cut off and the Central Election Commission released the results of exit polls. Lukashenko received 80.23% of votes, while his only opponent, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, ended up with 9.90%.
Few believe in the official results. According to the international broadcaster Voice of America, the reality is exactly the opposite: about 80% of voters supported Tsikhanouskaya. Lukashenko’s administration made a crucial mistake in a classic scheme of election falsification: the released figures are way too high to be convincing and reasonable. If Lukashenko drew a 20% to 30% preponderance of votes, theoretically the backlash would not be this intense. However, Lukashenko wanted to show who “the man in the house” is. Now he is paying for it.
The truth is that as a stable dictator, Lukashenko could not get less than 80%. In 2015 he had 84.14%; in 2010, 80.44%; in 2006, 84.4%. Comparatively, Russian President Vladimir Putin won 77% of his country’s votes in 2018. In dictatorships, the percentage of votes is not a reflection of the nation’s support. It is an echo of the magnitude of power a dictator obtains.
Lukashenko has been in office for the last 26 years. He came to power through a legitimate democratic election in 1994. Since then, there has been a post-soviet and autocratic dictatorship in Belarus. Lukashenko has extensive experience in suppressing popular discontent. It is important to understand that opposition in this Eastern European state simply does not exist. In Belarus, if one dares to disagree, they get locked up instantly, for a long time and without particular explanation.
The darkest and seemingly most ruthless activities of Lukashenko’s regime were committed at the end of the 1990s. At least 50 politicians and journalists were targeted and disappeared without a trace. In fact, so-called “death squads,” allegedly organized by Lukashenko, were responsible for these disappearances. He knows that losing an election means investigation and prosecution for the mass murders he orchestrated.
The state of Belarus has developed a legislative framework of subordination. There is a series of laws directed at suppression of human rights, including heavy restrictions on protests and essentially any mobilizations of civil disobedience. In addition, a key repressive mechanism has been established through a system of material punishments, imprisonments, discharge from services and dismissal from work. To specify, during the ongoing outcry, the government has implemented a sanctioning measure aimed at automobile congestions caused by demonstrators which make it difficult for the police to easily access the city center. If a driver is believed to be in the way, their vehicle is subject to confiscation. A similar method is applied to the collection of penalties. If one does not obtain enough funds to cover the fine, expropriation is permissible. Therefore, if a humble citizen decides to show any sign of discontent, they put themselves in a position where they can go to jail or prison, lose their jobs and property and basically end up homeless. It sounds like a tyranny without any possibility to make even a slight change or express restlessness. On top of that, Belarus is the only state in Europe where the death penalty still remains a punitive measure.
The Belarusian government does not hide direct falsification practices. In 2016, president Lukashenko openly admitted to the fabrication of the election results and claimed that he “even disclosed this information to the West.” The established regime easily adjusts laws written to serve its goals. This year, unwanted candidates were not allowed into the precincts of election commissions. Yet, before the end of the process of collecting the signatures required to stand as a candidate in the presidential election, two out of three of Lukashenko’s main rivals were arrested, including Tsikhanouskaya’s husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski. After the Central Election Commission refused to register Tsikhanouski’s candidacy in May 2020, Tsikhanouskaya applied for the position herself. As a result, a picket for collecting signatures in support of the female politician ended with the arrest of her husband.
After the official results of the elections were released, Tsikhanouskaya disappeared for several hours. Later, a video picturing Tsikhanouskaya reading text from a piece of paper was released. She asks protestors to terminate their activities, and it is clear that she was put under pressure to do so. The video was shot in the office of Lidia Yermoshina, the head of the Central Election Commission. In another video published on Tsikhanouski’s website, Tsikhanouskaya says that she basically had no choice but to leave for Lithuania. She mentions her children in the clip, suggesting that their well-being and health were used as leverage to control her. Additionally, her husband is still in custody.
After 26 years of the tyrannical regime, 12 years without GDP growth, deficiency of any positive change and simple exhaustion of tolerance for Lukashenko’s government, all that was needed to stimulate a massive outburst like Belarus has never seen before was a shameless falsification of election results. Peaceful protests that filled the entire country were met with draconic levels of state violence. The contrast between the actions of the two sides is extremely clear. Terror against the people who simply demanded justice has only gained momentum and vigor. The use of rubber bullets was followed by the appliance of service weapons in Brest, a city recognized by the Soviet Union as a Hero City for outstanding heroism in World War II. Six-against-one raids against civil populations curated by OMON (special-purpose militia detachments), beatings of children and women and shots fired at residential buildings’ windows are just some of the examples. Police units attacked shops and restaurants where people hid to protect themselves. Perhaps the epitome of ferocity employed by law enforcement can be understood in the fact that specially labeled police vehicles were no longer used to transport the officers: those were substituted with ambulances in an attempt to deceive the demonstrators.
Up to 7,000 people were arrested and taken into custody, regardless of whether they were actively protesting or just walking in the streets. What was happening behind the walls of jails and detention facilities is something the world has seen in fascist regimes – except countries prone to that ideology never targeted their own nations. Prison cells that are meant to hold 6 people inside were filled with 40 to 50 individuals. No food or water was given to the prisoners. People were put on their knees facing walls. Officers were brutally beating the detainees, causing grievous bodily harm. They were threatening women with group rapes, breaking people’s fingers to access their phones with TouchID and forcing people to sing the national anthem.
The pictures of the physical abuse on behalf of police that can be found online are disturbing, and police brutality in the U.S. almost pales in comparison to what arrested protesters in Belarus face. The bodies of those who survived beatings were fully covered in purple bruises after police batons were used against them. It is scary, it is heartbreaking, and it cannot be ignored. Silence on behalf of the world and of one of its leaders, the U.S., is hard to comprehend, but America only sees Belarus as an appendage to Russia and it makes no sense to get involved, especially now when all the focus is on the United States’ own presidential election. Meanwhile, Russia and China are carefully observing the situation waiting to see how events will unfold. Basically, no one in the international community is there to help.
Human rights are now only a theoretical term in Belarus. Belarus’ citizens call the law enforcement representatives “chasteners” and an “occupational army.” What is happening in Belarus today is a crime against humanity, allowed through the government’s monopoly on violence. The apparatus created to protect the population from crime and to keep stability and peace in place in terms of the social contract has turned into a vicious machine designed to torture and agonize the citizenry. It is important to remember that such crimes do not have a statute of limitations, even if law enforcement agents were simply carrying out orders given from above. As a matter of fact, a large number of police officers and army representatives uploaded videos of themselves denouncing the actions of their colleagues, burning their uniforms and throwing them out. Everyone has a choice, and those engaging in horrendous violence inflicted upon the civil population have to be charged and tried. As for me, I think new Nuremberg trials of Belarusian governmental mayhem are the only correct solution here.
Unprecedented levels of police brutality in Belarus should we a warning sign to the United States and the rest of the world. What was and still is going on in America in terms of violence on behalf of law enforcement is a path to degradation. This is not a manifestation of democracy. This is a path to destruction, tyranny and misery of the nation.
