Unless you’re been living under a rock, you’ve seen what’s been going on in Belarus. The elections were last Sunday and on Monday it was announced that Europe’s last dictator, Lukashenka, won with 80 percent of the vote. And people say there’s no way that happened.
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| BBC News photo |
Election observers, of which I was one, saw things that were
highly irregular. Independent observers weren’t allowed in and were hanging
outside. We talked to them and they said their numbers, especially for early
voting, were well under the announced numbers. Their informal polling also had
the opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, winning by 70-80 percent, whereas Lukashenka
announced she’d gotten less than 10 percent of the vote. He also said, “Our
society has not matured enough to vote for a woman.”
Tikhanovskaya is not a career politician. For those who haven’t
been following, she jumped into the race late in the game and only because her
husband, Sergey – who’s a popular blogger in Minsk – was set to run and then Lukashenka
had him detained, as he did with another one of the opposition candidates.
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| ABC News photo |
Tikhanovskaya’s entire platform was “I will free the political prisoners
and in six month we will hold free and fair elections.” Her rallies drew
thousands upon thousands. By all independent accounts, she won by a landslide,
but that’s not what was officially announced. She went to file a formal
complaint, was in the building for hours, then resurfaced in Lithuania, where
she’d apparently fled.
Initially, there was a video described as a hostage video with her seeming to read a script saying not to protest, but two days later she called for peaceful protests, which have been going on since the election.
They’ve been peaceful on the part of the protestors, anyway. The riot police, who are straight out of The Hunger Games’ District 12, have been accused of torturing some of the 6700 people who have been detained. There have been lots of pictures of people who have bruises like the one I had when I had thrown off a horse. Just incredible, to the point where Amnesty International has spoken up.
On Friday, some of the detainees have been released and – and this is heartwarming – some of the riot police have been laying down their riot gear and embracing the protestors, saying they no longer will answer to Lukashenka and consider Tikhanovskaya as president.
Some major companies have gone on strike, including the tractor
company, which has thousands of employees. (Lukashenka is on record as
saying there were 20 people.)
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| CNN photo |
Immediately following the election, the government shut off
the internet, with I guess the assumption that people would not be able to
assemble and protest, but that didn’t work. You hear car horns constantly and
apparently that’s the signal. Whatever, the protests haven’t stopped.
Since we had no internet at home, most everyone went into work. (I’ve no understanding how we have internet there, but we did although it was slow.) My apartment is smack in the city center and it’s about a mile from work. On my walks home, I passed the riot police setting up on Monday and Tuesday. There were 10 minivans parked in a row in one area, all filled with cammo-wearing clothes. I had to pass through a police barricade to get home, which really wasn’t a problem but was a bit offputting.
From my apartment, I can see the main road and I have been watching groups of people go by with the opposition flag, which is a white stripe, a red stripe and then a white stripe. On Thursday, the women came out, wearing white and carrying flowers. This is how the protests have been. There’s no looting, no one turning cars upside down or anything like that. It’s people standing side by side, holding up the “V” sign when cars drive by with horns blaring, and women wearing white holding flowers in a salute.
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| Daily Express photo |
It’s a really powerful thing to watch, and I feel like I am observing history unfold. The people here want change – Lukashenka’s approval rating was 3 percent (yes, one digit) during his horrible COVID non-response – and there is a generation that’s come of age with only him in power.
Here’s Pompeo’s statement, which has been echoed by other heads of state in the region and elsewhere in the world:
The United States is deeply concerned about the conduct of the August 9 presidential election in Belarus, which was not free and fair. Severe restrictions on ballot access for candidates, prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations, intimidation tactics employed against opposition candidates, and the detentions of peaceful protesters and journalists marred the process. We regret that OSCE/ODIHR observers did not receive a timely invitation to monitor the vote. Free and fair elections, genuinely contested, are the basis for the authority and legitimacy of all governments.
We urge the Belarusian government to respect the rights of all Belarusians to participate in peaceful assembly, refrain from use of force, and release those wrongfully detained. We strongly condemn ongoing violence against protesters and the detention of opposition supporters, as well as the use of internet shutdowns to hinder the ability of the Belarusian people to share information about the election and the demonstrations.
As friends of Belarus, we support Belarusian independence and sovereignty, as well as the aspirations of the Belarusian people for a democratic, prosperous future. To achieve these goals, the Government of Belarus must prove through action its commitment to democratic processes and respect for human rights.
