Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
Since August 9, Belarus has been the scene of popular protests against what is perceived to be the fraudulent reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. The presidential election results gave him a victory with 80 percent of the votes, a figure far from the (...)
This article offers an initial analyses the mass protests that began in Belarus following the presidential elections of August 2020. Written ‘in the heat of events’ it has the character of preliminary observations. The authors begin with the background and context of events and the outcomes of (...)
Though overshadowed by the U.S. elections, mass protests against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko are entering their fourth month. The dictator is playing for time, while international powers who care little for democracy are attempting to position themselves as the movement’s friends. (...)
Opposition leader calls for action on Monday as Lukashenko defies demand from 100,000 marchers in Minsk to step down
Belarusian riot police launched another violent crackdown in Minsk on Sunday evening, throwing stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters, chasing people through (...)
Detentions reported as tens of thousands gather in Belarus’s capital, Minsk, to demand political prisoners be released.
Belarusian police have used water cannon to disperse anti-government protesters who once again took to the streets of the capital, according to media reports and videos posted (...)
This statement by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International was adopted on 26 September 2020.
1. Despite extremely brutal repression (already more than 12,000 arrests, hundreds of wounded, at least 4 dead), the mass revolt of the Belarusian population is entering its ninth week (...)
The images are blurred and a bit chaotic, as they often are in on-the-spot videos of fast-moving events circulating on social media. But the gist of the story is clear. Three men clad in dark face masks and combat gear, their identities hidden behind their uniform exterior and emotionless body (...)
To learn more about the events in Belarus, we spoke with a local feminist leader and frequent participant in demonstrations Irina Solomatina. Solomatina is the Head of Council of Belarusian Organization of Working Women (since May 2019) and a co-author of the book “Women’s Activism in Belarus: (...)
Belarusian police have detained more than 20 people at a potash mine for supporting a second worker who has refused to return to the surface in protest against the state company’s management and President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government.
“Now [the miners] are being dealt with. Maybe some will (...)
The wave of debate that has followed the events in Belarus has left out of the account the key questions: why are people taking to the streets of Minsk and other cities, and just who are these people? What exactly do they want, that they are prepared to risk their freedom, their health, and (...)
The crisis in Belarus is intensifying, and even if Alexander Lukashenko manages to retain his hold on power, his authority will remain precarious. In this country’s society, an understanding of the need for change and a preparedness to struggle for it will ripen still further. However exactly (...)
Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to Nick Evans about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020. Siarhei explains that strike committees, and organisations built in the void left by the government response to Covid-19, are at the heart of the (...)
Since Belarus’s disputed election, both President Alexander Lukashenko and the liberal opposition have recognized the importance of strike actions in deciding what happens next. But while there have been protests across Belarus’s major workplaces, a long-shackled labor movement faces an uphill (...)
This statement was issued by the Russian Socialist Movement on 28 August 2020.
On 27 August in a TV interview, Vladimir Putin said he is ready to send Russian police units to Belarus in case of a direct threat to legitimate authorities in this country. In his interview Putin also made it clear (...)
The protests in Belarus have widely been painted as a pro-Western “color revolution” or “Minsk Maidan,” ignoring the deeper reasons for popular discontent with president Alexander Lukashenko. Volodymyr Artiukh for Jacobin spoke to left-wingers in Belarus about the forces behind the protests and the (...)
Despite widespread popular support, the movement against Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko has reached the limits of its judicial means for contesting this month’s fraudulent presidential election. Belarusian writer and scholar Nelly Bekus explains how the political crisis reached this point – and (...)
The number of social groups involved in the Belarusian protest movement guarantees a broad front, but it also makes the emerging coalition internally fragile.
Today, many people are watching Belarus closely. Events over the past 12 days have raised questions about the country’s famed (...)
The strikes in Belarus last week showed that the protests against Alexander Lukashenko aren’t just a “hipster rebellion.” But while citizens are joining the protests for all manner of different reasons, there are well-organized neoliberal forces well-placed to assert their own control.
We will (...)
We share here notes by LeftEast contributing editor Volodymyr Ishchenko on Belarus from August 10th (Part 1) and 19th (Part 2), 2020.
Part 1: SOME QUICK COMPARATIVE NOTES ON BELARUS (August 10, 2020)
1. Both Lukashenka and Tsikhanouskaia claim 80% voters. The official results look (...)
Fixing the country’s broken democratic process can’t come at the cost of the inequality and corruption other former Soviet republics are now facing.
As the political crisis in Belarus smolders on, one thing is clear: Responsibility for the breakdown rests entirely with President Alexander (...)
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