When I was just starting to get involved in anarchist organizing in Belarus I downloaded somewhere out there with my 100MB traffic per month 5MB pdf version of Huey P. Newton’s “Revolutionary Suicide” about the history of black panthers. It was quite an easy and fast read that touched a lot of different sides of being active under constant oppressions from the state. One of the most quoted stories from the books is about the cop who beats panthers at the police station at some part of the book and tells others that they should be done as soon as possible as he has to go the church next day with his family.
Tag: Belarus
My comrade Evgeny Rubashko
I wanted to write this text for many months. It’s been almost a year since Belarusian regime captured and tortured anarchist activists Evgeny Rubashko. We know each other many years, and I feel that it is somehow my responsibility to tell at least some parts of his story, so the world know what an amazing person he is. He is not the only close comrade siting in prison in Belarus right now, and I hope in coming weeks I will find time and energy to write more about the anarchists of Belarus who dared to stand up against the dictatorship despite all the risks.
How “antifa” from Belarus evicted and captured anarchist squat “Sirena” in Warsaw
A couple of days ago, former antifascist prisoner from Belarus Dmitriy Zvanko with a mob attacked anarchist squat Sirena in the center of Warsaw. The gang used bottles, peper spray, bricks and other things to throw out residents of the occupied building.
How Lukashenko is using refugees to put pressure on EU?
You might have heard already about “refugee crisis” happening in Lithuania: in last months several thousands of people through forests and swamps crossed belarusian lithuanian border to request asylum in one of the European countries. In fact, the goal of most of the refugees from the Middle East is to move further into the EU as Lithuania with it’s new conservative government is not a friendly place to be for an immigrant (even though a lot of Lithuanians after the country joined the European Union migrated to western countries for economic reasons).
What the fuck is happening in Ukraine with Belarusian anarchists?
Today Ukrainian secret police tried to deport several Belarusian anarchists who left Belarus several years go in fear of political prosecution. Luckily information traveled fast and while the flat was still raided people started gathering in front of the houses of activists. After some struggle with local police, lawyers managed to get to the activists and stop the whole process. Deportation papers were not sanctioned by any court rather directly signed by SBU (Security Service of Ukraine). After the information storm SBU gave up on deporting the activists to Belarus, however it seems like they will have to leave the country in the next 24 hours.
Understanding what “BUR” is
In texts coming from Eastern Europe the term “BUR” is used from time to time. For some people it might be confusing to understand what it means as it is used mostly by the anarchist activists. This is a text to understand a bit the term and context of it’s appearance in the Eastern Europe.
Почему я не советую товарищам из Беларуси переезжать в Германию?
Сейчас, к сожалению, очень многие анархисты и антифашисты из Беларуси уже выехали из страны либо планируют миграцию из-за репрессий. Понятное дело, что людей интересуют условия проживания в различных странах. Но помимо зарплат и хорошей жизни многих интересуют вопросы политики. Насколько человек может быть активен в той или иной стране со своим опытом беларуского активизма. После нескольких лет в Германии я перестал рекомендовать эту страну товарищам для политической миграции.
On being conservative bread eater
This is a story about bread. And politics. But mostly bread.
My life was always connected with bread. And if word “bread” wakes up in your head some loafs of ciabatta or baguette or some fancy bread from middle east let’s forget about it. Bread is black and it has several names, but most of it tastes the same. Black bread is really important in belarusian culture. Old tradition says that you should great people with bread (black one, of course) and salt. In fact, I visited several weddings where this bread and salt was one of the procedures to go through.
Wird Belarus frei sein?
Seit nun drei Wochen finden auf den Straßen von Belarus Proteste gegen den Diktator Lukaschenko statt. Er ist der erste und einzige gewählte Präsident der Republik Belarus, der das Land seit 26 Jahren regiert. Im Internet gibt es eine Menge Meinungen über ihn. Einige glauben, dass er ein Leuchtfeuer der Hoffnung für den Kampf gegen den westlichen Imperialismus ist, während andere wissen, dass er ein verdammter Psycho ist, der bereit ist zu töten, um an der Macht zu bleiben. Dieser Text geht auf einige Argumente ein, die in anarchistischen und linken Kreisen auf der ganzen Welt online geführt werden. Und am Ende werde ich versuchen zu antworten, wird Belarus frei sein, wenn Lukaschenko stirbt?
Will Belarus be free?
For the third week, protests are happening on the streets of Belarus against dictator Lukashenko. He is the first and only elected president of Republic of Belarus ruling the country for last 26 years. There are a lot of opinions on the internet about him. Some believe that he is a beacon of hope for the struggle against western imperialism, while others know that he is bloody psycho ready to kill to stay in power. This text will go through some arguments that are going on online all around the world in anarchist and leftist circles. And at the end I will try to answer, will Belarus be free if Lukashenko dies?