Lukaschenko ist eine wichtige Stütze des Putinschen Regimes und spielt immer noch eine wichtige Rolle im Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine, obwohl er seit einem Jahr eine direkte Beteiligung der belarussischen Streitkräfte erfolgreich verhindert. Er hat wohl noch was zu verlieren.
So wenig zwei Jahre nach der Zerschlagung der Proteste die Diskussionen über die Strategie der Opposition und den Gebrauch bzw. Nicht-Gebrauch der Gewalt verstummen, so wenig hört die belarussische Repressionsmaschinerie auf, Menschenleben zu zermalmen.
Im Sommer 2020 musste Lukaschenko für Ruhe in seinem Land sorgen. Angefangen mit einer fahrlässigen und verablassenden Reaktion auf die Covid-19-Pandemie und die Belange der Gesellschaft in der entstandenen Notsituation und dann etwas später, bei der erneuten Wahlfälschung, fingen die Leute an, sich zu organisieren, regte sich erneut der gesellschaftliche Widerstand gegen das Regime. Was wir von der liberalen Opposition halten, haben wir mal dargelegt, aber die Rolle der Frauen bei den Protesten war nicht zu übersehen und bildet einen eigenen Strang in dieser Geschichte. Eine der Organisatorinen versucht auf pramen.io über die Entstehung, den Verlauf und das Ende der Frauenaufmärsche zu reflektieren:
P: What was your reaction to the state violence in the early days of the protest? How did the idea of organizing a women’s march come about, and how was the format for the action determined?
S: I remember only anger and pain from the reactions, that no one deserved such treatment.
At first, a group of activists and some other people (they weren’t anarcho-activists) decided to do “Komarovka,” as a response to violence, through a telegram chat. Because the state patriarchy at the time could not bash women so openly. I’m sure there was hell going on at Okrestino for any gender. But publicly, beating women with flowers in white dresses like that, “he” would not have dared. Women’s “Komarovka” stirred up a wave of women’s actions across the country. The telegram chat about “Komarovka” was deleted for security reasons the very day after the action, or maybe even earlier. But after that, a wave of women’s action chat rooms started. There were a few big ones, about three or four, and a lot of local, small ones, up to 100 women. It seemed to me then that this was just a well anarchist approach, everything was very horizontal.
Then, on August 13, I decided to create a telegram channel GIRLS POWER BELARUS in parallel to the chats that were there. Because my anarchist experience told me to do it all just a little bit safer, despite the feeling of “we’re about to win” and “what are we doing that’s so dangerous”.
So I helped out with the chats to publicize some women’s local actions in the district, and I also ran a channel to get women’s news about the protests. I’ve always wanted to create something like that, because I already had experience with Telegram channels and I liked this platform for such projects.
At some point, after a small number of days, I thought I needed to find the women who were doing the Komarovka chat and the whole organization. I wrote on the channel that I was looking for them – we corresponded and they told me they had an idea for marches. I suggested to them that it would be cool to do announcements on the channel, and that I could help with PR.
So the marches began. As I recall, they were as an alternative to the traditional Sunday marches. After Komarovka, I wanted to show that the female voice had an extension. For me, the Komarovka was that we were coming out for those who had suffered greatly at Okrestino, mostly men. I heard that many came out for a husband, for a brother, for a friend, for a partner. And the marches were women coming out for themselves.
The first march was historic, very different women came out: feminists, activists, non-feminists and non-activists, and all were united by the idea of showing themselves, their voice, their message. It was beautiful, women supported women regardless of their views.
We had a very horizontal organization inside the marches: we consulted, we criticized openly and honestly, we created ideas, we all had our own functions, and at the same time these functions were taken up by other women if they needed help. I remember this time fondly, even though we were not close with all the members of the organizing team.
We didn’t have any leaders :)))) It’s a nightmare for the regime when there are no leaders…
P: The mood changed a lot during the protests. From “we won” to “we have to be more radical”. Some people tried to blame the peaceful women’s protests for the failures, saying that they were an example of what the Sunday marches later became. Were there discussions within your group about this? How did people take criticism and what was done about it?
S: The rhetoric that the women’s peaceful marches prevented the radical liberation of Belarus came much later than the marches, I think in year 22? We weren’t organizing anything at that time, there was no such criticism at the time of organizing.
I personally think that perhaps, if it were not for Komarovka, there would not have been any marches/actions at all: neither radical, nor light. And then, chronologically, the Sunday marches happened, and only then the women’s marches on Saturdays. It pains me, too, that the dictatorship was not destroyed in 2020, it pains me to live in exile, and the number of torture and political prisoners. But that’s no reason to blame anyone for protesting the wrong way. To analyze and draw conclusions that might benefit for the future, yes.
But in general I’m used to it, a woman is always to blame: both that she made the marches, and if she hadn’t, she’s to blame for the fact of her existence.
Die belarussische Menschenrechtsorganisation „Wjasna“ zählt aktuell außer ca. 100 000 Menschen, die das Land verlassen mussten, etwa 1459 politische Gefangene in Republik Belarus. Das sind allerdings Leute, die friedlich protestiert haben, die von den Liberalen über alle anderen geliebt werden. Es gibt darüber hinaus ein paar andere, die zu angeblich zu Waffen gegriffen haben oder das erst wollten, die auch nicht unbedingt als FreundInnen der liberalen Demokratie gelten können. Die sollte man auch nicht vergessen.
Weiter heißt es im Interview:
P: How do you assess the role of women’s participation in the protests in general? What would you say to those who keep trying to attack the women’s marches from the position that they were too peaceful and so on?
S: Certainly the women’s protest has gone down in history. In my opinion, the women’s protests were able to prolong the protests in the streets. As I said, women couldn’t be beaten or arrested so publicly at first, and while they were deciding what to do about women’s marches and how to repress them, women came out and took to the streets. Women had the right to express themselves the way they wanted: peacefully or aggressively. They did it in different ways, no one dictated the rules of the game. I remembered a quote from a colleague of mine: “The organization of women’s marches was a solidarity of Belarusian women, a grassroots resistance which was not managed and not controlled, not by certain women, not by the Belarusian authorities”.
Women’s marches were able to unite women, different women, all those who understand that patriarchy is not an abstract concept, but the reality we are experiencing. Women made up a large part of the participants in the mass rallies and protests, and their voices and ideas were listened to by everyone, everyone had to listen
The women’s marches showed me personally that we have many women who share feminist values, but do not call themselves feminists yet, and this is an important beginning for change, too.
