#protests in belarus

[aqlstar]

Just described the situation of college campuses in the US to one of my campers who made Aliyah from Belarus.

She goes- oh, sounds like how people treat Jews in Belarus.

I think it would be good if the United States could stop resembling Belarus please.

[goldenstarprincesses]

One thing I never will understand about canon Hetalia is why 99% of the nations are written in a way that clearly is showing that they are not personifications of their government. But that they represent their people/an idea

Yet Belarus is pretty much just a copy paste of the Russian puppet government

[syrenki]

my family was just robbed of two thousands and my grandmother was denied a permanent residence card despite her daughter and grandchildren having lived here for 20 years and despite her being 80, so she can only spend a total of 90 days here in the next 5 years, and we can't visit her because we'll be arrested as soon as we cross the border, all this together meaning she will probably die alone there. and how are the rest of you all doing

[almaville]

Toy protest in belarus, 2012

"Free the people" "Where is the freedom of the press?" “Toys against lawlessness."

10 days in jail

[uupiic]

I... wow...

[warcrimesimulator]

[alaturkanews]

Activist says he'll be tortured if Serbia extradites him to Belarus

Andrey Gnyot is wearing a tracking device on his ankle in the ordinary apartment in Belgrade where he is under house arrest. But the Belarusian journalist, activist and advertising director fears a far worse fate hangs over him if his appeal against tax evasion charges fails and he’s extradited back to Belarus. “Anyone who worked during the protests has been detained, arrested and tortured. I…

[head-post]

Polish judge asked for political asylum in Belarus: “This is a protest”

Polish judge Tomasz Schmidt announced his protest to the Polish authorities, who are leading the country to war under the influence of the US and Britain, and fled to Belarus, Belarusian media reported.

Polish citizen Tomasz Szmydt, who was persecuted in his homeland for his independent position, has asked for political asylum in Belarus. He gave a press conference while already being in Minsk.

Szmydt said that he was prompted to take this protest step by the policy of Warsaw, directed under the influence of the US and Britain against Russia and Belarus. He noted that this is leading to Poland’s active involvement in the war. At a press conference on Wednesday, Szmydt said:

If we are talking about the situation in my country, it is an expression of protest against the way the policy towards Belarus and Russia is being conducted. Thanks to the fact that I’m here, I can freely speak out. The situation is such that America wants to drag Poland into a war, into a conflict zone.

In Belarus, Szmydt believes, there is everything for a peaceful and free life. In addition, he is in favour of peace and good-neighbourly relations with Russia and Belarus.

Earlier, Szmydt wrote on his Telegram channel:

Due to disagreement with the policy and actions of the authorities, I was forced to leave my home country and I am currently staying in Belarus. I was persecuted and intimidated for my independent political stance. I am expressing my protest to the Polish authorities who, under the influence of the USA and Great Britain, are leading the country to war. The Polish nation supports peace and good neighbourly relations with Belarus and Russia. That is why I am in Minsk and ready to tell the truth.

Belarusian media have already called the incident an information bomb.

The Polish prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case against Tomasz Szmydt.

Read more HERE

[unhonestlymirror]

I need more Deadpool movies. Or something like it. Without jokes about "mother russia" tho (although that one was fitting into situation)

[niveditaabaidya]

Greta Thunberg Forcibly Removed From Climate Protest After Fine #greta ...

[sivaagressiva]

— Я беларус. В моей стране более 1,5 тысяч политических законченных, ещё в трое больше людей несправедливо осужденных и осужденных по политическим мотивам, кого ещё не признали политзаключёнными. Большинство из них сидит в тюрьме, так как самозванцы захватившие власть используют запрещённые механизмы для того, чтобы найти, задержать (или выкрасть) и несправедливо осудить (репрессировать). Такие суды часто длятся не более 3 минут, причём людям не дают возможности защитить себя и свои права с помощью адвокатских услуг и/или задерживают и судят адвокатов. Я считаю недопустимым использование систем обнаружения лиц в личных целях власть имущих. Это должно быть уголовно наказуемым преступлением. Права человека должны учитывать цифровую жизнь и её безопастность, а международное право должно обращать внимание на такие случаи. Я считаю об этом должны знать все и иметь возможность регулировать такие механизмы должна принадлежать только гражданам и избираемым ими институтам, а не военным или политикам по их воле. Массовое инструментализирование распознавания лиц для репрессий мирного населения порождает лишь страх, который парализует. Это недопустимо и бесчеловечно, так как протест это конституционное право общества на выражение и коммуникацию с органами власти. Я не выступаю противником технологий и/или прогресса, не являюсь членом какого-либо движения, которое выступает против технологий и/или прогресса. Я выражаю гражданскую позицию относительно того, что я расцениваю как нарушение и ограничение прав человека. Я выступаю против монополии на власть и контроля над социальной и культурной жизнью. Никто из нас не соглашался и не должен соглашаться на то, чтобы данные нашей приватной или публичной жизни использовались против нас самих, когда мы не посягаем на права и свободы других людей. #digital #digitalart #poster #activism #contemporaryart #symbol #sign #illustration #textbased #Berlindesign #Berlinart #Berlinartist #Belarus #ЖывеБеларусь #protest #humanrights (at Berlin, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClELg22oIrw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[meeedeee]

Elaine Scattermoon (@scattermoon) tweeted at 2:12 PM on Sat, Elaine Scattermoon (@scattermoon) tweeted at 2:12 PM on Sat, May 13, 2023:

So, I need to explain Croatia.

The band, Let 3, are a famous Croatian left-wing punk group who have mocked the country's nationalism, supported Prides, and once got arrested for performing naked even though the band protested that they weren't cos they had corks in their butts.

Their song is a *direct* and *very* savage takedown of Putin and his wargames, mocking how he was gifted a tractor by his dictator pet, Belarus' Lukashenko."

https://t.co/aNKETv9K1A

(https://twitter.com/scattermoon/status/1657493986070740995?t=W9Rq-rzoyH5tK3Ni58e41A&s=03

[alwida10]

Ugh. I hate getting political, so have some bullet points.

- Putin laments the fact that the Soviet Union has vanished. One of his major goals is to re-establish it. This has been said openly.

- the Soviet Union included regions young people from today know only as autonomous countries, including Armenia, Aserbaidschan, Estland, Georgia, Kasachstan, Kirgisien, Lettland, Litauen, Moldawien, Tadschikistan, Turkmenien/Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Usbekistan, Belarus. (Countries in bold are the countries I remember evidence of Russia has tampered with. Might be more, since my memory sucks.)

- to ensure the comeback of the Soviet Union, Putin (Russia) uses war tactics to destabilize, control and manipulate the countries to make it more likely to re-unite with Russia. Remember how Belarus’s elections have been tampered with and the bloody crushing of the protests? Moldavia has been calling for help regarding the Russian troops in their country. If you haven’t heard about Ukraine, this post isn’t for you.

- if you are able to read Russian, it’s easy to find the war plan Russia has developed to ensure this goal, including the annexation of Ukraine, Moldavia up to attacks on Poland and east-Germany.

- the biggest problem for Russia to reach this goal is the NATO, and that mostly because the USA had the NATO’s back.

- as long as the nato stands together it’s almost impossible for Putin to reach his goal.

- “devide and conquer”

-by now it’s well documented that Russian involvement led to Trump’s victory.

- the same people, who organized Trump’s campaign, later campaigned for the pro-Brexit side.

- Trump (being right wing) wanted the US to leave the NATO. Brexit has weakened the cohesion in the EU.

- the right wing parties have been growing in Europe. Italy and Netherland have already elected right wing parties as their leadership. The right wing party in Germany is most likely the second strongest party in the eu elections right now. (Yes, the modern day Nazis. Yes, Nazis.)

- right wing parties are more likely to say “what do I care about my neighbors getting bombed? I’m caring about MY people.” They support getting big (hence powerful) positions such as the NATO getting divided into smaller, easier to beat fractions. Poland does not stand a chance against Russia on its own. The NATO does.

- both Iran (because of the conflict in the Middle East) and China (because of their intend to annex Taiwan) love and support Putin’s tactic to divide and weaken the NATO. The USA are madly powerful, but not even they are able to take on three nuclear powers at the same time.

——

k, why am I talking about this?

-> if you come across anti-Biden, anti-EU, anti-democrat, pro-segregation posts or opinions you NEED to ask yourself if this might be political manipulation to weaken your country. It had been the young voters who put Trump out of office. It’s the young voters Russia and other manipulative powers have on their radar now. YOU are the target to reach their goals.

-> yes, this includes pro-Palestine messaging if it leads into a “don’t vote for Biden” narrative.

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Absolutely!

Back in 2022 the EBU was originally gonna allow Russia to participate on the basis that the Eurovision "Is not a political contest" even though it very much is.

Ukraine initially protested this but they, still, didn't budge.

Only after Finland, Estonia and Iceland threatened to withdraw (I think it was these three) and only then did the EBU decide to suspend Russia on the basis that their broadcaster was spreading misinformation and propaganda regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The official statement given was not that they had an issue with one of the contestants actively invading another, rather that they weren't being honest about it.

It's worth noting that each country has to pay a participation fee based on their population. In other words, a country like Poland is not paying the same amount of money as a country like San Marino. You can therefore see why the EBU did not want to lose Russia. If one country with large population leaves that means the participation cost for the remaining ones will rise. In fact, Russia's expulsion has inadvertently caused Bulgaria's, North Macedonia's and Montenegro's withdrawal as they could no longer afford the participation fee. This year, Romania, a country with a large population but facing financial difficulties is possibly also withdrawing. Their participation is still up in the air, well after the period to announce their participation has ended, and Australia also took quite a well to finalize negotiations for their participation.

Just like they did with Russia, the EBU has already announced that they do not intend to ban Israel and unless no other countries complain about it and threaten to withdraw, like Estonia, Finland and Iceland did before for Russia, they're gonna keep Israel around.

I'm not here to discuss who should be allowed in and who not, because if we start with Israel then we should also take Azerbaijan, Serbia and every single northwestern European country that retains colonies around the world out too, but my point is, if the EBU's official reasoning for expelling Belarus was that they were trying to send a propaganda song and for Russia was that their broadcaster was spreading propaganda, I don't see how Israel's broadcaster isn't doing the exact same thing about the ongoing situation in Palestine.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Bernie Sanders has hit back fiercely at Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli prime minister’s claim that US universities were being overrun by antisemitism on a scale comparable to the rise of Nazism in Germany.

In a video posted on X, the progressive senator from Vermont – who is Jewish – accused Netanyahu of “insult[ing] the intelligence of the American people” by using antisemitism to distract attention from the policies of his “extremist and racist government” in the military offensive in Gaza.

“No Mr Netanyahu, it is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that, in a little over six months, your extremist government has killed over 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,000, 70% of whom are women and children,” Sanders said.

The two-and-a-half minute video listed a catalogue of further consequences of the war in the Palestinian coastal territory, including the destruction of infrastructure, hospitals, universities and schools, along with the killing of more than 400 health workers.

Sanders, who sponsored an unsuccessful Senate bill in January to make US aid to Israel conditional on its observance of human rights and international law, said Netanyahu’s government had unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, causing “thousands of children [to] face malnutrition and famine”.

In a blistering conclusion, he said: “Mr Netanyahu, antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal policies of your extremist and racist government. … It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.”

Sanders’ comments were a riposte to a video posted on social media by Netanyahu in which he waded in to protests sweeping American university campuses and claimed not enough was being done to combat a “horrific” rise in antisemitism.

“Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” Netanyahu said. “They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally, but that’s not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful. Now fortunately, state, federal and local officials, many of them, have responded differently. But there has to be more.”

Netanyahu’s comments came against the backdrop of police deployments to break up pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University and numerous other US campuses. In some universities, faculty members have been arrested, including the chair of the philosophy department and a professor of English and Indigenous studies at Emory University in Atlanta.

Jewish students have reported feeling threatened by the protests and heated atmosphere that followed Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, resulting in the deaths of about 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 200 others.

Videos posted on social media have depicted anti-Israel protesters shouting “go back to Poland” and “go back to Belarus”, apparently at Jewish students. A congressional hearing earlier in April into a reported upsurge of antisemitism at Columbia heard allegations that Jewish students had been subjected to taunts of “F the Jews”.

Last October’s attack triggered an overwhelming and continuing Israeli military response that has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians – according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza – and led to a burgeoning humanitarian disaster, accompanied by accusations that Israel is committing “genocide”.

In his video, Netanyahu said Israel was being “falsely accused” of genocide and called it part of an “antisemitic surge”.

“Israel tries to defend itself against genocidal terrorists who hide behind civilians,” he said. “Yet it is Israel that is falsely accused of genocide. Israel that is falsely accused of starvation and sundry war crimes. It’s all one big libel. But that’s not new. We’ve seen in history that antisemitic attacks were always preceded by vilification and slander.”

The Joe Biden White House, while resisting pressure to condition or limit weapon supplies to Israel, has voiced frustration over its resistance to allowing more humanitarian aid freely into Gaza and roundly criticised the recent strikes that killed seven workers from celebrity chef Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen charity.

Protests on campuses across the US continued on Saturday, with some protesting student bodies and universities locked in a standoff that saw demonstrators vowing to keep their movements going at the same time as college authorities moved to close down the encampments.

Police in riot gear cleared protest tents on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston, while students shouted and jeered at them, the Associated Press reported. The university said the protest had been “infiltrated by professional organisers” with no connection to the institution, while some demonstrators had used antisemitic slurs.

The picture of campus antisemitism run amok was lent further credence by Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard president and ex-US treasury secretary, who accused authorities at his former university of failing to act decisively against protesters occupying Harvard Yard.

“This is the predictable culmination of the Harvard Corporation’s failure to effectively address issues of prejudice and breakdowns of order on our campus,” he posted on X. “There can be no question that Harvard is practicing an ongoing double standard on discrimination between racism, misogyny and antisemitism.”

His comments provoked a sharp response from critics of Israel. “Your efforts to portray student demonstrators challenging Israel’s genocidal actions as ‘antisemitic’ are cheap & disingenuous,” wrote Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). “These students should be commended for their courage & compassion, risking suspension & smears (like yours), to fight the most heinous crimes underway in Gaza.”