New Eastern Europe podcasts and been. The Russian woman who participated in the protests
that broke out after the rigged presidential elections in the summer of twenty twenty told
her story. For security reasons, she asked for anonymity somewhere. I am
no hero. I'm an ordinary Belarusian. When we found out about the election
results, I felt cheated. It was like being spit in the face.
It was like a statement of contempt for my own nation. My story began
when I went to see the results from the election commission. There were disturbances
already at that stage. We were with a group of other people, and
then the militia transports arrived and started taking the man and we were shocked of
what was happening. After all, we just came to see the results.
It was terribly upsetting. Even then, people were being driven mad. Together
with other women, we tried to rescue the men, but those from the
military services, you know, were stronger, so they took them all.
Later on we saw that from the very beginning there had been brutal beatings for
no reason. After the announcement of the results, I went to all the
protests and demonstrations I also did not hide my position on the internet on my
profiles and forums. In fact, from August eleventh, I took part in
all the rallies and marches. The last time I was at a demonstration was
on September seventeenth. It was in Guiraudno where there was a race of cylinder
bikes in support of the president. In September, most of the demonstrations were
held on weekends, but for this rally there was a large demonstration on Thursday.
There were already a lot of residents in the city center, so I
came. I do have a child, but of course I came alone.
A lot of people gathered, girls, women, guys. We stood,
of course, with flags, symbols and posters with white balloons. Soon the
first car drove up, a lot of them got out what we call ninja
undercover officers dressed in plainclothes and jeans and without any identification marks, and ninja
because they have a specific sort of black face mask by the clawathing that covers
their entire head and face. From the start, covertly from under their face
coverings, they began pointedly recording us on camera phones. They did it ostentatiously.
Right next to your face so we can see we're being taped. But
we stood our ground and peacefully kept on. Then another bus drove up,
a ninja jumped out of it like a madman. More ninjas broke into the
crowd quickly, and an ordinary roundup began. They caught everyone who struck back.
One of the ninjas at the girl next to me, knocked her down
and violently twisted her arms. It was obvious that it hurt her a lot.
She was lying face down on the asphalt and the undercover cop was standing
on top of her. He pressed his boot between her shoulder blades. The
girl was screaming and howling in pain, and he only shouted at her and
humiliated her. The other girls around her started yelling to confuse him a bit,
but it didn't help. And then I decided to rip off his balala
clava to bear's face so he'd let go. I tore it off, and
he looked at me furiously. It couldn't see much because I immediately started running
away through the crowd. I ran away because I know the story of a
girl from Minsk who did the same thing. She ripped the mask off of
Omond officers and she got shards as a criminal for it, allegedly for attack
of an officer, and she got a year in prison. The crowds were
huge. There were so many people, so much noise. That's why I
managed to escape. I ran to the car I had parked in the lot
just a few streets away. I drove home quickly, and on the way,
I got to thinking about the fact I was wearing pretty distinctive clothing,
that I had also been videotaped by the service and so on. So if
he wants, he'll find me. My neighbors a former policeman, and he
told me that the Belarusian services have had facial recognition programs since as early as
twenty ten, so they certainly have even better methods. Now I realized that
I was in danger, that they could come for me, put me in
jail just like that. It would be a piece of cake for them.
I understood that I was in a bind, so I was scared. I
was so terrified. I went to a friend, the person who was watching
my child. We chatted and I realized that it was too dangerous to stay
in the country. I quickly went home, packed my suitcase. In the
space of an hour, returned to my friend. I spent the evening and
that night with her, and then I called my neighbor from a foreign cell
phone to ask what had been going on, and the neighbor said that in
the evening everything had been fine, but that morning, when she left for
work, the door to my apartment had been opened. I have a metal
door, and they just ripped the lock, the handle. They broke everything.
It was evident that they used specialized equipment, which is strange because no
one knows when had happened. No one saw or heard anything. At this
point I made the decision that I urgently needed to leave. I ate breakfast
quickly, we went to the station. I caught the first mar schrutkaminibus and
we managed to enter Poland. Once I arrived at the border, I told
them that I only had a one way ticket and there was no way back
from me. I was quarantined here and now they have formally admitted me into
Poland. I am now a refugee. Nasa, the Pularussian singer and ethnologist,
emphasizes the importance of ordinary women, who played an extremely important role in
the protests. Tashi Kobeko pictures of women who went out with flowers and augusts
circulated around the whole world, and a white salidarity chain was set up next
to the Komorowski Market. There were women who stood in Victory Square and sang
Lulla byes, women who gave flowers to men, women who lined up next
to the Red Church on Independent Square, women who came out with pictures of
beaten men and looked fiercely in the eyes of officers and showed them these pictures.
Women who defended with their own bodies the men who were hunted by shiwoviki.
It all shows incredible courage and rationality, restores a sense of justice,
and at the same time it shows that these are women who are a significant
for women who know what's most important, because without freedom there is no life,
and so it directly affects them. But they also know what the threat
is, how it can be dangerous in the future, so they want to
prevent this from happening, and they're calling for an end to this violation,
for new elections and for the release of all political prisoners. Veronica Analysts points
out that women have become the key actresses of the events in Belarus. Kai
Symbola protest. There are women who have become symbols of these protests, women
who are now in prison. I'm mainly talking about Mariya Kalnikova, Setlana Tikonovskaya
who have to remain abroad. Veronica Takkalo too, Monica Kovakova, Sfetlana Alexeyevich
or Belarusian Nobel Prize winner also play an important role. But the role of
girls, women who have organized themselves, who have formed groups on the telegram
messaging app, and who organize themselves in various cities and towns in Belarus.
This role cannot be underestimated. The fact that women have been involved in these
actions for the first time in the history of modern Belarus shows how outrageous what's
happening in Belarus is and how strongly the women have been feeling and confident,
certain that they can fight for their rights, for freedom, for things that
are important for democratic development in Belarus. For values at Belarusians share with various
countries, especially in the West, was prostra The awakening of Bela Russians,
especially women, was a surprise. Nastaya Krassova beliefs that women have always played
an important role in the tradition and history of her country, although they have
often been overlooked as symboli opposite, the world has already spread photos and recordings
with the symbol of the Belarusian opposition from the nineties and eighties. Also Miss
Nina Baginskaya, amazing women such as Lena Chanca, the basketball champion who was
in prison and previously spoke out in defense of oppressed people. Natalia Dulina is
an associate professor in the Italian language department of Mentical Linguistic University who supported her
students and was dismissed and she's currently in prison. Of course, we're not
talking only about women, because it's the entire society. Students, for tirees,
the disabled, farmers, the IT industry, medics, scientists, lecturers,
factory workers and of course artists. It's the whole society. I thought
that the role of women in culture couldn't be overestimated, starting with folk tradition,
when birth, baptism, weddings, funerals saw very much the domain of
women. For instance, when it comes to birth, there's the well known
figure of the greeting grandmother, the person who would oversee the birth of a
child or oversee the baptism itself and the singing of the baptism songs. This
is the domain of women and well and weddings such a focal point in folk
tradition. There are also songs that are often performed only by women. It
seems to me that it comes from here, from folk culture, in the
presence of women in every sphere of life that we know. Just as Fetlana
Alexeyevich wrote about the unwomanly face of war, that war is nothing like a
woman. It's this role of women that's always been overlooked when rebuilding cities,
in the economy, rebuilding life after war, after the war, it was
a women who took this responsibility on their shoulders. During the war, they
guarded the home, worked in administration, helped with the wounded, and also
fought. And this is the wisdom that women have one through the history,
that women and men create together. But somehow in our history the role of
women has been mainly reduced to only a mother, a caretaker kind of object.
It's only recently that there is an awareness of the suffragette movement started in
Great Britain and the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,
and that started such a great discussion about the role of women and its importance
nowadays. When modern tools fail to fight or justice is established with the old
methods, women take responsibility once again to correct this injustice. Or they defend
men. They defend this world so that it can function. In Belarus,
women have likewise come to the four although so far language in the public space
and the media, so far it's been very unfavorable, as the statements of
politicians testify. Even mister Alexander Lukashenko speaks very carelessly about women. But it
seems that twenty fifteen was such a positive point in our recent history, when
Selan Alexeyevitch became our only No Well Prize winner, and this is a woman
who's been recognized internationally. It's as if women's status had risen a little in
everyday consciousness. Anyway, until twenty fifteen, there were no such strong political
figures among women, and here in twenty fifteen, Tatsiana Karapkievich became the first
woman in Belarus to register as a candidate for the presidency of Belarus. She
ran for the office of president in the twenty fifteen elections and in twenty twenty,
we can already see this intensified movement where three amazing women unite and became
such an expression of solidarity and also such wisdom irrespective of gender. But it
was women who made such an act of solidarity, such support for all those
who were unfairly treated and repressed, and who stood up for the Belarusian society
and decided to represent the Belarusian people in the presidential elections. There is the
amazing example of a woman's love from her husband given by Svetlana Tikonovskaya. She
hadn't intended to stand for candidacy, just to put forward her candidacy, and
she undertook entirely the huge effort of being a candidate, organizing all those meetings
and an election campaign. Later after the elections, she also managed to remain
a strong figure in Belarusian politics nowadays. Veronica Tecalo and Maria Kalesnikova are symbols.
Maria kales Nikova is the woman who chose Belarus and became a symbol of
a justice warrior's courage. She could have left the country, but nonetheless,
after being kidnapped, she ripped up her passport at the border so she couldn't
be deported. She made us all realize that it's the concern of every citizen
to move freely, to leave and enter the country. She's shown that she
works within bounds of law and exposes these criminals by simply showing that there's a
law that no longer functions. That's time will come, however, everyone will
be held accountable for their deeds. Nawa, she don't trust. According to
Max Roust from the University of Warsaw, so far, the power of Alexander
Lukashenko has largely relied on the support of women. Electoral opinions, name Lukashenka's
electorate in recent years has been primarily women. This was also indicated by various
surveys of public opinion. While the perception of the role of women has recently
started to change and more than half of women in the latest results from recent
surveys emphasized that women in Belarussian politics are not duly represented but often it was
also such an established myth that women are the core of Alexander Lukashenka's electorate.
I think that the women's protest here worked a bit against the authorities because it
played a bit of a Soviet right that is often used by President Lukashenka.
The women here referred to such an association, which is in addition to a
political slogan which is not clear to most of society, which mode of the
society does not share. But for example, how the marches of women began.
Women showed precisely that such a myth from the Great Patriotic War, that
fighting comes from mothers, fight comes out as sisters wives of men who are
either fighting or in captivity. And it was such a clear message and a
message for most of society. And on the other hand, these women are
very symbolic because the Belarussian states, Belarusian society is quite patriarchal and raising a
hand to women, including wives, there are also mothers. Most of all,
there would be grandmothers. It was like raising a hand to certain holiness,
and society could not fail to take it very negative, bagdon negative.
As a geologist Aleena Garisheva points out that the government's attempt to brutally pacified peaceful
protests played a major role in activating women. From the beginning, there were
women's solidarity campaigns and solidarity chains, which later turned into women's marches The catalyst
for this activity was the unprecedented scale of violence by law enforcement agencies, especially
at the beginning of the postelection protests. Between the ninth and eleventh of August,
demonstrators faced brutal violence. Immediately after this, the first Solidarity Changed took
place. So women come out to fight for their freedom and demands, but
also for their husbands, brothers, and their children who have been beaten or
arrested in any case that the demonstrations. Now there are lots of posters with
slogans like my husband brother son is in custody in prison, so I will
not stay at home, or they tortured my husband now he's an invalid.
I have no choice but protest. It depends on how you understand the slogan
women's revolution or gender revolution. I'm reminded of the misogynistic rhetoric of Lukashenka,
who often said that politics is a matter of men, that the Constitution was
not written for women. That's why women are now publicly and loudly declaring that
they are independent and being independent, they are political subjects. They have their
demand and rights, and they want to actively participate in politics. That is
to say they're not just objects, they're citizens. The civic active role of
Belarusian women did not fit into the rules of understanding reality by the regime of
Alexander Lukashenko, whose approach to women stems directly from the heritage of the Soviet
Union. As Anton Saifulio Warsaw University ideal with Eastern Europe cultural anthropology and belarus
Soviet Lakashenko is a Soviet product, and so something was said about the Soviet
Union. But women were relegated to perform so roles and certain duties. So
the Soviet edition of socialism worked, chauvinism functioned. Of course, it moved
later into the nineties, that is, into the post Soviet period, when
a woman in general, the image of a woman was on a mass scale
through popular culture and above all sexualized, and of course this was somewhat reflected
in the actions of the government, which is a Soviet product. Yes,
we remember that Lukashenko is a representative of those later elites, and he also
had an appropriate approach to women. If we look at women and the apparatus
in this system of power, they are classic representatives of the nomenclatura. They
look the same, they say what the leader wants, that is, they
perform certain duties. And the famous statement of Lidia Yamashina after the two thousand
and fifteen elections, the chairman of the Election Commission in Belarus that why are
you pushing yourself to the square? Women? Go back to the kitchen and
cook boshu. This perfectly defines the attitude towards women in this cultural and anthropological
sense. He computive fack. In Presidian women had previously attempted to fight for
their rights, but President Lukashenko twarted all these efforts before the elections. The
most significant action by women were protests related to the introduction of the law aiming
to counteract domestic violence. The draft bill was on the right track, and
not only civil society but also ministries had joined in. But Lukashenka, as
usual, in one of his stupid talks, said something like I beat my
children. Everyone lays in the kids. They turn out all right. In
fact, he ruined the work of many years and many people, and there
was an immediate reaction to this. A women's campaign emerged that became the nucleus
of the women's protest movement. In my opinion, there's been a fundamental change
in my own perception of myself. Many women stopped identifying with the domestic hand
began to act socially and politically. For many of them it was unthinkable until
recently. I have no doubts that this line regime will soon collapse, but
the political structures changing now and women have become a constituent element. Of course,
in time, many of them will stop being politically active and return to
ordinary life, but likewise many will remain in social and political life instrumental.
The representatives of the regime did not understand and that the woman Sidlala Tianoska appealing
here to be a Russians could pose a real threat to the power of Alexander
Lusta. But I do it March in twenty twenty. In the summer during
this pre election campaign, of course, Lukashenka gave even more signals when Sikhanoskaya
remained alone and it was going to be light and, as he said,
an elegant victory. It turned out that the public trusted Sihanosa and Kelisnikova,
and hence new statements such as the president can never be a woman because she
will not bear the burden of being the president in Belarus on her weak shoulders.
The mere fact that he eliminated his men as his main rivals, Barbara
and Sikhanowski, is as if the way was clear. On the other hand,
the fact that society at the time, which had destructed to power for
a very long time and only strengthened this feeling, gave such a credit of
trust to these new leaders, new presidents, who spoke to it in an
accessible language. It is also worth emphasizing that these new faces in Belarussian politics,
they do not speak the language of the old political elite. They do
not speak about national issues. They do not speak about the language they say
that you only must go west break off relations with Russia. This is not
their rhetoric. Their languages are conversation with society that we want changes, we
will lead to these changes, and then we will decide together what to do.
The public trusted, even after Tihanaskaya was driven out of the country then
forced to record these degrading videos on the Internet. Society trusted and supported Chikhanaskaya,
Kalesnikava and Tipkala and the new symbols of the female version of this revolution.
A perfect example is Ninavaginska for example, this grandmother who has been protesting
for thirty years. The authorities, which clearly missed this moment and received a
blow from an unexpected side, began to try to make it up show that
women's support. Lukashenka basically had started to just imitate what the protest does.
What people do when you imitate, of course, this imitation will have distorted
forms well. One such imitation after which this issue was rather abandoned, was
a concept for women. There is an emphasis on this thread that it is
a female process, that it is female marches, while it is asexual.
If it is this asexuality seems to be present all the time, and it
generates people's trust. They do not care if it's a woman or a man,
or so one Lukashenka eagerly decided to show an image of such a matcho
that would take care of all the women they were there and kissed him,
bending on their knees beside him, which of course was very rude and funny.
And ultimately they turn this issue around and the authorities just abandoned it.
Abouts of Amirosman of, a feminist researcher and a philosopher, points out that
the changes in the situation of women in Belarus are part of the wider process
of awakening civil society. Mildium Staigne. It's a company of nia. Since
the turn of spring and summer, the role of women in the political process
has been deeply deliberated and reconsidered. Women did not wait for new political powers
and abilities to be given given to them. They came for them themselves and
just took them for a long time. The authorities were not ready, and
the Lukashenka regime, in my opinion, is still unaware that women are a
separate social group with huge political potential, so he was not ready to acknowledge
subjectivity and the female agenda. And yet, despite the sexist language of the
former president of Belarus, women's actions and their reaction to the violence and the
stolen elections began to take shape under conditions that were very difficult and dramatic,
But the seeds of this activity were visible before. I've been researching Belarusian civil
society and its institutions for years, and I can see how this entire new
Belarusian generation is sensitive to the feminist issue, both young men and young women.
There has emerged in recent years. This sort of understanding of the political
subjectivity of all citizens. Polto calls to produced wine free range productions he control included