Belarus after the election: don’t look the other way!

It looks like Lukashenko won. The “purge” was in full swing, he said. The democracy movement in Belarus has almost been stifled – and that is precisely why it is important to take a look.

It was not to be expected otherwise: The so-called “Great Conversation with the President” was a general reckoning of Alexander Lukashenko with all those who dare to criticize him, the man who, in his own opinion, has been safely through stormy Belarus for 27 years Times directs. Sheep, rats, terrorists – Lukashenko has many words for those who called for fair and transparent elections on the streets. The protests themselves – an attempted coup provoked by the West.

And so it is not just the many false statements, slander and angry accusations that make his tirades, which lasted for hours, so unbearable. It is above all the cynicism and the naturalness with which Lukashenko pulls his own people through the mud.

Lukashenko’s words are bitter reality

Yes, sometimes it is difficult to take what he’s saying seriously at all. But that is exactly what we – Lukashenko – have to take seriously. Because as absurd and outrageous as his statements may sound to bystanders: For the people in Belarus and the Belarusians outside the country, what is behind them is bitter reality.

Tens of thousands have been arrested in the past 365 days alone. Many of them were tortured and intimidated. Some are no longer alive today. More than 4,700 criminal cases have already been initiated and there are sure to be more. Because the “purge”, as Lukashenko calls the procedure of his power apparatus, is ongoing.

“Take out the trash”

Because of this, there have been no major protests for a long time – not even on this anniversary, which is so important for the democracy movement. He also freed his country from harmful foreign journalists – “took out the garbage”, as he himself called it. Already weeks before the election it was becoming increasingly difficult for foreign reporters to get press accreditation – now it is almost impossible. Several foreign media representatives were once again admitted to the “Big Talk” alone.

Lukashenko has proven several times that he does not want any witnesses to what is happening in his country. For months, the people in Belarus demonstrated peacefully, opposing the increasingly brutal power apparatus with creative ideas. They had our attention and shouldn’t lose it now. Because that is what Lukashenko – the so-called last dictator in Europe – is actually betting on: that it will be quiet again in and around Belarus – as has happened too often in the past.