Experts
expect "Europe's last dictator," Belarusian President Lukashenko, to
win parliamentary elections on Sunday. But one protest group refuses to back
down and is getting creative with its protests.
Inside a
dilapidated, abandoned, red-brick house in the center of Minsk, the walls are
covered with graffiti mocking President Alexander Lukashenko, the long-standing
head of Belarus. Three young men in their 20s are sitting together in an almost
empty room on the second floor, smoking cigarettes and discussing their plans
for protests in the run-up to Sunday's parliamentary election.
The protest
group Zmena, or "Change," feels safest from the KGB in this house,
according to its founder, Pavel Vinogradov. It#s where he meets with Sasha,
Koba and Pavel, the group's core members.
"I'm
afraid to talk about serious things, even in my own home," said
Vinogradov. "Twice I realized that furniture and other stuff had been
moved around in my absence."
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| President Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for 18 years |
The
opposition group's founder is only 24 years old, yet he already has a track
record as an opposition activist and an outspoken critic of the Belarusian
president. It started six years ago, just before the presidential elections in
2006, which secured Lukashenko a fourth term.
"Honestly,
in the beginning it was more for fun. I was plastering the town with protest
stickers and I felt as if I was a hero, aninfiltrator," Vinogradov said.
Lukashenko's
grip on power only vaguely motivated Vinogradov's newly found activism. He said
he knew that Belarus' poor living conditions could be traced back to the
president, but that the excitement of protesting drove him most of all.
"I was
a bit childish back then; I had more naïve and romantic ideas about protesting
against the regime - even more than now," Vinogradov said.
Belarus is
set to hold parliamentary elections on Sunday, but observers have said the
results were decided long ago. Most of the opposition's candidates haven't been
able to register for the upcoming election. But, perhaps surprisingly, there's
no widespread atmosphere of protest in Belarus these days.
A softer
approach to protesting
The
presidential elections in December 2010 were a turning point for Belarus, for
the opposition, and for Vinogradov. After the election tens of thousands of
people in Minsk took to the streets in protest against Lukashenko.
The rally
turned violent and riot police brutally broke up the crowd. Lukashenko blamed
the opposition for the violence and had former presidential candidates and
other activists jailed.
 |
| Lukashenko's 2010 reelection sparked mass protests |
Vinogradov
was one of those activists. He served eight months before being released under
an amnesty. Instead of returning to normal life, he founded the youth protest
organization Zmena to revive the mood of anti-government protest, a plan he had
devised in jail.
"We
want to stage protests with humor, brazenness and creativity," he said.
"We do stuff that no one has done before, at least not in Belarus."
Zmena's
first protest in February was its biggest coup so far. They positioned a couple
of plush toys carrying banners protesting against police brutality right in the
center of Minsk. Vinogradov said he thinks humor can help his compatriots
overcome their fear of the government.
"We
want to show people that it is possible [to] stage an interesting, even
beautiful protest without being arrested - or at least only after staging the
protest," said Vinogradov.
Zmena's
leader subsequently had to spend several days in jail, as did a blogger who
uploaded photos of the toy protest.
The
stuffed-toy protest caught the attention of a Swedish public relations firm,
who then decided to drop a load of teddy bears over Belarusian territory from a
plane. The stuffed animals carried slogans promoting democracy.
 |
| A Swedish PR firm dropped teddy bears in solidarity with activists |
After the
toy bear "bombing," Belarus closed its embassy in Sweden, and forced
the Swedish embassy in Minsk to close as well. Lukashenko also fired several of
his generals over the diplomatic scandal.
"How
can a dictator who has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police officers at
his command be afraid of toys? How can that scare him?" asked Vinogradov,
adding it's because, "the whole international uproar it caused is quite
embarrassing for [him]."
Crackdowns
scare people silent
But Zmena
can get serious. Vinogradov and a group of fellow activists were assembling a
cage of metal bars in the city center. A second cage is already in place, and a
Zmena activist is sitting inside it, handcuffed and blindfolded. But only a few
people pause to look at them or talk. Those who walk on by may be doing so out
of fear, or because they still support Lukashenko.
"People
are afraid. They all know they'll get fired from work or thrown out of
university if they openly disagree with the regime," Vinogradov said.
"They might even get beaten up and thrown in jail."
Six months
in, Vinogradov had hoped that Zmena would have gained more supporters than the
20 or so activists currently involved with the group.
Vinogradov
has been arrested six times this year already, and each time he served up to 15
days. He had to drop out of university after just 15 days, and he said he knows
that he won't find a proper job any time soon. But he puts up with the pressure
and is prepared to take it as part of the fight against Lukashenko.
"Of course
my relatives are stressed out every time I get arrested. But they've got used
to it, and they support me," he said.
Even though
Zmena accomplished this particular protest without being confronted by the
police, Vinogradov was arrested soon after with fellow activists while
preparing another protest and sentenced to 12 days in jail.
And yet
Vinogradov and Zmena plan to continue their campaign. They said they hope that
they will be able to draw attention to Belarus, and be a thorn, however small,
in the side of the regime. They also hope that, someday soon, the mood in
Belarus will change again and their protests will start to spread and grow.
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