Belarus: Are neoliberalism and nationalism the only options?
Sadly, it looks like it. These are the only ideas to which power flows these
days.
Yasha Levine
Aug 17
It's been going down in Belarus - with protests against a rigged
presidential election triggering a bloody and over-zealoussiloviki crackdown
and, now, leading to a much wider political movement and a major weakening
of Alexander Lukashenko, the country's longterm sovok cosplaying leader.
I haven't written anything about the conflict because it's been so rapidly
changing and so hard to actually get decent information out of there.
Obviously, America and the EU has been trying to meddle and to train and
prop up the opposition in Belarus for years now - as part of our empire's
longterm strategy to peel away all former Soviet Republics away from Russia,
a strategy that has seen a series the now-infamous "color revolutions." This
just a given. And Lukashenko has used this fact that America wants to peel
Belarus away from Russia to extract concessions and subsidies from Vladimir
Vladimirovich.
So when you see American or European commentators and pols offer their
support for the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people, it's
important to remember that our imperial bureaucrats don't really care about
Belarusians - just like they don't care aboutUkrainians, the Georgians, or
Armenias. They just want to destabilize Russia in whatever way they can. And
if this destabilization collapses the economy, unleashes a wave of desperate
and exploitable migrant workers on the EU, and privatizes the country's
industrial and agricultural wealth - well, that's like throwing a bonus
prize into the mix. Just look at what America's meddling helped do to the
people of Ukraine.
And as one of America's top Court Russian commentators helpfully points out:
It's all about Putin and Russia. Thanks, Julia!
Julia Ioffe @juliaioffe
Ukraine had been Russia's closest ally before Putin intervened in 2014. Now
Ukraine is lost to Russia for a generation-at least. Belarus is Russia's
other "brotherly" ally (read: Slavic). Does he risk losing #Belarus, too?
August 14th 2020
162 Retweets546 Likes
Now that we have the foreign aspect out of the way, it's important to
understand that this isn't simply some kind of purely manufactured conflict.
It's pretty obvious that disaffection and loathing for Lukashenko and his
siloviki state-manager clique is real and has been growing. That, combined
with the violent suppression of protesters, his "we're tougher than
lockdowns" response to COVID, and the deteriorating economic situation in
the country, has led to a weakening of support among a larger part of the
population - that's true even among industrial and factory workers, a set
that should normally be at least grudgingly or passively supportive of
Lukashenko.
Lukashenko's grip on power rested on his ability to maintain a weird sort of
centralized throwback Soviet state with big nationalized industrial and
agricultural concerns. It depended on giving people stability and economic
security. But apparently that's has been slipping for years, and so has his
base.
Just today Lukashenko was booed off the stage when he tried to speak in
front of workers at the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant, which produces buses,
heavy civilian trucks and machinery, as as well as components for military
use. Meduza interviewed people from the factory and they claim that the
majority of the workers there want Lukashenko to go and to hold new and fair
elections. And that's a big deal.
RT @RT_com
'No new elections, unless you KILL ME' Lukashenko's rough face-to-face with
enraged workers in Minsk on.rt.com/aoen
August 17th 2020
96 Retweets195 Likes
Gonna try to write more about this later. But for now, I want to call
attention to an interview published by Jacobin that addresses a largely
overlooked aspect of this protest surge: ideology. What do people believe
in? What are the ideas circulating in this movement?
In the interview, Ksenia Kunitskaya, a member of leftwing Belarusian media
outlet Poligraf, talks about something important, and very depressing: the
baseline liberal and nationalist ideas that are currently dominating the
movement - even among the working class.
Here are some of the best bits:
KK: The first reason is the fatigue that has long built up among much of the
population on account of Lukashenko's quarter-century rule. His approach is
apparent in his abrupt style of communication with both opponents and his
own subordinates, often resembling casual rudeness. This is aggravated by
the indifference shown by local officials, following not the mood of the
people but the mood of the leader. These qualities clearly manifested
themselves during the government mishandling of the COVID-19 epidemic, which
massively irritated the population.
Additionally, the government has been consistently dismantling the welfare
state model and its social obligations to its citizens.
KK: Besides, the authorities paid little attention to their positive image
in the eyes of the population. Our state propaganda is very weak and often
looks ridiculous: "We have never lived as well as we do now," they claim.
Their opponents, however, have created an effective system of professional,
modern, electronic media. Through this, they highlight the state's
shortcomings and conduct propaganda in favor of neoliberal reforms and a
nationalist memory politics. This allowed the liberal-nationalist opposition
to mobilize supporters before the elections, to catch the authorities on
numerous cases of vote rigging, and to bring people to the streets.
Additionally, the harsh police actions - the use of stun grenades, water
cannons and tear gas, tortures of the detainees - aroused indignation not
only among opposition supporters but also shocked those who were not
previously interested in politics.
KK: Workers' collectives from the large factories threatened strike action,
and this, at least at the time of writing, forced the authorities to rein in
police violence.
But so far, workers have put forward only general democratic demands, in
line with a broad liberal protest. The protests clearly marked a new trend:
traditional political parties, whether left or right, played practically no
role in them. The ideological and practical inspiration rather came from the
media in a broad sense, including social media. Who has a strong media owns
the mind. But now a strong media is in the hands of those who promote the
liberal and nationalist agenda. And if the workers are indoctrinated in
this, then where would a class-conscious labor movement come from?
As Ksenia points out (and what other interviews with Belarusian workers
confirm), a big reason for the movement's broad support seems to be due to
the fact that issues like class and politics and power have largely been
kept out of discussions and demands. Instead, focus has been kept on things
that everyone can agree on: releasing people from jail, holding free and
fair elections.
And that's great. But the real question is: Whose ideas and whose interests
will dominate if these free elections go ahead? Who has the organization and
the power to push their agenda and their people through?
If we look at the history of post-Soviet states in Belarus' very tough
neighborhood, it's hard to imagine anything but one outcome: neoliberalism,
privatization, and domination by various business and oligarchic interests.
That's the thing about the post-Soviet world - and, indeed, much of the
world today: Neoliberalism and nationalism are usually the only answer.
Those are the only ideas to which power flows.
It saddens me to say this.