Belarus on strike against Alexander Lukashenko

On Monday, October 26, Belarusians disengaged overwhelmingly at the call of the opposition, which has been contesting, since August 9, the result of the presidential election. Sunday evening, despite a new demonstration of more than 100,000 people in Minsk, the capital, the disputed President Alexander Lukashenko did not give in to the ultimatum that had been thrown at him by the opposition to leave power.

And, as the leader of the opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had promised, the country entered one of the most important general strikes in its history.

In protest, many businesses closed their doors, with a simple sign: “Today we are not working”. Others raised money for the strikers. In a small cafe in the city center, all drinks were free on Monday, but donations for the solidarity fund encouraged.

Our company closed for the strike, explains the CEO of Nero Electronics. This is a decision taken by all of our 350 employees, who took days off. If the situation does not change in Belarus, we will have to relocate …

“We all want change! “

At Luch, the famous watchmaking company, 20% state-owned, the “Italian strike” was chosen. We came to the office, but we are not working, explains Ivan, designer at Luch. Employees who have been there for twenty or thirty years are afraid, but the majority support us . I think Lukashenko won’t be long, now is the time to make an effort!

All day long, across the country, employees leave their desks and wave white-red-white flags, a symbol of the opposition, in front of their premises. Regularly, a police car passes, the crowd disperses, then starts again a little later.

Students and high school students joined the strike, sometimes encouraged, sometimes threatened by their teachers. A large majority of us don’t go to class today, most of the teachers are also on strike, we all want change! explains Rita, 20, a student at the State Linguistic University. Joined by retirees and strikers, they marched by the thousands in the capital.

State enterprises on strike

Several state-owned companies including Grodnoazot, one of the largest chemical companies, and Belorusneft (oil exploitation) have joined the movement. This summer, however, a first attempt at a general strike was quickly and severely repressed. However, without the workers, no revolution. They are the mainstay of the regime.

Alexandre, a programmer, therefore took a day off to strike. He works at High-Tech Park, where protesters were chased away with tear gas. The idea is that we work so that the workers of the companies go on strike, because we are privileged, we know that we will not lose our jobs, us.

It remains to be seen whether the movement will hold out long enough to push Alexander Lukashenko to resign, or whether it will again be violently repressed. On Sunday, more than 500 people were arrested again. And on Monday, a government spokeswoman said on Facebook that businesses across the country were operating normally.

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