Women's power against state violence
Link to the original article: udenrigs.dk
The Belarusian revolution has set in motion a somewhat near unstoppable female force against 'Europe's last dictator'. The strength has come behind the women themselves.
Make no mistake: despite the news blackout, the revolution in Belarus is still alive. And women lead strongly in the daily, bitter struggle. The uprising has taken on an unmistakable female face.
The war does not have a female face , the Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexeyevich has called her moving book about and with the Soviet women who fought in the Red Army during World War II but did not receive a heroic reception or simply recognition for their efforts when they returned home. . They have since refrained from telling about their experiences.
But today, no one can say that the Belarusian revolution that began in August 2020 does not have a female face and a voice that cannot be heard. On the contrary, the confrontation with Alexander Lukashenko's more than 26 years of oppressive regime in 'Europe's last dictatorship' has become almost synonymous with 'its female face'.
Not only did three younger women put themselves in the front when Lukashenko's male rival candidates in the run-up to the election were thrown in jail, but one of them, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, actually won the presidential election as well. When Lukashenko, despite blatant election fraud, declared himself the winner with over 80 percent of the vote, the situation exploded. The protest demonstrations rolled across the country, as did the extreme violence they were met with from Lukashenko's brutal rebel police, OMON. "I could hardly breathe because of the police violence," says Nastja, mother of three and in her mid-40s. Still, she had to take to the streets and join in. And she has been ever since. She says that with the three women at the helm, "fresh air has been blown throughout Belarus", and she feels an enormous pride in the female power of the revolution.