Slavoj Zizek: The treatment of Assange is an assault on everyone’s personal freedoms

Slavoj Zizek

is a cultural philosopher. He’s a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London.

21 Sep, 2020 12:06
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Vivienne Westwood demonstrates in support of Julian Assange, in London © Reuters / PETER NICHOLLS
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Julian Assange has had his rights stripped away in a case that should alarm millions, but too few people care because his character has been assassinated. He might have to go to prison before he gets the support he deserves.


There is an old joke from the time of World War I about an exchange of telegrams between the German Army headquarters and the Austrian-Hungarian HQ. From Berlin to Vienna, the message is “The situation on our part of the front is serious, but not catastrophic,” and the reply from Vienna is: “With us, the situation is catastrophic, but not serious.”

The reply from Vienna seems to offer a model for how we react to crises today, from the Covid-19 pandemic to forest fires on the west coast of the US (and elsewhere): ‘Yeah, we know a catastrophe is pending, media warn us all the time, but somehow we are not ready to take the situation seriously…’

There is a similar case that has been dragging on for years: the fate of Julian Assange. It’s a legal and moral catastrophe – just consider how he is being treated in prison, unable to see his children and their mother, unable to communicate regularly with his lawyers, a victim of psychological torture so that his survival itself is under threat. They are killing him softly, as the song goes.

But very few seem to take his situation seriously, with an awareness that our own fate is at stake in his case. The forces which violate his rights are the forces which prevent the effective battle against global warming and the pandemic. They are the forces that ensure the pandemic is making the rich even richer and hitting the poor hardest. They are the forces which ruthlessly exploit the pandemic to assert their control over our social and digital space, regulating and censoring it at our expense – the forces which protect us, but also deny us our own freedom.

Assange fought for the public transparency of the digital space, and there is a cruel irony in the fact that the pandemic is being used as a pretext to isolate him from his family and his defense. We are always ready to protest the limitation of basic human freedoms imposed on Hong Kong by China; should we not turn the gaze back on ourselves? Maybe we should remember Marx Horkheimer’s old saying from the late 1930s: “Whoever is not prepared to talk about capitalism should also remain silent about fascism?” Our version is: “Those who don’t want to talk about the injustice imposed on Assange should also keep silent about the violation of human rights in Hong Kong and Belarus.”

Assange’s well-planned and well-executed character assassination is one of the reasons why his defense has not grown into a wider movement, like Black Lives Matter or Extinction Rebellion. Now that his very survival is at stake, only such a movement can – perhaps – save him.

Remember the lyrics (written by Joan Baez to Ennio Morricone’s music) of ‘Here’s To You,’ the title song of the movie ‘Sacco and Vanzetti’: “Here’s to you, Nicola and Bart / Rest forever here in our hearts / The last and final moment is yours / That agony is your triumph”?

There were mass gatherings all around the world in defense of Sacco and Vanzetti – and the same is needed now in defense of Assange, although in a different form.

If Assange were to die (or disappear in a US prison cell, like the living dead), that agony will be his triumph; he will die in order to live in all of us. This is the message we all must deliver to those who have held him: if you kill a man, you create a myth which will continue to mobilize thousands.

The message to us from those who are after Assange is clear: We can do what we want. But why does this only apply to them? What they are doing to Assange is radically changing the political weather, so perhaps we need new weathermen.

 

Kentucky Gov. OKs National Guard as Protests Build and Anger Simmers Over Breanna Taylor Case

Police detain a man during a protest Wednesday in Louisville, Ky. (AP)

Wednesday, 23 September 2020 

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says he has authorized a “limited” deployment of the National Guard as hundreds of demonstrators have gathered to protest a grand jury’s decision to not indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to Breonna Taylor’s death.

The Democratic governor said Wednesday at a news conference that the deployment is “based on very specific operations,” and is under the sole command of the National Guard.

Beshear said the National Guard would protect “critical infrastructure,” including hospitals.

Meanwhile, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the indictment of one of the officers on a charge of wanton endangerment “confirmed our decision to terminate” him from the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Fischer said the case is “far from over” and the FBI is continuing its probe into the matter.

Also, LMPD is conducting a Professional Standards Unit investigation to determine if any policies and procedures were violated by officers involved in the case.

In urging calm, Fischer said: “Let’s turn to each other, not on each other.”

On Wednesday, a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for the killing of Breonna Taylor during a drug raid gone wrong. Prosecutors said Wednesday that two officers who fired their weapons at the Black woman were justified in using force to protect themselves.

The only charges brought by the grand jury were three counts of wanton endangerment against fired Officer Brett Hankison for shooting into Taylor’s neighbors’ homes. Taylor was shot multiple times by officers who burst into her home on March 13 during a narcotics investigation.

By 5 p.m. ET, some protesters in Louisville had been ordered by police to disperse, an order that followed the grand jury decision by mere hours. 

Police on Wednesday afternoon declared a gathering on a street corner outside downtown to be “unlawful” and threatened to use chemical agents and make arrests if people did not leave.

The order was directed at a group of protesters that broke off from other demonstrators who had gathered downtown.

Curfew in the Kentucky city is set for 9 p.m.

© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Mass arrests of protesters began in Belarus: security officials use water cannons

Protest action in Minsk brutally dispersed by riot police

23 September 2020

Source : 112 Ukraine

Radio Svoboda

Radio Svoboda

Radio Svoboda

At the stele "Minsk - Hero City" Belarusian security forces began to disperse the protesters against the inauguration of Alexander Lukashenko with water cannons, as TUT.BY writes about this.

According to journalists, dozens of people have already been detained in Minsk. The security forces pushed the people away from the stele, and they were divided into two groups. It is also reported that hundreds of people are starting to walk towards the stele, besides this, in at least five districts of the capital of the Republic of Belarus, people began to gather at key points and go to the city center. At the same time, problems with the Internet began in Minsk.

It is also known that at least two water cannons drove up to the stele and they began to water people. In addition, a convoy of trucks of internal troops and special equipment appeared in the center of the city. The arrived servicemen and riot policemen cordoned off the approaches to the stele "Minsk - Hero City" and began to drive out the protesters from there.

As we reported before, authorities of Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Estonia have not recognized Alexander Lukashenko as head of the Republic of Belarus.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Usurper of Power in Belarus

Photo Credit: Maksim Safaniuk / Shutterstock

September 23, 2020


Joerg Forbrig Senior Fellow and Director for Central and Eastern Europe

GERMAN MARSHALL FUND OF THE USA

 https://www.gmfus.org/blog/2020/09/23/alyaksandr-lukashenka-usurper-power-belarus

Belarus’s already hot political summer turned hotter today. In a rushed and secretive ceremony, the embattled authoritarian Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared himself president for a sixth term. This brazen self-appointment is a slap in the face of the millions of Belarusians who clearly did not vote for him in last month’s election. It scorns the hundreds of thousands who have peacefully gathered across the country for weeks, demanding the departure of the long-time ruler. And it mocks tens of thousands who have been terrorized by Lukashenka’s police state through arbitrary arrest, torture, job loss, or forced exile. For all these courageous Belarusians, and for many who have remained silent so far, the key question is now how to respond to this obvious seizure of power. Just as importantly, the international community, from Lukashenka’s sponsors in Russia to his critics in Europe and the West, will have to react to this usurpation of the presidency.

At first glance, it may seem as if, in swiftly and formally prolonging his reign, Lukashenka has once again outfoxed many in Belarus and abroad. Observers have been scratching their heads for weeks over when his term of office would come to an end; which responses this would elicit domestically and internationally; what consequences this may carry for his legitimacy, his conduct vis-à-vis protesters, and his interaction with foreign governments; and how this would shape the further course and outcome of the political crisis in Belarus. All these concerns have now been fast-forwarded.

Upon closer inspection, however, Lukashenka’s self-appointment signals how rickety his rule and regime have become over the last weeks. Faced with widespread disdain among Belarusians, he staged a surprise and clandestine ceremony without prior announcement or live television broadcast as mandated by law. He bussed in a few hundred handpicked officials but refrained from inviting foreign diplomats or dignitaries. No loyalists were rallied in public support, likely owing to short notice, while main thoroughfares in downtown Minsk were closed and the internet switched off, clearly to prevent spontaneous protests. Only after the fact did official confirmation appear in the state media that Lukashenka had assumed the presidency again. Taken together, this hardly projects strength and legitimacy from a ruler who, according to his own official data, received 80 percent of the vote. If anything, it is the conduct of an impostor who knows that his public support is down to single digits.

This obvious weakness will be noted by all sides in the Belarusian crisis. Among citizens, the self-coronation will only recharge mobilization against the regime. News of the ceremony immediately triggered smaller protests at universities across the country and in some neighborhoods of Minsk, with large-scale protests expected for later in the day and week. Chances are that these will be met with the same police brutality and lawlessness that has become customary for Lukashenka’s handling of the political crisis so far. This may, over time, suppress larger public protests but it will hardly erase the broad-based opposition against an illegitimate government. Instead, discontent will continue to find new formats—from strikes and sabotage at state enterprises to growing civil disobedience, such as non-payment of taxes and utilities, and from neighborhood gatherings to partisan-type action against government websites, officials, and institutions. Lukashenka has just set the dial on further escalation.

The inauguration is also likely to have an effect among state officials. Many civil servants are already uneasy about how the government has acted on the election and ensuing protests. Although the leadership managed to stem an initial wave of defections from state institutions, including the security forces, cohesion within the regime apparatus remains precarious. Officials, including many doubters, will now have to decide whether or not to serve an illegitimate regime. To date, more critically minded officials may have been able to justify their loyalty with the argument that they were serving a legitimate and acknowledged government. With today’s farcical retaking of office by Lukashenka, this is no longer the case. This may well induce fresh fissures among apparatchiks and prompt further departures. As a result, the functioning of state institutions will be undermined at a time of socioeconomic as well as political crisis.

Lukashenka’s self-coronation also weakens Belarus from without. Russia, his key supporter, was unaware of the planned ceremony, according to the Kremlin spokesman. It has provided some help to the regime over the last weeks, effectively preventing it from implosion. Nonetheless, Moscow seemed to keep its options open, including on Lukashenka’s own future. With his inauguration, Russian leeway has effectively shrunk. Moscow now faces a stark choice between either supporting the Belarusian ruler, come hell or high water, or axing him sooner or later. In the first case, the Kremlin is bound to alienate Belarusians; in the latter, it would act against its own instincts. This is the dilemma that was handed to the Kremlin by Lukashenka today.

By comparison, the EU and the West find themselves in a very clear position. The EU has already announced that it does not acknowledge the official result of last month’s election. Logically, it should now declare Lukashenka’s presidency fully illegitimate. Several member states, including Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states, did so immediately today upon news of the inauguration. Following on from that, the EU must now clarify the practical consequences of this non-recognition of Lukashenka.

One step should be to add him, and perhaps his entire government, to its emerging sanctions list, which needs to be enacted swiftly. Another must be to freeze all official contacts with the Belarusian government, illegitimate as it is given that it was installed by Lukashenka himself. A third must be to look at economic sanctions against key enterprises that provide the revenues to sustain Lukashenka’s police state. And a fourth needs to be generous humanitarian and democracy assistance to Belarusian society. It will be the citizens of the country on whom Lukashenka, now officially the usurper of power, will exact revenge for their courageous opposition.

Navalny May Have Poisoned Himself, Putin Reportedly Tells Macron

NAVALNY IS A PUTIN PUPPET

THIS IS THE KREMLIN LINE ON ALL REPORTED POISIONING CASES

Alexei Navalny came out of a coma two weeks ago after what Germany says was poisoning by Novichok.Alexander Shcherbak / TASS

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny may have poisoned himself with Novichok, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron in a recent phone call.

Navalny, 44, who came out of a coma two weeks ago after falling violently ill on a flight in Siberia, mocked Putin’s reported claims as illogical. Germany says it has evidence backed by French and Swedish scientists that Putin’s fierce critic was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent.

The French daily Le Monde reported, citing unnamed sources, that Putin suggested to Macron that Navalny may have poisoned himself with Novichok for an unspecified reason.

In the two leaders' Sept. 14 phone call, Putin reportedly referred to his foe as an “internet troublemaker who has simulated illnesses in the past.”

Russia maintains that Navalny was not poisoned. When urged to investigate the Aug. 20 incident, Russian officials complained that Germany hadn't shared its findings and that Navalny’s aides took potential evidence out of the country.

Navalny reacted ironically to the Le Monde report, writing on Instagram that his “cunning plan” was to “cook Novichok in the kitchen, sip it quietly on a plane … die in an Omsk hospital and end up in an Omsk morgue, where my cause of death would be established as ‘he lived enough.’”

“But Putin outplayed me,” Navalny joked. “In the end, I spent 18 days in a coma like an idiot and didn’t get what I wanted.”

On Monday, Navalny demanded that the clothes he was wearing at the time of his illness be packed and sent to Germany as key evidence.

In a video address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Macron demanded a “swift and flawless” explanation from Russia regarding Navalny’s poisoning, calling the use of chemical weapons a “red line.”

POLAND
Over 400 miners hold underground protest

(PAP) EJ/JCH/ SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
The number of miners of the Polish Mining Group (PGG) holding an underground protest has grown to over 400 according to unionists.

The press office of the Silesia-Dabrowska branch of the Solidarity trade union said that, currently, the greatest number of miners (185) are talking part in a protest at the Halemba mine, one of three parts of the Ruda colliery in Ruda Slaska, southern Poland. At the Piast-Ziemowit mine there are 70 underground protesters and at the group's remaining mines around 20 to 30 people.

"The protest is rotational in nature, which means that those who remain underground at the end of their shift replace protesting colleagues from an earlier shift," Solidarity explained. "Some of the participants of the campaign have decided to stay underground longer."

The subterranean protest started on Monday in three parts of the Ruda mine in Ruda Slaska: Halemba, Pokoj and Bielszowice, as well as at the Wujek mine in Katowice, southern Poland. On Tuesday, miners from the Piast and Ziemowit collieries joined the protest and on Wednesday, the demonstration spread to the Boleslaw Smialy, Sosnica, Myslowice-Wesola and Murcki-Staszic mines. Miners from other collieries are due to join the campaign on Thursday.

A march has also been announced for Friday through the streets of Ruda Slaska to be attended by representatives of other sectors threatened by EU climate-energy policy. The demonstrators question, among other things, the assumptions of energy policy concerning the tempo of withdrawal from coal as an energy source and investment in gas energy production. They also want support for zero-emission coal technology.

Russian Authorities Storm Siberian Commune, Arrest Messianic Cult Leader

Vissarion Christ the Teacher's followers believe that he is the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth.one4everme.livejournal.com

A Siberian messianic cult leader and his deputies have been detained at one of their communes on accusations of using followers’ money and psychological violence to inflict harm, Russia's Investigative Committee said Tuesday.

Armed agents were filmed storming the Church of the Last Testament's compound in a southern district of the Krasnoyarsk region. The agents can be seen placing its leader Vissarion Christ the Teacher, whose followers believe that he is the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, inside one of several helicopters deployed in the raid.

Russia’s FSB is storming the Siberian settlement of the Church of the Last Testament and has arrested its leader Vissarion, who says he’s a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and has some 4,000 avowed followers. Vissarion and his aides were taken away in helicopters, Mash reports. pic.twitter.com/CiION9ml7x— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) September 22, 2020

“Fifty police vans, 50 buses, an ambulance and medical workers are driving over here,” the Tayga.info news website quoted local resident Alexander Staroverov, who witnessed the early-morning raid, as saying on social media.

Investigative Committee and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents detained Vissarion, a former policeman whose secular name is Sergei Torop, as well as two of his deputies.

The Investigative Committee said that the cult's leaders “used its members’ money and psychological violence” against them, causing “serious harm” to some members’ health. Investigators intend to charge them with creating a religious association that uses violence, the Investigative Committee's statement said.

The Church of the Last Testament reported raids and interrogations in February in connection with a fraud investigation into a school attended by its members’ children, according to Interfax.

 
NEWS
For This Russian Messianic Cult, Coronavirus Isolation Is a ‘Blessing’READ MORE

Vissarion’s deputy Vadim Redkin told The Moscow Times at the height of Russia's coronavirus outbreak this spring that the Church of the Last Testament’s membership applications have tripled since the start of the pandemic.

The Investigative Committee said that Redkin and Vladimir Vedyornikov were the two Vissarion deputies detained in Tuesday's raid.

Vissarion founded his movement in the early 1990s, filling an ideological void after the fall of the Soviet Union. About 4,000 so-called “Vissarionites” live in 20 rural settlements in southern Siberia, with the most devoted group of around 300 living on top of a remote hill they call the Abode of Dawn.

The cult deepened its physical isolation from the rest of Russia after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, closing its communes off to outsiders.

A Shock,' 'A Disgrace': Belarusians Respond To Alyaksandr Lukashenka's Secret Presidential Inauguration

‘This is a farce’ Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya responds to Lukashenko’s inauguration

September 23, 2020
Source: Meduza

Telegram channel “Pul Pervoi”

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya) has released a video message responding to Alexander Lukashenko’s secret inauguration as president of Belarus. In the message, she calls herself the only elected leader of the Belarusian people. The video was published by Tikhanovskaya spokespeople on their official Telegram channel, “Pul Pervoi.”

Here’s what she said:

Dear Belarusians. Today, unbeknownst to the people, Lukashenko tried to hold his own inauguration. We all understand what’s happening. This attempt [to have] himself recognized as legitimate only [speaks] to the fact that his former powers have ended, and the people didn’t give him a new mandate. Of course this so-called inauguration is a farce. In fact, Lukashenko simply retired today.


This means that his orders to the security structures are no longer legitimate and don’t have to be enforced. I, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, am the only leader elected by the Belarusian people. And our task now is to build a new Belarus together.


My visit to Brussels ended two days ago. I met with European leaders, foreign ministers, addressed the European Parliament, and talked to the Belarusian diasporas.


The countries of Europe support the Belarusian people in their demands to stop the violence, free political prisoners, and hold new — honest and transparent — elections. They are prepared to provide real assistance — there are serious investment packages [being] envisaged for Belarus after democracy wins.


And together, we will win.

From Belarus farm boss to Soviet-style strongman on Europe's doorstep

BY TATIANA KALINOVSKAYA (AFP) 

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko is a former collective farm boss who has leveraged Russian backing and Soviet-style political oppression to run a personal fiefdom on Europe's doorstep for 26 years.

The plain-talking 66-year-old, who is fighting for political survival, held a secretive inauguration ceremony after claiming a sixth term in disputed August elections that spurred historic demonstrations against his rule and a brutal police crackdown.

He addressed troops in full military attire following the ceremony, lauding his military for ensuring peace in the face of threats from the West, which he accuses of stoking massive street demonstrations against his rule.

"You defended the sovereignty and independence of our country," he said.

Lukashenko turned to ally Russia for support to stay in power and President Vladimir Putin has promised a $1.5 billion loan and promised military aid if the situation worsens.

By contrast, European countries have supported the dictatorial leader's rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and promised sanctions for police violence and election fraud.

Painting protesters as Western pawns is a tactic he has exploited with ruthless effectiveness to justify jailing generations of opponents while using the KGB security services to oversee most facets of the agrarian nation's political and social life.

Yet tens of thousands of people have risked violent detentions and taken to the streets to insist that Lukashenko lost to the 38-year-old political novice Tikhanovskaya in the presidential race.

- Europe's last dictator -

Lukashenko almost instinctively reverted to the use of brute force to try and crush protests that sprung up even before the polls officially closed.

He used mass arrests in which hundreds -- including almost all the main rivals and some of their family members -- were jailed to stamp out a wave of election protests in December 2010.

Those demonstrations quickly subsided and few have dared rise up since -- until last month.

Alexander Lukashenko detained his main opposition rivals ahead of the election
Sergei GAPON, POOL/AFP/File

Lukashenko's unrepentant use of force in 2010 only further reinforced his reputation as the overseer of "the last dictatorship in Europe".

The dispersal of demonstrators this time around was equally unapologetic.

Lukashenko viewed one protest rally from a helicopter, describing the demonstrators as "rats," and later disembarked in a bullet-proof vest carrying a Kalashnikov.

- Folksy machismo -

His authoritarian streak stretches to his views on women and even some aspects of his personal life.

He has appeared with his youngest son Nikolai at state functions and some official foreign trips since the 16-year-old was a toddler.

Lukashenko's latest election declaration said that he is still legally married but few can recall ever seeing the wife he wed in 1975.

He has said that Belarus could not possibly have a woman leader because she "would collapse, poor thing."

President Lukashenko insists that Belarus is not ready for a woman leader
Sergei GAPON, AFP

Amnesty International has accused Lukashenko's government of "misogyny" and targeting female activists with discriminatory tactics.

He concluded a 2012 argument over rights with Germany's openly gay former foreign minister Guido Westerwelle by saying: "Better to be a dictator than gay."

This machismo is accompanied by a rural folksiness that appealed to voters who were used to the stiff octogenarians that dominated Soviet political life around the time of the superpower's collapse in 1991.

Lukashenko likes being filmed driving tractors or picking watermelons and potatoes. He once gave US action actor Steven Seagal a carrot that he cleaned himself with a peeler and joined Putin at amateur ice hockey matches.

He has also brushed off the dangers of the coronavirus as a hoax and refused to introduce a lockdown or postpone the election.

Lukashenko's health tips for the virus included drinking vodka and taking steam baths.

- Difficult ally -

Yet these peculiarities make Lukashenko an unpredictable ally for Putin who has sought to turn the "union state" of close military and economic ties between Russia and Belarus into a political reality.

Lukashenko watched with worry as Moscow seized Crimea and supported insurgents in eastern Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 pro-European Maidan protests.

He has occasionally switched from Russian to Belarusian to distance himself from Moscow and has dangled the promise of political and social changes long demanded by the West.

In power since 1994, Lukashenko has kept his landlocked homeland wedged between Russia and EU member Poland largely stuck in a Soviet time warp
Nikolay PETROV, BELTA/AFP

Lukashenko welcomed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February -- the first visit to Minsk by Washington's top diplomat since 1994.

The election was preceded by the mysterious arrest of what Belarus claimed were Russian mercenaries.

But since the August 9 vote, Lukashenko has warmed again to closer ties with Putin and the two leaders recently met in Moscow to discuss deeper integration.

burs-jbr/as/bp

Belarus: Lukashenko inaugurated in unannounced ceremony

CLOSES MINSK FOR CEREMONY

FOOLING NOBODUY 

BBC
Belarusian presidential election 2020

I

MAGE COPYRIGHTREUTERSi

President Lukashenko's motorcade swept through Minsk
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, whose re-election in a disputed poll last month led to weeks of mass protests, has been inaugurated for a sixth term in an unannounced ceremony.
State media said several hundred people attended the ceremony at the Palace of Independence in central Minsk.
Streets were sealed off as Mr Lukashenko's motorcade raced through the city, witnesses said.
One opposition politician likened the event to a secret "thieves' meeting".
Presidential inaugurations are normally publicised well in advance as major state occasions.
Instead, state news agency Belta reported on Wednesday: "Alexander Lukashenko has taken office as President of Belarus. The inauguration ceremony is taking place in these minutes in the Palace of Independence."

Europe's longest-serving ruler under fire
What's happening in Belarus?
'Breathing freedom': Belarusians hope for change

Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet republic for 26 years, said Belarus needed security and consensus "on the brink of a global crisis", an apparent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, Belta reported.

"I cannot, I have no right to abandon the Belarusians," he added.

REUTER Alexander Lukashenko placed his hand on a copy of the constitution and swore the oath of office



Lukashenko busses in the party faithful
Analysis by Jonah Fisher, BBC News

This was not the confident inauguration of a man who really believes he has 80% of the country behind him. Everything about it was aimed at avoiding a public reaction.
There was no prior warning that the ceremony would take place, and even when proceedings were under way there were no live broadcasts on state television or radio. An audience of loyal officials was bussed in and there appear to have been no foreign dignitaries. Not even the Russian ambassador was invited.
Belarus's opposition immediately called for fresh demonstrations. But there are valid questions about where Belarus's protest movement is going.
Though the anti-Lukashenko demonstrations still muster large crowds, particularly at the weekend, they have not led to major fissures in the president's support base. The security forces and army are still loyal and events (like the weekend rallies) that were once incredible and unprecedented are now regular and almost routine.
It is clear that Russia - Belarus' most important ally - sees President Lukashenko as the "least worse" option at the moment. While that remains the case Belarus's leader seems determined to ignore the protests and carry on.



How has the opposition reacted?
His main political rival, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to neighbouring Lithuania amid mass arrests, said Mr Lukashenko "after today is neither a legal nor a legitimate head of Belarus".
Fellow opposition politician Pavel Latushko posted on social media: "Where are the jubilant citizens? Where is the diplomatic corps?"
"It is obvious that Alexander Lukashenko is exclusively the president of the Omon (riot police) and a handful of lying officials."

He called for "an indefinite action of civil disobedience".

The opposition Nexta Live channel on the Telegram messaging app called for street protests from 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and urged drivers to block roads and create traffic jams.
"Starting from this very day, he [Lukashenko] officially becomes a bandit and fraudster who is not recognised anywhere in the civilised world," the channel said.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius described the inauguration as a "farce" and "illegitimate" on Twitter.

What is the background?
Mr Lukashenko, 66, claimed a sixth term as president in the widely disputed election of 9 August. He insisted that he had won fairly with 80% of the vote and depicted the protests against him as a Western-backed plot. Earlier this month, he secured a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) loan from Russia.
Ms Tikhanovskaya claims to have won 60-70% in places where votes were properly counted.
Many opposition figures are now in self-imposed exile in neighbouring countries amid a wave of arrests.
Despite the crackdown, anti-government protests show no signs of diminishing. On Sunday, a crowd of about 100,000 people staged another rally in the capital, demanding that Mr Lukashenko step down

A 73-year-old great-grandmother has turned into an unlikely hero for demonstrators in Belarus

The US Says Alexander Lukashenko Is Not The Legitimate President Of Belarus

The State Department said that Lukashenko's Aug. 9 victory was "fraudulent," as protests across the country continue.

Christopher Miller BuzzFeed News Contributor

Posted on September 23, 2020

Andrei Stasevich / Getty Images

Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko takes the oath of office during his inauguration ceremony in Minsk on September 23.

Eight months ago, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told President Alexander Lukashenko in a historic visit to Minsk that their meeting was “a solid first step towards improved relationships and closer ties.”

On Wednesday, the US State Department said it did not consider Lukashenko, the embattled Belarusian strongman who has led Belarus with an iron fist for 26 years, to be the president of the country any longer.

"The United States cannot consider [Alexander Lukashenko] the legitimately elected leader of Belarus,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday.

The spokesperson reiterated that the US did not believe that the Aug. 9 presidential elections in Belarus were free or fair. “The announced results were fraudulent and did not convey legitimacy," the spokesperson said.

Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed that he won 80% of the vote and a sixth term despite reports of fraud in his race against Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a 37-year-old political novice who captured the nation’s attention with her message of change. Pro-democracy demonstrations immediately erupted across the country, with riot police unleashing a brutal crackdown on protesters who claimed Tikhanovskaya had won.

Tikhanovskaya told BuzzFeed News in an interview from Lithuania, where she lives in exile after being forced to flee Belarus, that she is “the national, chosen president.”

Hours before the US announcement Wednesday, Lukashenko had gathered hundreds of government officials and supporters in Minsk for a secret inauguration ceremony that was neither announced beforehand nor televised.

As Lukashenko took part in the clandestine event under heavy security thousands of demonstrators continued their weeks-long protest on the streets of Belarus. They demand that Lukashenko resign and riot police responsible for abuse and torture of demonstrators face criminal charges.

The US’s decision to not recognize Lukashenko as Belarus’ president marks a significant collapse in relations between Washington and the Eastern European leader often referred to as “Europe’s Last Dictator.”

When Pompeo visited Lukashenko in Minsk in February, he said the two vowed for closer cooperation in the security and economic spheres. The secretary said Belarus had made “real progress” on human rights issues “but there remains work to do.”

The visit followed President Donald Trump’s nomination of senior US diplomat Julie Fisher to be Washington’s next ambassador to Belarus in April. Minsk expelled the last US ambassador and 30 of 35 diplomats in 2008 after Washington tightened sanctions due to worsening human rights abuses.

Fisher faced a Senate hearing about her nomination in August, but it has been held up since the protests erupted in Belarus.

Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun told reporters in a call on September 12 that Fisher “is still in the approval process here inside the United States, and we have not suspended that process.”

Christopher Miller is a Kyiv-based American journalist and editor.