From national boycott of the election to national boycott of the regime

Each time after the opposition took part in the election, the incumbent regime gained more trust and the people became more confident that the election in Belarus is free.

Anyone who doubts that can have a look at materials of the Independent Institute of Social-Economic and Political Studies.

The 2010 campaign was the only exception. But the violent suppression of the demonstration, arrests of the presidential candidates and mass repressions in December 2010 undermined the people’s trust to the powers.

Democratic forces could not elaborate a common strategy for 2012, due to a number of reasons. The powers have this strategy and it is gradually fulfilled. This is its essence:

Voters participate in the “election” if there are opposition candidates. Several members of opposition organizations are accepted to the chamber. Then these people are transformed into the basis for “system” opposition. The powers “sell” the election to the West claiming it being democratic or “more democratic than the last one”. They also demand from Western countries to recognize the election and restore political and economic contacts, promising to exonerate several political prisoners. Moreover, an election held within this scenario increases the legitimacy of the regime amongst the nation.

In this situation, the only thing that can be somewhat harmful for the powers is a BOYCOTT. Not only does the boycott ruin the powers’ plans for the coming “election”; a successful boycott campaign will be the first step towards national non-violence resistance to the regime. The key strategy of the non-violence resistance is the denial to support the illegal regime.

Lukashenka’s regime is well-prepared to suppress mass protest rallies, but it cannot survive without the people’s support. Every Belarusian goes to work, pays taxes, and votes. Resistance is not only the readiness to come to the square and protest; it is the ability to unite against the regime and to make demands to the regime if it breaks the law…

If the powers deny its people the right to free election, the people have a constitutional right to a nation-wide strike. It is obvious that the Belarusians are not ready for such large rallies. The regime uses fear as the key weapon. In Belarus, people are afraid to lose jobs, to be arrested or repressed… The fear became the basis and the spiritual essence of the incumbent regime.

The boycott of the “election” will allow us to make the first step to overcoming this fear, the first little step to an organized national resistance.

The participants of the rally of 25 March 2012, who have challenged the regime and made democratic opposition a reality, voted unanimously for the boycott.

The boycott campaign will not end with the parliamentary election. The day of the “election” of 2012 will be one of the stages of the campaign for liberation of the Belarusian people from the fear and dictatorship.

Vital Rymasheuski, Belorusskie novosti