Instruction On Bypassing Blocking – Most Popular Read Now

Novaya Gazeta wrote about the blocking of the Charter97.org website.

Novaya Gazeta published the article by well-known journalist Iryna Khalip "Figting Social Parasitism They Shoot At Internet."

Last week, access to the most popular independent resource – Charter'97 (charter97.org) – was suddenly blocked. At first, users simply could not connect the web site ("connection timed out"), and then instead of downloading the main page there was appearing a message that the site was blocked by the decision of the Ministry of Information of Belarus and the operational-analytical center. The operational-analytical center, or the OAC – is one of the Belarusian special services, the most powerful one. Having no legal authority inherent in other special services, it is the OAC that makes decisions that no one else can challenge. This special service makes no public statements.

But the Ministry of Information made a statement on the reasons for the blocking of the web site. It turns out that "the web resource published information that could harm the national interests of Belarus. It also published information indicating the date and venue of the mass event prior to the official permit to hold the event." Ah, now everything is clear.

"Mass events" are winter and spring Marches of Outraged Belarusians. Protests against the then adopted "parasitic decree" by Aliaksandr Lukashenka that took place in all the Belarusian cities. The decree intended to charge "tax on parasitism" on all unemployed citizens. Not only and not so much representatives of the opposition but ordinary Belarusians, who were not interested in politics before, took part in the marches. Sometimes, protest actions began spontaneously, especially in small towns. And people who gladly told the television cameras about how disgusting the power was, had nothing to do with the opposition. New protest stars emerged, iconic charismatic persons – a cleaner, a teacher, a pensioner, a disabled. Outraged Belarusians seriously frightened the regime. Authorities arrested participants in dozens and hundreds, depending on the venue and number of the protesters. Courts were opening administrative cases like conveyer lines and were sentencing people not to fifteen-day arrests, but to huge fines, comparable to the half-year salary of an average Belarusian, as a warning. It didn't take them long to realize: it's unpleasant to stay in prison for 15 days, surely, but once you are released, you can forget about it. However, it will be hard to pay a fine, for which you have to labour half a year. <…> The Charter website informed about each new protest action in advance. 250 thousand unique users per day – it's a huge number for a country of 10 million citizens.

Finally, the outraged Belarusians won the round. Lukashenka revoked his decree for revision. He promised that everyone who had already paid the "tax on parasites" would be able to get their money back. And more than half a year the Belarusian officials told that the work was going on, a new decree was about to be signed, and all the same the state would force everyone to work. Needless to say, the updated decree was released last week, just one day after the Charter's website was blocked. So that there was nobody, if anything, to inform the Belarusians where and when the next march will begin.

By the way, the decree turned out to have hidden drawers.

They abolished the "tax on parasites" which made the Belarusians take to the streets in winter and spring. But instead of it, the decree provides for the 100% payment for the state-subsidized services by the unemployed Belarusians.

And it will be announced in April, which services are those. Now Belarusians are wondering how much and for what exactly those who do not have a job will have to pay? Housing and communal services are not included: Belarusians have already started to pay the utility bills in full amount this year, except for thermal energy. Ok. Heating of water. What else? Medicine? Kindergartens and schools? Public transport? No one knows. But Belarusians do not expect anything good.

The new decree provides, by the way, for compulsory sending to Medical-Labour Centre of non-working citizens "leading an antisocial way of life." However, it doesn’t say how to interpret the antisocial way of life. It is written that all the decisions will be taken by some mysterious "commissions at the local level."

Now the Belarusians are discussing the new decree and are waiting for April with its final explanations. And Charter'97, which is now being written about by the entire world's media, is trying to return to the Belarusian Internet space. And sometimes in the dead of night the site re-opens for a while – the small technical service of the site is opposing the huge operational-analytical center with limitless possibilities. And Belarusians are downloading Tor and mastering anonymizers. The instruction "how to bypass the blocking", distributed in social networks, is the most popular reading now.