"The Regime's Resources Are Dwindling, Its Forces Are Being Eaten Away"

The usurper walks through the minefield.

One hundred days of protests is also a reason to talk about the gains of the Belarusian revolution, political observer Aliaksandr Klaskouski writes in an article on the website naviny.by.

Fighters against the anachronistic regime, which a number of political scientists call sultanist, felt to be a great community. Civil society has grown and hardened before our eyes. Strong horizontal ties have formed between caring Belarusians. The level of solidarity and mutual assistance is amazing. And this is despite the fact that, for years, political scientists have been repeating about the atomization of our society, about the fact that the main principle of the Belarusian is "my house's on edge."

The last months have destroyed the stereotype that Belarusians always prefer to hide in their hole, are too cautious, if not cowardly. The revolution gave birth to a galaxy of heroes and showed the amazing courage of ordinary, "little" people.

Belarusians are quickly becoming a political nation. The mass consciousness is parting with the remnants of "sovok" ("Soviet times"), which Lukashenka is stubbornly trying to exploit. In terms of worldview and values, plenty of Belarusians has far outgrown the ruling, if I may say so, elite.

We see a phenomenal rise in national identity. A miracle happened: the white-red-white flag from the elite symbolism of a narrow opposition circle almost instantly turned into a popular banner of the struggle for a country's normal, dignified future. Attempts to slander white-red-white are wretched and futile.

At the same time, many politically active Belarusians got rid of illusions and naive ideas. The realization came that the struggle for a change of power could take long. A new infrastructure for this struggle began to be built, including the use of information technologies.

The authorities will walk through a minefield

Although the regime has included counterrevolutionary terror and can boast of local "achievements," its resources are dwindling, its forces are being eaten away. Lukashenka has become illegitimate for a large part of Belarusians, the international democratic community, which will strengthen the sanctions. Moreover, the current ruler is unlikely to be considered promising by both China and the Kremlin.

The fact that Lukashenka recently let slip about his possible move to Russia after leaving his post (when, they say, the situation in Belarus calms down), may be an involuntary echo of some of his agreements with Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenka admits that an economic crisis is impending and clearly does not know what to do about it. A sharp drop in living standards may eventually push workers into a large-scale strike. Another bomb for the regime is the referendum to amend the Constitution. An attempt to carry out this campaign in the style of a special operation, as the last elections, is capable of blowing up society.

The authorities will now go through the minefield all the time. Lukashenka's hopes to return the country to a state "as before the elections" are illusory. The regime has become too odious for millions of Belarusians. They bit their lip and will fight.

I want to say "until victory," but we can avoid the unnecessary pathos. The plot of change can turn out to be much more complex than it is portrayed in revolutionary proclamations. But this is a separate big topic.

In the meantime, we can say that the Belarusian revolution has already gone down in history. Descendants will read today's documents with trepidation, peer into photographs and videos, study the heroes' faces, and experience the shock of all these paintings of the collision of good and evil full of Shakespearean dramatism. And they will understand at what high price the new Belarus was given.