Lukashenko and his authoritarian regime attack the struggling workers.
November 16 is a day of important action for the comrades of the Independent Union of Belarus due to the end of the repressions against unions and their activists. In Belarus, the workers and the people have been leading massive mobilizations and street actions for almost three months against the electoral fraud of president Lukashenko and the authoritarianism of his regime.
In response, they were met with repression, persecution, arrests, beatings and tortures by the KGB, the police and the riot units. Since the call for a general strike, these attacks have been mainly focused on Independent Unions, their activists and the workers that bravely decide to go out and fight in unity with other popular sectors. One of these violations by the power occurred on the day November 13, when the police arrested 42 union activists that were taking pictures of themselves with white and red flags.
Among them, there were participants of the strike in the plant JSC Belaruskali and activists from the Independent Union of Belarus. After the 42 detentions carried out by the police under the accusation of “taking part in an unauthorized activity”, the comrades were still imprisoned until today, November 16, when they will be put on trial. This is only one example of the reasons why the Independent Union of Belarus sets this date as a day of struggle and reaffirms the demands of the unions: To stop the murders of workers and members of the union; to release our comrades in the prisons; the union is not a crime; to stop the sexual harassment against working women; to support the unions that save the lives of the workers; non-organized workers are used as cheap labor force, thus, a minimum of life for everyone!
From the International Socialist League, we have been carrying out a campaign of support to the mobilizations, for the democratic freedoms, to make Lukashenko and his regime go away. That is why we take as our own the demands of the Independent Union of Belarus: “WE demand in behalf of the Independent Union of Belarus the release of all the people detained in the peaceful protests in Belarus, included our union members.” You can also do it by signing and sharing the petition in the following link:
