The events of the last few weeks have undoubtedly shocked the whole world. It is very hard to return to routine activities after the vast flood of tragic reports from Ukraine.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the territorial defence forces, volunteers inside and outside the country, politicians and independent journalists, bloggers and business – the entire progressive world has stood as a united front against the obscurantism of an empire bristling with missiles.
We must not forget about the heroes who are held in the prisons of these regimes – in particular, Belarusian political prisoners.
For the past few years, the domestic political climate in Belarus cannot be described as anything other than undisguised terror against dissenters. Purges of the undesirable are taking place at every level, legal institutions have been destroyed, and morality and common sense are trampled underfoot by the needs of Lukashenka's puppet regime to stay in power.
At the time of writing, the dictator is holding hostage 1,331 people [and those are only the ones known to us]. Many of them have families shattered by malicious political will, and every single one of them has loved ones who share the heavy burden of supporting a person in prison. All of a prisoner's suffering – from a destroyed letter to torturous conditions of detention – is shared by their family and loved ones. What is happening in Belarus right now is a real catastrophe.
Russia's military invasion and a catastrophe of global scale are also weighing on the fate of our political prisoners. Difficulties with financial support and communication with people, the ongoing collapse of legal norms in society that were already merely declarative, and the extreme militarisation of the power structures create additional obstacles to supporting dissidents.
Does this mean that there should be less help, or that the many organisations and foundations should give up? By no means!
The only lesson we must learn from what is happening is that we need to become as effective and organised as we can possibly be.
It was these people, who stood up against the dictatorship, who were the first line of resistance. They took the blow of a regime that was still relatively stable and fully backed by the neighbouring bloody empire. The very fact that they are in prison and that their stance remains unbroken is a direct continuation of the struggle. It is a marker that identifies Belarusians as a people who do not accept injustice and are ready to fight even where a person is stripped of everything.
Supporting political prisoners, fighting for them in the media space, and solidarity expressed in rallies and demonstrations are an integral part of resisting the injustice of the deranged regimes of Putin and Lukashenka.
Until everyone is free!
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