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A few facts about these events: - Based on data collected by from only some polling places, there is a huge discrepancies in results comparing to official ones
by hippich 6y ago
A few facts about these events:
- Based on data collected by from only some polling places, there is a huge discrepancies in results comparing to official ones. Most poling places refused to post results. People, who demanded to post results (as the law requires), were arrested. You can read more about it at belarus2020.org
- A lot of journalists left state media. Replacements were brought from Russia's state's propaganda media.
- While police is involved in some cases, the bulk of arrests, beating, torture is done by special forces where most of them wear full head covering at all times. In the few episodes when such head covering is removed during the altercation, these enforces were running away hiding their faces with hands 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspZj5wPtaQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspZj5wPtaQ ; 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj5cV8Dl7jA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj5cV8Dl7jA
- Often, special forces use plain clothes and act like criminals. The only suggestion that they are law enforcement - they often have a baton and full head covering. They never tell you their names, departments, etc.
- Last Sunday Belarus saw its first business glass door shattered as a result of protests (protests started on Aug 9th). That door was broken by special forces because some protesters tried to hide from beating there. People donated to the business owner to buy a new door and were standing in the line next day to buy a coffee from that place - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3I8dxAwybE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3I8dxAwybE
- To avoid beating by special forces, some running away protesters had to jump into the river. Water is quite cold. They were saved by the rescue team worked on the river, who brought them to the other bank of it. As a result, the whole rescue team was arrested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqA3deW_-Yg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqA3deW_-Yg
There is a lot more going on, just wanted to share a few things to explain the atmosphere of it.
- brundolf 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- some_random 6y agoPlease don't compare protests like this, it never looks good.
- formerly_proven 6y agoRoW thinks Portland is borderline civil war anyway. Only a true American could conceive of hundreds of masked, rifle-bearing men marching around and clashing with other groups as a protest.
- bitdizzy 6y agoWhat is RoW?
- siberianbear 6y agoNot the OP, but RoW probably means Rest of World.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoSure, but this seems like something where the Americans have it right. Despite all the guns, Portland doesn't seem any more violent right now than, say, Paris during the yellow vest protests.
- hardlianotion 6y agowhich was violent, to be fair.
- formerly_proven 6y agoPossibly heading for a civil war stoked by the country's president in both cases (one trying to paint his trickster self as a man of law and order, one trying to hold on to power after yet-another mock election). Though the parts of the protests we get to see from Belarus look far more civilized than the pictures coming in from the US.
- pjc50 6y agoThe US election is likely to be extremely messy and contested. Hence my comment upthread suggesting that people volunteer as poll watchers.
- Taek 6y agoI agree. The situation with the mail is extremely worrying as it indicates more corruption may be on the horizon. If there was ever a time for Americans to be diligent, it is in ensuring that the election is fair and that the results are honored.
- crdrost 6y agoThe second US civil war only incidentally involves Trump. He happens to be the figurehead right now, but even if that changes we were on the brink before Trump and we will be on the brink after Trump. The underlying cause is a mistake of our founding fathers. Because of the winner-take-all structure of our elections, our political parties are forced to be forkophobic. The fact that we can't have a real Tea Party, to say nothing of the Greens and Libertarians, causes our civil war proclivities. A first step is a proportional House. In this proposal, every state stops drawing House districts, which also kills gerrymandering (although gerrymandering by itself does not cause our civil war problems). Instead, parties must register with the state with a list of N names, people in the state vote for the party rather than an individual, and after the election we first off exclude any parties who have not gotten at least 4% of the vote, then allocate the rest by the Webster method that we already use to allocate House seats among the different states. So a party has 10% popularity in California, that means they receive about five California seats, so the top five names off their pre-published California list go on to the House. Forking a political party is now possible, politicians have spines again at least in the House, and Washington starts working again, hopefully. This probably does not require a constitutional amendment, just a federal law.
- exo762 6y agoProtests in Belarus are way more civilized than recent protests in both Portland and the rest of USA. The difference is stark, shocking, and puzzling.
- jdavis703 6y agoConsidering America is awash in guns, I don’t think it should be surprising. In the early days of the republic there were many armed uprisings... Not to mention the US Civil War.
- throwaway2048 6y agoThe violence around protests has had remarkably little to do with guns, except maybe for police shooting protestors. A tiny handful of events when huge protests are taking place in basically every city is itself pretty remarkable.
- hippich 6y agoBelarusians have a lot of hunting riffles on hands too. But these are tightly regulated. You can't wear it just because you want to. And people were jailed for possession a single WW2 era round found in the forest (Belarus had a lot going on on its territory during WW2 and as the result - a lot of stuff is still in the soil all across the country).
- pstuart 6y agoThe US protests are being sabotaged with violence from outsiders to delegitimize them.
- slezyr 6y ago> Last Sunday Belarus saw its first business glass door shattered as a result of protests https://news.tut.by/society/699561.html https://news.tut.by/society/699561.html That glass door was broken by the chief of the narcotics and organized crime unit.
- pjc50 6y ago> Based on data collected by from only some polling places, there is a huge discrepancies in results comparing to official ones. Most poling places refused to post results. People, who demanded to post results (as the law requires), were arrested. You can read more about it at belarus2020.org Whatever country you're in, this is a good time to think about becoming a poll watcher. The exact arrangements vary but elections nearly always have a place for volunteers to watch the count somehow.
- 411111111111111 6y agoAnd potentially making you a liability to unscrupulous dictators is smart? It's either pointless because nobody wants to fake results or you're another obstacle to remove.
- scollet 6y agoBravery at this scale is rarely risk-adverse. That doesn't make it non-intelligent. A worse pain is inflicted under dictatorship over a longer period anyways so why not rip off the band-aid now?
- batmansmk 6y agoIn 1990, my brother observed the elections in Croatia that lead to the Yugoslavian war. Western Europe was recruiting young people to defend democracy and human rights across the continent. The bet was to stabilize all countries on the continent. Pro-Serbian regime tried to fraud, but with the help of international observers, they got shutdown, votes have been reorganized when needed, and the sole presence of neutral observers acted as a strong deterrant. Now Croatia is a prosperous country that we enjoy spending vacation to. Because of this act of courage, my brother got hired by the UN. From taxi driver in 1990 to now diplomat in 2020. He served in Darfour, Afghanistan, Mexico, Guatelama, Irak, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania. Saved countless refugees from certain death, negotiated with dictators, put pressure one step at a time. I understand your concern, but don't take courage for foolishness. My brother is not a fool, he is an idealist and will probably have more lasting impact on the world than me.