Women in White
Жыве Беларусь! Stop the violence!
#women_in_white
A few days ago a friend of mine (of Belarusan origin) asked me to create a “women in white” image to show support for recent events in Belarus which admittedly were unknown to me. After some research I agreed.
I am not from Belarus and my knowledge of the country is non existent but the story is something that I do appreciate and as a man who has the access to democracy, I support these women of Belarus who are standing up for their rights and putting themselves in front of a military that is meant to protect them.
For those who want to know more, see the following about the Women in White.
On the 9th of August Belarus held presidential election. The current president (a dictator who’s been running the country for 26 years), jailed all the opponents before the election. His main opposition was/is a woman, the wife of one of the jailed opponents. The President allowed her to register not expecting anything of it but he was wrong. She and two other female opponent representatives combined forces and people supported them.
On the day of the election there were lines of people standing for 8 hrs to cast their vote, something never seen in Belarus before. By law the results should have been announced by the end of the day after the count but they didn't.
The dictator claimed the victory with 80%, while exit polls and independent platforms showed that his opponent, the lady (Svetlana) had instead won. People were even sending photos of their votes to prove they didn't pick him. People obviously got angry and on the night of the 9th the people went to streets to protest. Peacefully.
The government switched internet.
The government turned military on the people and for 3 days it was a war zone. . People were killed, beaten and detained. In detention men and women were raped and beaten. Lots of people are still missing.
On the 12th of August the internet came back and people started to learn what happened, so the women of Belarus, wearing white and carrying flowers went to the streets holding hands to protest against violence.
From this was also born the hashtag and artist driven online campaign of #women_in_white.
This project supports and brings awareness to these women fighting against injustice and violence in Belarus against civilians.
For those of you who want to get involved but maybe can’t draw then I have uploaded a line drawing similar to the one above for everyone to download and colour themselves.
Download and colour yourself