Daily Archives: August 20, 2021

Activism came to Hazar Kolancal like a thunderstorm, at first a rumbling in the distance and then upon her all at once. The constant and often violent oppression of LGBTQI+ people in Turkey, a country that is increasingly hostile toward them, manifested suddenly for Kolancal in a brutal arrest at the hands of Istanbul police. I knew trouble was coming on the day I saw smear campaigns against us being pushed by pro-government media, she told Truthout.

Despite her attempts to avoid conflict with police, government-executed violence and oppression is always lurking just around the corner for queer activists in Turkey.

In addition to health and economic crises, 2020-21 brought a sharp rise in government homophobia to Turkey, manifesting as hate speech from top government officials, the barring of LGBT symbols, withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on the grounds of it normalizing homosexuality, and arrests of LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancal.

On January 30, 2021, such government oppression was waiting for Kolancal just outside the gates of her university campus. We exited the campus and right away there were police everywhere, cars, sirens, and they were screaming our names. I was shocked. They came for me immediately and then there was chaos. The police used brutal force against us.

Kolancal, 22, a psychology student, artist and openly bisexual activist, found herself on the front lines of Turkeys struggle for LGBTQI+ rights.

Two months prior, situated in a grassy field on Boazii Universitys campus, solidarity-seeking students mingled at an art exhibition of anonymous contributions organized by Kolancal and fellow artist-activists. The exhibition was part of the protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoans appointment of a pro-government party member as rector to their university and the subsequent closure of the schools LGBTQI+ student club. One piece of art, however, caught the disapproving eye of a passerby, and soon, the eyes of top Turkish officials, who demanded punishment.

After her arrest, Kolancal spent 12 hours in a jail cell opposite her lover, she says, unsure of what fate awaited them. She was then placed on house arrest and left to await trial.

We are creative because we are repressed. When youre repressed, you have to find alternative ways of expressing yourself, Kolancal says of how her activism necessitates her art and vice versa. She pulls up a video on her laptop of her standing in a lineup with the other arrested students at the police station, looking somber. She then holds up her phone showing a lineup of four parallel figures, looking psychedelic and confident, which she drew to cope with the traumatic memory.

Since the beginning of the Boazii protests on January 4 after Melih Bulu was appointed rector, over 500 people have been detained, many having been arrested as a direct result of their LGBTQI+ activism.

The Erdoan regime hasnt hidden its approval of violence against protesters, especially LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancal. Rhetoric from prominent government officials has been explicitly LGBTQ-phobic, with Interior Minister Sleyman Soylu repeatedly calling the arrested students LGBT perverts and Erdoan praising his partys youth saying, You are not the LGBT youth.

Despite such setbacks, the government rescinded its decision without explanation, removing the appointed rector on July 15, 2021, via a midnight presidential decree a major success for the protest movement based in LGBTQI+ inclusion and representation. The universitys LGBTQI+ student club, however, remains banned.

Although the Boazii protests represent a recent swell in LGBTQI+ activism, Kolancals experience with government homophobia is nothing new. On June 26, 2021, police fired tear gas and detained attendants at the annual Istanbul Pride march.

Turkey previously touted itself as an LGBTQI+ defender, with Erdoan vowing to protect LGBTQI+ rights and Istanbul being home to the largest LGBTQI+ Pride march in the Muslim world before being broken up by police and banned in 2015. However, during its 19 years in power, Erdoans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made an escalating shift toward cultural conservatism.

Erdoans dramatic shift is part of a larger effort to secure support for his party from conservative religious circles. As AKP support has decreased, Erdoan has made increasingly clear his willingness to utilize homophobic rhetoric and action in pursuit of new voting blocs.

This crackdown on LGBTQI+ rights was further cemented via the governments civil society agenda post-2016 coup attempt, after which Turkey saw a drastic increase in violence directed at LGBTQI+ folks.

When asked whether she felt connected to Turkey, Kolancal said yes but not without qualification. It is a toxic relationship, but we are connected. Im only 22 years old, and this conservative government has a history of 19 years. So, I didnt realize that my destiny was being shaped by these conservative monsters.

Homophobia in Turkey is often packaged as being pro-family in order to appeal to conservative religious voting blocs. Although homosexuality is not technically a crime in Turkey, it is frequently denounced as being incompatible with Turkish values.

I am tired, said Kolancal. I want to escape like everyone does. But I love my university. I love where I am living. I love the psychology department. I love my professors. I dont want to let [the government] ruin this beautiful country. I love my country too, you know.

Unbridled creativity seems to be a common theme among LGBTQI+ activists, and none encapsulates such unabashed artistic self-expression more than nonbinary designer and internet personality alar Almendi. I want to dress [Istanbul Mayor Ekrem] mamolu. He should be wearing Almendi, they tell Truthout.

Almendi not only hopes to design a colorful costume for suit-loving Mayor mamolu, a potential opposition challenger to President Erdoan, but also to start their own design brand.

In addition to their queer identity, Almendi is also Kurdish, a minority ethnic group which the Turkish government often links to terrorism, using language similar to its strategy with regard to the LGBTQI+ community. [Kurds] are the same as queer people. Their rights were stolen from them. They know how to survive and they can understand suffering. I think we are on the same road together, Almendi says.

This cross section of identities can be seen throughout their artistry, from party planning to visual artwork. At my parties, I use lots of traditional Kurdish music. So people are coming to my parties to dance and getting used to Kurdish people, getting used to drag queens, getting used to queer people. It becomes this center. It is all a protest.

Regarding how these two facets of their identity relate, Almendi says, There is queer blood in my veins. There is Kurdish blood in my veins, and I just want to let it explode everywhere. My anger and passion should be seen and felt.

Almendi then retreats to a room in the back of the apartment and emerges with a framed piece of glass puzzled together with red fabric. Upon the glass is a painted Shahmaran, a Kurdish mythological creature, half-woman, half-snake. An Istanbul earthquake knocked the glass painting off the wall the year prior, after which the piece took on a new meaning.

I put it back together mixed with a traditional quilt. The Shahmaran is dangerous, but she wants to be loved. I feel for her. I have my lover, and I feel like this is our family portrait. Because I am dangerous and broken, but he is keeping me together.

Like Kolancal, Almendi also found government oppression lurking around every corner of life.

I got shot by the police with plastic bullets. We were in the streets, and they told us to go home. So, I did. I started walking toward my house, and they began to run after me. They chased me all the way to my house for like 10 minutes. Once I reached my door, they shot me in the back five times, they told Truthout. I couldnt do anything. I just hid in my house because I was alone. I went to the police station to file a complaint, but they wouldnt even let me give a statement. They just said, You were at a protest. You deserve it.

Such experiences including an ongoing lawsuit filed against Almendi by an AKP supporter for disrespecting Islam by wearing a headscarf in a YouTube video, years of school harassment and countless stories of friends experiences have left Almendi and others feeling increasingly unsafe in their country and their communities.

The government is becoming more Islamist, and theyre changing things. Theyre taking more and more rights from us, Almendi says. Maybe tomorrow they will pass a new law in Turkey making gay people illegal. I dont know what they could do. I dont feel safe, and its getting worse.

Regarding how queer Turkish and Kurdish people cope with the worsening state of affairs in Turkey, Almendi says, Were all creating something. Were not just living. Everyone is sad. Everyone is out of work. But we come together and help each other. We talk every day because every day is something new. We wake up and hear that one of our friends had been hit or shot or killed, and we cant just keep silent.

The AKP-era increase in arrests of Kurdish politicians, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTQI+ activists and lawyers is seen as the ruling coalition governments attempt to weaponize identity politics to maintain support among nationalist and religious voting blocs as the partys support dwindles.

In a country where rule of law has become virtually obsolete, for Levent Pikin, a self-described queer struggler, human rights defender and lawyer, fighting against systems of oppression via legal channels has become next to impossible.

The relationship in Turkey between the law and the LGBTI+ community is not one of ignoring anymore, Pikin said. The states policy has started to be based on hate toward the LGBTI+ community.

Sitting at his desk in the home he lives in with his two sisters, Pikin pulls out a package of nicotine gum and talks about how acupuncture helped him quit smoking. They put one right here, he points to the middle of his chest, It felt like clouds.

About his work as a human rights lawyer, however, Pikin takes a more somber tone.

I practice law, which doesnt exist, Pikin said. Your role in the courthouse is nothing. Sometimes you feel like an actor in a play, but not a lead actor or even a supporting actor, maybe the fifth or sixth actor.

Despite his reputation in human rights advocacy circles, Pikin, an openly gay man, has also run into a great deal of LGBTQI-based discrimination. In 2014, he was sued by the government for defamation after using the Turkish word ibne (Turkish slang for gay) and President Erdoans name in the same tweet. The case is still ongoing. Of course, I dont feel safe, he says.

Pikin was also detained via a home raid in 2016 and put into an isolated jail cell for three days in connection with his legal representation of imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirta.

The relationship between the LGBTI+ community and the law has always been complicated because no laws have ever existed in Turkey to protect the LGBTI+ community, Pikin says. But we try to find legal holes to protect people.

Regarding his history of advocating on behalf of LGBTQI+ activists, he says, I have something in common with them. We are defending the same thing. You can speak for them and for yourself at the same time.

Pikins role as a lawyer is of increasing importance as he represents more and more LGBTQI+ activists, including Kolancal.

He represented Kolancal at her hearing at Istanbuls alayan courthouse on March 17. Demanding her immediate acquittal, he argued the charges against her for inciting hatred and insulting religious values were not substantiated.

Pikin, leaning against his impossibly full bookcase, gives his final prognosis, Change is not a quick thing. It will take time. It will cost lives. But it will change. Not tomorrow, but maybe in two years. Maybe in 20 years, it will change. We are building a house, and it is my role to add one stone, just like everyone else.

Kolancal was released from house arrest following the hearing. At the most recent hearing on July 5, witness testimony from several university security guards was heard, but the trial remains ongoing. The next hearing will be on November 17.

The reason protests are dominated by LGBTI+ people is because we are having fun while we are there. We are going because we want to. It is not like a job. LGBTI+ people just know how its done, Kolancal says. What we do is always peaceful, because we are humans, you know, we are humans with pure hearts, and we like what we are doing. We are very loud! We know what love is!

Regarding what she sees on the path ahead, Kolancal is even more optimistic and enthusiastic than the others. She sees the Erdoan-controlled governments grip on power as quickly diminishing and believes this recent homophobic turn will be ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their desired aims. This belief is supported by recent polling trends that indicate support for Erdoan and his party is dropping, with AKP support having fallen to 36 percent most recently.

The governments only weapon right now is hatred, and theyre trying to provoke people to be hateful against some kind of other. This years other is the LGBTI+ community. It is so obvious, Kolancal says. But we are the writers of history. So, even though they make these aggressive decisions, we are going to be the ones who tell this story.

Continue reading here:

Turkish LGBTQ Activists Counter Oppression With Art, Solidarity and Radical Hope - Truthout

The Republican congressman did not cite a single district that was doing so. And he declined to be interviewed or respond to questions seeking specific examples where CRT is taught.

Still, it was good politics.

RELATED: Crowd protests 'government speech,' critical race theory at Rochester School Board meeting

Critical race theory has joined the list of contentious cultural issues, such as abortion and gender identity, that sharply divides activists in both parties, says political analyst Steven Schier. Hagedorn's goal was two-fold: To mobilize his base, and to brand the other side as propagators of a nefarious theory.

"The polling I've seen is that when people learn some aspects of CRT, it's pretty unpopular," Schier said. "So politically, it's a fat target."

Schools are finding themselves at the epicenter of this debate. Rochester was one of the early flashpoints, but it hasn't been the only one in Minnesota.

The issue is also resonating and inflaming debate statewide, as work proceeds on a new set of social studies standards for public schools that seeks to include a more diverse, racially and gender-inclusive perspective.

CRT takes as its guiding premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature, but a social construct used to oppress and exploit people of color. Critical race theorists maintain that the law and legal institutions in the U.S. are racist insofar as they create social, economic and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites.

On one level, it's not surprising that the clash is so supercharged, given that it pits different interpretations and narratives about what it means to be an American.

But on another, it begs the question: How did we get to this point? Less than a year ago, no one knew what critical race theory was.

The Hagedorn Report was sent out on Aug. 12, 2021.

It hasn't mattered that officials for Rochester Public Schools have emphatically denied that CRT is taught in its classrooms. And there are no plans to do so.

Nor has it mattered to eagle-eyed CRT critics who dismiss claims from Minnesota Department of Education officials that CRT is not part of the recent draft of social studies standards. They say elements of CRT are part of the draft, and they want them rooted out.

"The theme of oppression, marginalization, group identity and absent narratives drives the second draft standards and benchmarks," the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minnesota think tank, said in a statement this week. "Students will learn that their concept centers around their racial/gender group identity, and that limiting oppression, not facts, is the lens through which all social studies content should be viewed."

Matt Carlstrom, one of the co-chairs of the state social studies committee, said there is "zero" critical race theory in the draft. He argues that CRT is being used as a stalking horse to eliminate discussion of topics that broaden understanding of U.S. history.

"Many people don't know what (critical race theory) is," he said. "And when school districts start to talk about equity and ethnic studies and indigenous history, that is not critical race theory at all."

Carlstrom has been a social studies teacher for 29 years, and notes that before last May, he had never heard of the theory. He began researching it, wondering if it was a subject he should be incorporating in his classroom. He discovered it was an upper-level legal theory that examines how the legal system contributed to oppression and racism.

"The thing about CRT is that even the people who teach it and do research work don't necessarily agree on exactly what it is," he said about a subject that has become such a bugaboo, it has now been banned in several Republican-dominated states.

Carlstrom said the proposed draft standards are different from the ones taught today. The more inclusive historical approach outlined in the draft was in response to a survey sent out last year, seeking input from parents, teachers and community members on what changes needed to be made to the state's standards.

One response came back loud and clear: That the standards need to do a better job presenting a perspective that reflects the diversity of the state and its history.

"That was abundantly clear across the state," Carlstrom said.

He said this broadening of perspective is critical if schools are to improve their ability to engage students of color at a time when the state is become less white and more multiracial.

He recalled that when he attended a high school that enrolled a large percentage of minority students in the 1970s, those students "never saw themselves in their education." And when he went to college, it was "white, Western Hemisphere."

"If kids are going to engage in education, they must see themselves in that education," he said.

And that lack of connection, he said, is a major factor driving the state's "huge" achievement gap between white and minority students.

Meanwhile, high school social studies teachers find themselves in the crosshairs of this debate.

"The last four or five years have been freakishly hard to teach civics," said one area social studies teacher who asked not to be identified. "Very little grace or benefit of the doubt is given to teachers these days."

A recent MinnPost article highlighted how community members have made data requests to identify teachers who have received equity training. They wanted to make sure that their kids didn't have those teachers. Some kindergarten teachers worry about the books they read to students, for fear of offending their parents.

The article quoted Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, the state's teachers union, as saying some parents are sharing forms for students to hand to their teachers on the first day of school. The forms ask teachers to see their lesson plans every week and to review the books, worksheets and chapters used in class, MinnPost reported.

"If there is something that they object to," she said, "they plan on taking on the teacher, talking to the principal and people in the district."

Link:

Schools, teachers find themselves in the crosshairs of critical race theory debate - PostBulletin.com

By now youve probably heard that the Taliban fighters whose battle fatigues look like those of neo-hippies on campus at the University of California, Berkeley are on the verge of being back in charge in Afghanistan. All thanks to the failed programs funded by Western taxpayers that were apparently more like Ponzi schemes. How else could one characterize what the U.S. Defense Department estimated as $815.7 billion spent to stabilize the country and develop its institutions when the result is the NATO-trained Afghan army collapsing like it was ordered from an online cheap goods store?

If you cant create a democracy in Afghanistan after 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars, then you arent ever going to. But where exactly did all the money go?

The internet provides some clues. As American and NATO allied troops evacuate ahead of U.S. President Joe Bidens Sept. 11 withdrawal date, images have shown Taliban fighters sliding their flip-flop-clad tootsies into some heavy artillery co-opted from the NATO-trained Afghan army, whose sub-commanders were bought off by the Taliban as soon as the training wheels came off.

But thats not all. Because this is apparently like the Showcase Showdown on The Price Is Right, where the winners played so well that they get to take home the prizes of all the players.

When NATO troops abandoned the Bagram Air Base earlier this year, ceding it to the Afghan army proteges whom they had spent the better part of two decades training, images quickly appeared online of the Taliban commandeering some nice, shiny gym equipment on that military base. Ah, the spoils of war. Hey, look at that Taliban guy cranking out reps on that state-of-the-art chest press! Check out the dude in the long robe and sandals with socks on the stationary bike!

The idea of the Taliban being back in power is enough to make a lot of people who made personal sacrifices in this war irate. But they see the straw in their neighbors eye rather than the beam in their own, as the biblical saying goes.

Apparently the Taliban are less militant than our own sanitary ayatollahs here in the West at least in the gym. They didnt even have to sign up for a time slot, apply hand sanitizer and wear masks.

Judging by the lack of social distancing and other Covid-era behaviors in the Taliban gym videos, its hard to imagine that they would impose strict sanitary measures on the population the way our leaders have here in the West.

But theyll probably oppress and kill people with whom they dont agree! you might be saying. Perhaps. But were living in countries where leaders are increasingly using the COVID-19 pandemic pretext to force people to take an experimental injection or risk losing their livelihood contrary to the principles of personal autonomy and free will.

We in Paris have spent the past 17 months being placed periodically on house arrest for our own good, being forced to wear cloth over our faces for fear of government-imposed punishment, having our movement controlled, and now being segregated and marginalized if our personal choices dont align with those of our rulers. Moreover, when some people speak out against such oppression, theyre either censored or targeted by institutions or authorities promoting the governments official narrative.

And now were seeing the leaders of our so-called democracies introducing increasingly intrusive monitoring through digital technology such as smartphone applications and QR codes, all under the pretext of ensuring adherence to the governments chosen ideology of sanitary purity.

Those among us who have been relieved of critical thought after being bombarded with fear-driven propaganda now cry out for punishment when a Western woman whips off her symbolically oppressive mask in her local grocery store, proclaims her emancipation from the sanitary regime, or rejects the imposition of a medical act like an injection by claiming, My body, my choice.

Indeed, the women of Afghanistan are going to have to contend with the Talibans return to power. But since the pandemic, the governments of allegedly free and democratic countries are not really in a position to be giving lessons on liberty to the Taliban or to anyone else. Our governments dont get to claim moral authority regarding oppression when theyre increasingly responsible for perpetrating it themselves.

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Western leaders taking cues on oppression from the Taliban - Minot Daily News

Aug 19th 2021

BABA KOBE ashbe? (When will Daddy come?), asks the youngest daughter of Sajedul Islam Sumon. No one has an answer, but she keeps asking anyway. Her familys lifeand hersrevolves around his absence. Now eight, she was just one when security forces came to their suburb of Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital, and bundled her father, a local leader for an opposition party, into the back of a van. That was the last time he was seen or heard from.

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Mr Sumons tale, in a new report on enforced disappearances in Bangladesh, is a chilling example of what can happen to those who oppose or criticise the government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Under her 12-year tenure at least 600 Bangladeshis are reckoned to have been disappeared.

Many have eventually re-emerged. Some have been implausibly found and produced in courtlike Shafiqul Islam Kajol, a photojournalist who, 53 days after he went missing in March last year, turned up blindfolded, his legs and arms bound, in a no-mans land between Bangladesh and India. Police took him into custody, slapping a trespassing charge on to his original crime of posting on Facebook about a sex scandal involving a politician in the ruling party. Others, like Aminul Islam, have returned in body bags. He was a labour activist whose tortured remains were found dumped on the edge of Dhaka, days after his abduction in 2012. Eighty-six victims, including Mr Sumon, are still missing.

While these numbers may seem small in a country of 170m, fear of being goom (disappeared) muzzles millions of voices. Disappearances, along with an array of other human-rights abuses, are not new in Bangladesh. Under previous governments, including those led by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the ruling Awami League, dissidents vanished and were killed. But since 2009, the year Sheikh Hasina took office for a second time, state-sponsored abductions have become a systematic tool of oppression, says Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, the advocacy group behind the report.

Bangladeshs is not the only South Asian state that covertly kidnaps its citizens. Yet, says Ms Ganguly, such actions elsewhere are usually linked to civil strife or insurgencies. Bangladesh is alone in so blatantly targeting political opponents and critics for secret detentions. Disappearances have shot up most in the run-up to elections, with over 130 before the 2014 vote and 98 in the year leading up to the ballot in 2018.

Despite such brazenness, ruling-party politicians deny or play down the abductions. In 2017 Sheikh Hasina claimed that Bangladeshs enforced disappearances paled in comparison with Britains, bogusly citing data for missing persons. Her son, Sajeeb Wazed, recently penned an article for the Diplomat, an online news site, calling the disappearances comical. Many of the vanished were fugitives who, he joked, had gone into hiding to escape arrest.

Such mocking attitudes percolate down through the state apparatus. When Marufa Islam Ruma sought answers about her missing husband, Mofizul Islam Rashed, security-force officers jeered that he had probably run off with another woman. Years after Mr Sumons disappearance, a senior officer came to his familys home and theatrically walked around the house shouting Where is Sumon? Let him out, I need to speak to him!, recalls his niece.

The families interviewed for the report named the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite police squad, as being behind the abductions. But other security units are guilty too, say various rights groups. And they all operate with impunity.

Some families give up or do not try in the first place, says Afroja Islam Akhi, Mr Sumons sister, who runs Mayer Dak, an organisation for the families of vanished Bangladeshis. They know their questions may bring punitive repercussions rather than helpful answers. She reckons the number of disappeared is far higher than the 600 known about. Only God knows the accurate tally.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "They just disappeared"

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Critics of Bangladesh's government are liable to vanish - The Economist

On August 16th, the courts of Belarus sentenced Stepan Latypov, a Belarusian activist and political prisoner, to eight and a half years in prison. He was originally put on trial in June after being arrested in September amid a violent government crackdown on political opposition. Latypovs story, however, became known out of thousands of Belaruss politically detained due to his first appearance in court. His trial earlier this summer was postponed when Latypov stabbed his own neck after recounting the threats that were targeted at his family and the torture he experienced while imprisoned. He received medical treatment and, three months later, was brought back to be issued a verdict. Latypov faced charges of arranging riots, resisting the police, and fraud, according to Reuters. While he pleaded not guilty, he was unable to escape confinement as the Belarusian government persists with its order of repression and terror.

Within the past year, the citizens of Belarus have seen rampant violence and human rights abuses. In a report on the Eastern European country, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Anas Marin, described the current situation: the Belarusian authorities have launched a full-scale assault against civil society, curtailing a broad spectrum of rights and freedoms, targeting people from all walks of life, while systematically persecuting human rights defenders, journalists, media workers and lawyers in particular. These aggressive governmental actions have drawn the outrage of Belaruss public. Hugh Williamson, the director for Europe and Central Asia at the Human Rights Watch, stated that the sweeping brutality of the crackdown shows the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to silence people, but tens of thousands of peaceful protesters continue to demand fair elections and justice for abuses.

Belarus has developed into a humanitarian disaster as the government attacks its political opponents and supporters of human rights. In the days following the nations presidential election last year, which has been deemed fraudulent by multiple independent organizations, almost 7,000 people were detained by security forces in raids against peaceful proteststhat number has since reached 35,000, as reported by the United Nations. Contested Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has created an authoritarian state that condemns those who disagree with his regime and inhumane methods. The government of Belarus cannot continue to threaten, detain, and repress its opposition, actions that directly violate international human rights. Their efforts to impair peaceful demonstrations put the safety and security of Belarusian civil society at risk; if left unrestrained, such violence will only propel the country into greater chaos.

The Eastern European nation has faced a brutal government crackdown and human rights abuses since August 2020 when a disputed presidential election sparked large-scale protests. Among the thousands of political prisoners like Latypov are reports of police brutality and torture. The Human Rights Watch group investigated the systematic imprisonment and persecution of peaceful protesters and detailed the utilization of beatings, electric shocks, and prolonged stress to maltreat those detained. The freedoms of expression and assembly have deteriorated as the Belarusian government restricts human rights. Over a thousand dissidents have fled the country, including leaders of opposing political parties, while others have been forcibly exiled. Accounts from women in Belarus have detailed threats of sexual violence and of their children being taken away, according to Amnesty International.

As the populace of Belarus continues to suffer under the oppression of their government, there needs to be an increased focus on peace and accountability. Activists like Latypov, who experience the injustice of being arbitrarily imprisoned, threatened, and tortured, do not deserve punishment for fighting for human rights and a free system. International actors must work together to hold the Belarusian government to world standards of electoral credibility and fair treatment. The persistent use of violence in responding to peaceful protests only exacerbates the situation and causes more harm. Belarus must stop employing force and restricting its citizens. Safety, security, and human rights are essential components of civil society that should be valued above political pursuits. Continuing this violent crackdown hurts both the Belarusian people and the countrys future stability.

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Belarusian Activist Sentenced After Trying To Take Own Life In Court - The Organization for World Peace