The White Russian's blog

To the memory of Ayn Rand...

White Russian is back... and just back from the World Freedom Summit (annual ISIL conference). This year the conference was not a usual one. Nothing exotic about the place (not New Zealand as it was last year!!) –just a small resort near Koln. But the meaning of the conference was special: it was dedicated to celebration of Ayn Rand’s anniversary - 100 years’ birthday. Barbara Branden, Ayn Rand’s intimate friend and colleague for eighteen years, and a close friend of the members of the “Rand Circle” was on the speakers list. I couldn’t miss the event.

Surprise followed the first day of the conference. During the morning lectures I have been fighting with a sleep (too much "socializing" the night before).Thankfully,my boss, who was sitting right next to me, “pushed” me from time to time not to let fully fall down from the chair. Then came the guy who suddenly woke me up. I couldn’t believe my ears- I came to libertarian conference, anniversary of Ayn Rand, and here is that guy “putting down” all Ayn Rand philosophy and her as a person. I thought I must have had too much beer the night before, cause the whole lecture sounded unbelievable, especially in such an environment. When he finished, the air in the auditorium was thick with tension. “A strange way to celebrate Ayn Rand’s birthday”, was one of the comments from the audience. A storm of remarks followed. The anti-Rand guy was fully discredited. He couldn’t answer the questions. He was confused. The only thing left for him was to escape. And he did it. At least I haven’t seen him any more.

I am very fond of Ayn Rand’s works. They really opened my eyes on bunch of useful things. They were like a sudden flame in the kingdom darkness for me. I remember after reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” I was so impressed I couldn’t think of anything but Rand’s book for the next 2 weeks! To my mind, Ayn Rand did a great job: she shaped the philosophy, which touched people minds and hearts. May be she was not a philosopher in the sense this word is used now. But she was a great person, artist, who managed to change the minds of thousands of people, and brought more use for the society that any philosopher did.

Thanks God, there were people at the conference, who gave a credit to Ayn Rand the other day. Jim Peron, the executive director of the Institute for Liberal values, shared his wonderful story “The day that Ayn Rand died”. He was among the people who never met Ayn Rand personally, but came to say good bye to their dear friend.

Hubert Jongen, the editor of Libertarian International and a fantastical person, shared his story and made a joke how, after shaking hands with Ayn Rand, he hasn’t been washing them for half a year after. He was the only one present in the audience who met Ayn Rand personally. Unfortunately, Barbara Brandon couldn’t make it to the conference. Some problems with passport, they said.

Anyway, there where lot’s of memories about Ayn Rand people shared with each other. Finally, everything ended with a huge 1 X 0.5 meter cake, of course with a big sign of dollar on it=). Vince Miller and the team did a great job. The celebration of Ayn Rand anniversary WAS a success, and even “nasty outsiders” didn’t manage to spoil it.

I am writing from Minsk, Belarus, where hundreds of people continue protesting the blatant election fraud we just experienced here. Experts say that elections in the 1980s in the former Soviet Union were much more democratic than those held on Sunday, October 17, 2004, in Belarus.



Authoritarian dictatorship has been established in Belarus, one of the post-Soviet countries, in the result of the November 1996 coup d’etat. President Alexander Lukashenko carried it out in the form of the national referendum. It was a total fraud. Special commission of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus analyzed and investigated the activities of President and issued a report on 80 pages. It says that Lukashenko violated 130 articles of the Constitution and other normative acts including Criminal Code.




This Sunday, October 17,2004 Belarus conducted parliamentary elections and held a referendum on ignoring the constitution’s presidential term limits. This may have been the dirtiest political campaign the civilized world has ever seen. It deserves a closer look, because it’s a good reminder for Western nations, and all people around the world, how easily a bunch of mentally disturbed people who manage to take power can, in ten short years, manipulate a nation, break the highest law of the land – the Constitution – and infringe on people’s rights with impunity. People should always be wary and monitor the human rights (civil liberties) situation in their countries, or they might end up one day following the Belarusian example.

The Referendum

(Sunday,17/10/2004)



The question on the referendum was the following: Do you allow Belarus' first president, Alexander Lukashenko, to run in the presidential elections and do you accept the new edition of the constitution's article 81" which currently allows the president to run for two five-year straight terms only.
The question itself was unconstitutional, because, according to the law, the Constitution cannot be changed by referendum. Moreover, it was formulated so that voting “For” meant that people not only allowed the president to be elected for a 3rd term, but also for a 4th, 5th, etc. In other words, the main principle of representative democracy – periodic changing of government – was violated.

During the whole election compaign as well as during the electoins themselves people’s rights were trampled. First of all, the authorities set up a plan, according to which 30% of voters were to vote during pre-term elections (which started on October 11, 6 days before the elections). This was to make sure they would have enough time and opportunities to falsify the votes. The shocking thing that people in the West don’t seem to realize is, that people were forced to vote. The management of public enterprises, universities, schools, etc., received a strict order to make all the people in those organizations vote beforehand. It was an open coercion. People were told, that if they didn’t vote beforehand, they would be fired, or deprived of their dormitory rooms, or expelled from their university. Everyone was approached personally (several times) and told approximately the same phrase: “If you don’t go and vote before Friday evening you’ll have big big problems”. This barefaced impudence took place in the 2nd largest university in the country, Belarus State Economic University. On the door to the polling place at this University was hanging a sign:

Electoral district N95.
Schedule of work:Monday to Friday: 10.00-14.00; 16.00-19.00
Saturday: 10.00-14.00
Sunday: day off.

The results of the parliamentary elections and the referendum were easily forecasted long before the date of elections. The propaganda machine in favor of Lukashenko and his list of candidates to the parliament was like a pile-driver, hammering Lukashenko’s slogans into heads of the people and turning them into zombies. Foreign experts estimated that on Belarus’ three major state TV channels, 75% of broadcasting time was dedicated to Lukashenko. At the same time all opponents of the regime were described as enemies of the Belarusian people, as agents and puppets of the West.

One of the most evident cases of bias was when they aired a TV infomercial explaining how to vote. They showed an example ballot with two columns: “For” and “Against”. The ballot pictured was followed with this explanation: “If you put a tick on “For”, the ballot will be valid, if you put ticks in both fields “For” and “Against” – the ballot will be not valid. The same will happen if you don’t’ put any ticks at all. Please, make your choice!” Nothing was said of putting a tick in the “Against” field, of course. This propaganda kicked up a big storm among Belorussians, and even in international organizations. However, the authorities didn’t give a damn and proceeded with their campaign.

In an environment of full informational monopoly by the authorities, such as in Belarus, it’s easy for such lies to be magnified by papers, local TV stations and speeches of government officials. The authorities practically banned any campaigning against the referendum. Even on the day of elections, at 11:00 a.m., Belarusian TV broadcasted the results of exit polls conducted by an NGO loyal to Lukashenko. It was a blatant case of violation of election legislation.

In Belarus, every voter receives and invitation paper to go vote. They take it and go vote in the district were they are registered (usually, where they are living at the time). Some people were sent two invitations, one at their last place of residence, and one at their current residence. These people were allowed to vote two times. Other people received invitations for relatives who had died a long time ago. This is an easy way to falsify votes, when you know for certain that a person is not going to show up. It is well known, for example, that several very important and famous people in Belarus who opposed the authorities disappeared several years ago, and were recognized by the court as being dead. However, even the widows of those people received invitations for their dead husbands to come to elections.

Moreover, a direct bribery of the electorate has taken place. At the end of September, the president promised that from the next year forward he will increase social expenditures by 1 million dollars. While analysts tried to figure out where he will find such huge sum of money (of which there is no hint in the planned budget for 2005), just before the election, the president issued several related decrees. From the 1st of November minimum wages and scholarships for students will increase 1.5 times, and pensions will increase by 10%. A more blatant case of bribing the electorate is hard to imagine.

To add insult to injury, it’s difficult to even count how much taxpayer money were spent on Lukashenko’s referendum campaign, which was opposed by the majority of the nation, the same majority that pays most of the taxes!

The authorities used every tool and resource available to their administration to win the referendum. However, the people were not fooled. According to an independent exit-poll, only 47% of the people voted “For”. According to September polls, less than 30% of people supported Lukashenko. So let’s suppose that another 17% were either bought or frightened into voting for the referendum. But the government showed a phenomenal result - 77% “For”. 30% difference? This is something to think about.

Election day.




According to an OCSE report, voting was generally assessed positively in around 9 out of 10 polling stations on election day, although basic information was frequently withheld from observers. The counting lacked transparency in the majority of the polling stations observed. Numbers were not being announced aloud as they were being established, observers were only given a limited view of the process, and procedures for compilation were not followed. There were instances where observers noted that some early voting ballot boxes appeared to have been stuffed.

At 11:00 in the morning, the main opposition portals on the Internet were blocked. During the day, telephones of independent observers and opposition leaders where switched off. At 20:00, all the mobile phone users of the only two networks in Belarus couldn’t send any messages abroad. That lasted till Tuesday. At 24:00, the electricity in the building where opposition was going to hold a press-conference was switched off.

As a result the official results of the parliamentary elections and the referendum were dramatically different from those projected by independent sources.




Officially, 77.3% of the people who came to vote supported Lukashenko. The turnout was about 88%. 107 deputies were elected in the first round (out of 110 constituencies). Coincidentally, all of them support Lukashenko. Not a single opposition candidate was elected. Gallop International gave the following results of the referendum: 48.3% - in favor of the Constitutions’ amendment. Exit polls at some ballot stations showed clearly that many of the opposition candidates received over 50% of the vote.

These facts show a blatant violation of electoral legislation, discrimination against candidates who represented the democratic opposition. Observation, both by long-term OSCE observers – who have stated that the elections did not meet democratic standards -- and local observers, enable us to say that both the parliamentary elections and the referendum in Belarus have been thoroughly rigged.

The world has rarely seen such an open and evident violation of people’s electoral rights.

Days later…



Forecasts about an opportunity of toughening of reprisals in Belarus have come true very quickly. Has not passed two days after a referendum as the regime has shown his animal grin. The protest against falsifications and usurpation of power has led to bloody slaughter on the streets of Minsk. Dozens of people were heavily beaten and detained. Top opposition leader Anatoly Lebedko, head of the United Civil Party, was severely beated by police and hospitalized in serious condition.

All in all, 46 protesters (including the main opposition leaders) were detained and were being held at a police precinct. That very evening all the journalists of the main world TV chanels were restricted from sending out the video materials about opposition action.

A long way to go.

Mostly seen as authoritarian country with the last dictator in Europe at the head, Belarus realistically now can be called “totalitarian state”.
At the same time there is little place left for optimism. These parlament elections and referendum proved once again, that there is no legal way for opposition to come into power in Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko and his followers will never let them do that. However, the most painful fact is that no one, including this ex-Soviet republic’s beleaguered opposition, sees a massive uprising as a possibility for now.

"There is fear," Anatoly Lebedko, top oposition leader, said before he was beaten by police. "The hundreds on the street know that millions are sitting in their kitchens saying the vote didn`t go right. But we need to break through that psychological barrier: They don`t believe … they are the majority."
There is a fear also in the world community. Belarus neighbors – Poland, Lithuania, as well as the whole European Union are very worried about the situation in Belarus.
On October 20, the US President George Bush has signed "Belarus Democracy Act" which foresees sanctions against Belarus in case the Belarusian authorities would not stop persecution of opposition and independent mass media, to investigate politically motivated disappearances. A number of Belarusian top officials are to be banned entry to the US territory, strategically export to Belarus and state investment would be banned, and the steps taken in order to cut international financial aid to Belarus. "The Belarus Democracy Act" also foresees revealing of Belarus` arms export to countries sponsoring terrorism, and publication of information on personal assets and wealth of Lukashenka and other senior Belarusian government officials.

It’s good that the world takes Belarus problem so closely. However, real “liberty” can’t be imposed from above. The "Irak" experience proved that. Belarusian people have still a long way to go to get rid of their socialism way of thinking and constant fear. That evolution process might take tens of years. Until that time, the Belarus will remain a case study of modern dictatorship and double standard policy.

(Special thanks to the Wolf,who contributed to editing this story greatly =)