(source: http://www.autistici.org/abc-belarus/?p=295&lang=en)
Today, when the sentence was passed on Belarusian anarchists, Anarchist Black Cross-Belarus considers it a must to say the words of gratitude that had accumulated during the 8.5 months of waiting and struggle.
Out experience has proven that really ‘a friend in need’s a friend indeed’.
First of all we would like to express gratitude to all the people, groups, collectives and organisations which responded to our calls for solidarity with Belarusian anarchists.
We got support from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Novorossiysk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Kazan’, Cheboksary, Nizhniy Novgorod, Volgograd, Voronezh, Belgorod, Rjazan’, Smolensk, Simferopol, Mariupol, Donetsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Chishinau, Minsk, Bobruisk, Gomel, Grodno, Bereza, Zhlobin, Vilnius, Riga, Lublin, Warsaw, Szczecin, Budapest, Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Tirol, Berlin, Rostock, Hamburg, Marcelle.
On the whole, within 8 months 74 solidarity actions of all kinds took place, from info-meetings and leaflets spread to radical actions (the blockade of the Moscow-Minsk road, attacks on KGB, police stations and detention facilities).
After some actions our comrades got sentenced to 7 (arson of KGB in Bobruisk) and 8 years of prison (Ihar Alinevich – the attack on the detention facility with the demand to set free the arrested anarchists).
Just imagine how important was EVERY action, any news from outside that nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgiven, for the guys behind the bars. We took every opportunity to pass all the information about your concern to them.
*You can view the solidarity map here
The same words of gratitude we want to say to those who helped us financially (gathered money in the concerts, organised benefit-gigs and info-meetings, passed money from collectives and individuals). With your help the arrested got timely lawyer’s help and all the necessary things. We’d like to point out those who helped organise the ABC-tour.
We also grateful to any person that helped in spreading information about the repression in Belarus by all means, to every journalist that took interest in our case and was unbiased covering the events. We’d like to mention reporters from “Belsat”, “Nasha Niva”, Radio “Freedom”, “Euroradio”, “Belgazeta”, “Novaya gazeta”, “ORT”. Without your support the situation wouldn’t get so much publicity.
We are gratefull to right-watch organisations, such as “Spring96″, “Belarusian Helsinki Committee”, “Amnesty International” for legal, financial and informational support.
But still the warmest greetings go to the law-enforcement authorities. We know that you read out web-sites so this message is especially for you.
Thanx for being the so-called sanitation force who picked out those who doesn’t deserve to be called an anarchist. Now each of them is less free than any o the guys who sentenced to prison terms because of them. Thanx for opening our eyes of to them and we saw who is who.
Thanx for teaching us how to behave in your presence and under pressure and for reminding us the importance of legal education.
Thanx for changing the outlook of our parents who were so vehemently standing for us, that we were shoked ourselves. Now they are angry with you, not with us.
Thanx for putting all kinds of pressure on us, that helped to finally figure out the most important things in life and practice the will power.
We are grateful for this lesson. But we will mend our ways. For we have just started our struggle.
