Belarusian protest mobilization now is as close as it gets to the decentralized networked leaderless resistance postmodern anarchists imagined. Tsikhanouskaia and her team were not very much involved to begin with, and now Belarusian authorities escorted her and her team coordinator to Lithuania. Since her husband and some members of her team are detained, she will not make radical statements. On her last video she looks terrified and depressed, said 'No life costs all of this', not clear what is happening to her children. No other opposition leader remains either free or inside Belarus. Tsikhanouski's telegram channel doesn't supply any clear guidance or coordination. To my knowledge, there is nothing like a central coordination center of the protest mobilization, there are no local centers, no visible leaders emerged during the protests, no political groups are identifiable. I think some pre-existing groups do take part in the protests, but they are not visible as separate 'tactical units': they are either disoriented, or deeply disguised, or their members participate individually.
Partially, this is out of necessity. Anyone suspected of leadership would be immediately detained, any face-to-face 'assembly' would be quickly dispersed. Nothing like 'occupy' or Gezi-type encampment is possible because main public spaces are blocked and policed. There are only fleeting gatherings and marches that move around and disband under the pressure of the police. Barricades are not long lasting, there is not even a talk about occupying administrative buildings.
Partially, however, this is the legacy of previous networked mobilizations. Over a million subscribers follow 'Nexta_live' telegram channel, established two years ago and administered by a guy from Poland. Although being radical in its rhetoric, it relies on videos, photos and information voluntarily supplied by its subscribers. These are small bits of information from various locations around the country without contextualization. Often the posts are misleading, contradictory and unverified. It is reasonable to expect that this and other channels are followed and infiltrated by the security forces, using them to get information on the plans of the protesters and for provoking them.
Many have already compared the protests with the Belarusian glorious tradition of partisanship during the WWII. This is, of course, an exaggeration, since partisans did have a chain of command and a general strategic and ideological guidance. They could pull resources and concentrate them in a relatively safe space, develop tactical plans and carry them out while waiting for a regular army. Nothing like this is happening in this postmodern-out-of-necessity 'partisanship'. The consequences have been visible last night. Possibly less numerous than the day before, the protests have been more scattered. Faced with an increased presence of the police and some army detachments that used demonstratively violent methods, the protesters did mount a sporadic aggressive response with firecrackers, sticks, few Molotov cocktails and shaky barricades. The result was still the same: detentions, withdrawal, one death. A general strike is announced for today. Given the lack of any visible preparation and the weakness of non-state-coopted trade unions, I don't believe it will go further than sporadic work stoppages in separate workshops. And it is a pity. This could have been a decisive turn of events, as it was in April 1991. Back then it led to sustained wave of strikes and mass demonstrations that lasted for a week and involved more than 80 enterprises in Minsk and all around the country. But then there were cells of anti-communist labour organizations joined by some official trade unions, there was an example of victorious miners' strikes, the communist party was demoralized, there was an opposition in the parliament that claimed to represent the workers, the police had orders not to intrude, some enterprise managers supported their workers. The situation is clearly to the opposite today...
