Presidential elections in Belarus were held on August 9th, giving Alexander Lukashenko a clear victory. From the outset, many European Union countries did not recognize the results of these elections, especially countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland, countries of the so-called Visegrad axis, known for their deeply reactionary and authoritarian policies.

Nor has the so-called Belarusian opposition, which is made up mainly of far-right and conservative parties in the service of the European Union and the United States, recognized the victory.

The EuroMaidan-style response has not been long in coming, and several protests have been organized across the country, using exactly the same recipes that were used in Ukraine, the neighbouring country, and that they led the country into bankruptcy, total submission to the European Union, and war.

Actually, this is not the first attempt to destabilize Belarus by force. Similar situations already occurred in the 2006 and 2010 presidential elections.

But what exactly are the demands of the opposition beyond taking Lukashenko out of the presidency? These are nothing more than entry into NATO and the sphere of influence of the European Union and an ambitious privatization plan (in Belarus, unlike other countries in the former USSR, a significant part of the economy is still publicly managed), such as the one that happened in Russia in the 1990s that broughtmillions of people into misery.

This could explain the over-representation of these protests in the Western media, including Radio Liberty, a U.S.-created station during the Cold War. Also noteworthy is the support for the opposition by the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and Open Society Foundation, all three funded by American capital.

The European Union is also behind the protests. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyden, acknowledged that the Commission would allocate 1 million euros to support "civil society" and the "independent media", and 2 million to "assist the victims of state repression", in other words, classical imperialist intervention funded with taxpayers' money from across the EU.

From Communists of Catalonia we condemn any attempt at destabilization and interventionism promoted by US and European imperialism, whether in Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine and now Belarus.

We want to show our utmost solidarity with the people of Belarus and the Communist Party of Belarus in these times of difficulties and resistance.

We demand that the European Union cease its attacks on Belarus and, once and for all, pursue a policy of cooperation and good neighbourliness with the countries of Eastern Europe.

We also call on the Catalan social and political left not to fall into the siren songs of "democratization" and not to support this coup attempt. We have too many examples, and some very recent ones, of how a part of the left has ended up supporting coups, which have not led to any kind of democratization, but to deeply reactionary and pernicious policies against the popular strata.

Secretariat of International Relations of Communists of Catalonia

 Barcelona, August 21st 2020