Missed from 24th September 2023:
Today, September 24, is the 40th anniversary of our dear comrade, revolutionary and political prisoner Igor Olinevich. 40 years is the age of deep maturity. A maturity that Igor was not lacking in his 20s and that was strengthened during his struggle both on the outside and in prison.
As a 27-year-old anarchist activist in 2010, he was imprisoned for his beliefs and spent 5 years in prison. Prison is not a place for development, it is a place of personal destruction. But for revolutionaries who are firm in their convictions, there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome in the pursuit of freedom, if not universal, at least personal freedom. That is why Igor and his comrades from the Black Banner group illegally returned to Belarus in 2020 and took part in the uprising with exceptional courage and selflessness. The group was captured in the border forest while trying to escape. Igor and three other comrades received up to 20 years of strict regime. At the same time, the comrades bravely admitted their participation in the rebellion, denying guilt despite the consequences.
Paradoxically, it is those people who dream of freedom more than others who are often condemned to a life of absolute captivity because they did not agree to live in semi-freedom. For anarchist-revolutionaries, half-measures are unacceptable. It is thanks to such dedicated people that we are content with more and more freedoms that we take for granted. It is worth remembering that we owe all the freedoms we have to the brave who spent their lives behind bars or laid them on the altar of revolution. Continue reading “Belarus: Igor Olinevich turned 40 years old!”
