STANDING STILL IS A CRIME

The economic downturn has led to a bizarre piece of legislation in Belarus. Because of worsening conditions workers there had to come up with subtle ways of expressing their displeasure. All political protest in Belarus has to have a government permit and that is never given if the demo has any criticism of the government. They tried suddenly breaking into crowd clapping or having their cell phones all ringing at the same time but the government arrested them so the authorities have come up with this weird legal enactment. "Belarus have responded to a burst of creative modes of protest by young protesters with a rather surreal innovation of their own: a law that prohibits people from standing together and doing nothing. A draft law published Friday "prohibits the joint mass presence of citizens in a public place that has been chosen beforehand, including an outdoor space, and at a scheduled time for the purpose of a form of action or inaction that has been planned beforehand and is a form of public expression of the public or political sentiments or protest". Anyone proven to be taking part in such a gathering would be subject to up to 15 days of administrative arrest, the draft says." (New York Times , 29 July) Plainclothes police officers have detained nearly 2,000 people since the so-called clapping protests began in June, in many cases because they were seen clapping or standing near people who were. More than 500 have received sentences of 5 to 15 days. Capitalism is an extremely restrictive society but making a crime of just standing still takes a bit of beating.RD