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Teddy bears parachute over a residential area in Minsk, Belarus on July 4, 2012.
An imaginative pro-democracy protest that saw teddy bears dropped from the sky over Belarus has not softened the stance of President Alexander Lukashenko - but it has brought the authoritarian regime some unwanted international attention.
More than 800 stuffed animals – each with an individual parachute – were dropped from a small plane by four advertising professionals from Sweden in order to raise awareness of human rights issues. It was inspired by the arrest in February of Belarusian activist Paval Vinahradau, who was detained for staging a toy protest in Minsk.
The group told NBC News they hoped an ensuing diplomatic spat between Belarus and Stockholm would increase pressure on Lukashenko.
“We’re not really happy, or satisfied, or content, or proud, or anything until we have achieved something real, be that [Lukashenko] changes his policy … or someone changes it for him,” said Per Cromwell, chief executive of Studio Total, a four-person Swedish advertising firm.
“I guess it’s not over yet.”
The project was one year in the making, Cromwell said, and the goal was to raise awareness about the human rights abuses taking place in the former Soviet republic, where Lukashenko has been in power since the mid-1990s.
In 2004, Lukashenko amended the constitution's two-term presidential limit, a decision harshly criticized by Western powers, including the United States Bush administration which described him as the "last dictator in Europe" in charge of an "outpost of tyranny.”
A country of about 9.5 million, Belarus remains one of the most repressive states in Europe, Yulia Gorbunova, a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Moscow, told NBC News.
Teddy bears parachute over a residential area in Minsk, Belarus on July 4, 2012.
“It has a complete disregard for basically all fundamental freedoms -- freedom of assembly and association, freedom of speech, freedom from torture and degrading treatment -- virtually no independent media... no independent judicial system,” she added.
The government is so repressive, Gorbunova said, that the opposition and the civil society have no opportunity to grow.
This is the same country where last year, a one-armed man was among the 400 people arrested for taking part in a clapping protest.
Cromwell said Studio Total’s intention was to highlight the absurdity of life under Lukashenko, while showing support for the daunting struggle of a shattered opposition that is closely monitored by the KGB, the country’s security agency.
“We’re doing what we can to make people laugh. It’s something that a dictator cannot survive,” he said.
Belarus arrests two in wake of teddy bear airdrop
“You can’t really win a fight against a teddy bear because if you don’t do anything you will look ridiculous, or if you start fighting back, you will look ridiculous,” Cromwell added.
On the day of the airdrop, July 4, Cromwell was driving the getaway car, parked halfway between the Lithuanian border, where the plane took off, and Minsk. If anything went awry, he was ready to pick up the pilot and co-pilot and drive to the Swedish embassy. His colleagues, Tomas Mazetti and Hannah Frey, were on the plane along with the teddy bears. Mazetti had learned to fly for the occasion, and he had only gotten his license a few weeks before the operation, Cromwell said.
It was a sunny day, and the flight path was a straight line from the Lithuanian border to Minsk, but Cromwell said they were afraid their plane might get shot down. In 1995, when a hot-air balloon accidentally crossed into Belarusian airspace, Lukashenko’s security officials fired a missile that killed the two Americans on board.
Air traffic controllers in a tower in Minsk contacted the plane, but Mazetti and Frey couldn’t understand what they were saying in Russian. After dropping their cargo and spending less than two hours in Belarus’ air space, the two flew the plane back across the border.
Belarus didn't publicly acknowledge the airdrop until later in the month, when Lukashenko criticized military authorities for allowing the plane to enter Belarusian air space.
He then fired the generals in charge of air defense and the border patrol, and police arrested two civilians — a blogger who posted pictures of the teddy bears on his website and a man who rented an apartment to Cromwell during his short stay in Minsk.
Last week, two journalists were also arrested for posing for photographs holding the air-dropped teddy bears.
On Aug. 3, the Swedish ambassador to Minsk was expelled in a move that the European Union said worsened the tension already present between the bloc and Belarus.
"Everyone around the table [was] absolutely clear that this was not just a situation merely between Sweden and Belarus. It's a situation that ... affects the EU's relations with Belarus," Olof Skoog, a Swedish diplomat who chairs talks on foreign policy issues among EU states, said on Aug. 10, according to Reuters.
"There is going to be a very clear message to all Belarusian ambassadors around Europe in the next few days expressing full solidarity with the Swedes on this," he added.
Since then, Cromwell said he and his colleagues have been receiving “Google-translated” messages from the KGB, in a tone that ranges from threatening to complaining, and Facebook friend requests from newly created bogus accounts.
Belarus, Sweden kick out ambassadors as teddy bear war heats up
Last week, the online onslaught culminated with a summons from the KGB, threatening the Swedes with fines or "correctional work for up to two years, or imprisonment for up to six months” if they don’t show up in Belarus in 10 days to assist the agency with "investigative actions" related to the group’s “illegal crossing.”
Responding to the invitation in an open letter to Lukashenko published on Aug. 14, Studio Total said it “[felt] bad for making people laugh at [Lukashenko] and [his] super-expensive air defense." The group also extended Lukashenko an invitation to Sweden.
“Our only demands is that you behave as politely as you can. (No threats of torture and the likes) and that you release all the political prisoners in Belarus," the letter read.
European Union sanctions against Belarus already include a visa ban and an asset freeze imposed on Lukashenko and his inner circle, an arms embargo and a ban on more than 30 Belarusian companies to conduct business in the trading zone.
“What this can achieve is to get the awareness and the attention, and to create some kind of momentum for the opposition,” said Cromwell. “But of course throwing teddy bears over a dictator does not create real long-term change.”
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Belarus eh? Strangely enough I doubt I’ll see an outraged American public complaining about “universal human rights” here nor will I see anyone blaming the whole thing on Russian Orthodox Christianity (which is the state’s main religion in terms of numbers) I also bet I won’t see American politicians calling for action against the so called “Last Tyrant in Europe” (to quote George Bush) either. I guess all those “noble Ideas” I read about on here don’t mean jack when a poor, diplomatically unimportant, non-Muslim nation is involved huh?
Yah, we learned our lesson in Iraq that knee-jerk America-haters like you will side with the enemy against us, and try to paint the US as the villain and as some great human rights abuser, no matter how rare US infractions are, if any military action is taken.
"Yah! America's so evil! Excuse me, sir a report...the enemy we're fighting just blew up another restaurant and killed 20"
Don't worry, after all the hate and vitriol poured out against America in the last 10 years (sorry again for getting rid of that dictator , our apologies), we'll make sure, even the right wing, that all dictators worldwide are allowed to stay in power unless their own people are somehow able to break the stranglehold by themselves (not likely Iran, N. Korea, possible with very high casualties in Syria).
ChestyPuller
Bwaaa ha ha ha, you think I hate America? That’s funny, the point of my previous post is that people on here go on and on about “universal human rights” and how we should be against tyrants and so on, yet we only hear all that crap when it suites them. Like I said this is a small, diplomatically unimportant, very poor non-Muslim country and thus nobody cares, hell if you have read any other posts on this all you see is people booing the EU and so on. But hay thanks for reaffirming what I was saying
Well, Belarus is no threat to our national security, so yeah, you have to pick your battles in this world.
Matt T.-1518427
Exactly Matt it’s not a threat to American interests so, no one cares about these people and their loss of Universal Human Rights, yet MSNBC is full of people raging about the lack of Universal Human Rights and tyrants in the ME and China (ect) and they all act as if they have the moral high ground just because they throw around Human Rights
Psst, it's (etc) as in excreta, not (ect). But, what exactly would you have the USA do? Intervene, and then complain that we should mind our own business?
MikeO76
No I’d rather have MSNBC poster stop throwing around baseless terms like Human Rights in an effort to demonise people they don’t like and win the moral high ground when most of them honestly couldn’t care less about the people they are claim to want to help.
You forgot oil. It's a poor country, and has no oil. Why would our politicians care?
Rainlady2
When talking about a nation’s wealth you normally include everything including their natural resources so there was no need for me to mention oil specifically. As for why politicians would care, well those politicians are the elected representatives of the American people and thus are supposed to represent the values of the American people, of which I am constantly told that universal human rights is a common value shared by the American people.
I just wanted to point out that U.S. diplomats and the U.S. government have been supporting democracy efforts in Belarus for years. Congress passed long ago and reauthorized the Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act. Additionally, if you review the events that happened in the spring of 2008 you will discover that the majority of U.S. diplomats in Belarus were tossed out, like the Swedish Ambassador was recently, for standing up for democracy there. This act reduced the American Embassy staff in Belarus from 35+ to 5. Despite the skeleton staff, the diplomats have continued there mission to support democracy and free political prisoners, including an American in 2009. Maybe if people are unaware of these events one would do better to question what is the media covering, which also speaks to what the wider American public wants to hear.
June -
Shame on you. I do believe you stepped all over the dead's rant.
Los -
The number of countres in the world is generally accepted to be 196 (assuming none have subdivided recently and I missed it). With the entire Middle East set to explode, and with China and Japan playing chicken with small island sovereighty, with Africa's internal wars, Belarus really doesn't make most of our radars. As Matt pointed out above, it is wise to pick one's battles.
mpa-4893349
Ohh I get it because Belarus doesn’t make most peoples radars, then it doesn’t matter? Hmm and I wonder why it doesn’t make the radar? Could it be because it’s a small, poor, European country? Most likely, as I said in post #1.6 I’m tired of people using Human Rights to demonise others when their complete inaction here shows that in truth people don’t really care, that in a case such as this it’s inconvenient to mention it. Hmmm I guess asking for a little consistency on such an issue is a waste of time eh?
I think you're a little over board on the human rights thing. The press may comment on human rights throughout the world but I really don't believe most Americans are overly concerned whether it's Belarus or Mongolia. I don't recall we've done any actions in Muslim lands as you state due to concern for human rights. We invaded Iraq because Bush dreamed Saddam had some WMD and Afghanistan because they refused to hand over Bin Laden after 9-11. We did nothing in Egypt except mouth our general support for democracy. In Libya we reluctantly offered to support our NATO allies who were quite adamant about assisting in taking out Gaddafi but refused to take the lead. Can't really see us getting involved in all these countries because of human rights issues you seem to believe we do. The press may make a bigger deal about human rights for supposed affect but I don't see our policies being different either way. We pretty much talk about democracy being good then do nothing.
Larry-367607
You miss-understand me, I don’t believe anyone gets involved in foreign affairs for human rights, however posters on here are always raging about human rights, and how other countries are so evil because they deny human rights to others, yet if we look at this article there is no rage over the subject, just jokes and people booing the EU etc. So again it would appear that many here are inconsistent in their support for such a concept as they only want to support it when it suites them. This level of double standard I personally find dis-tasteful (but that’s just me) and it was that what I was commenting on. I only bought politicians in to the mix because they are the representatives of the American people (especially to the rest of the world) and thus their policies, actions and words represent that of the American people. I’ll leave you to figure out the implications there.
It is called 'gotcha' game played on the sensitivities on Belarussian Pres.Lukashenko by Swedes. Belarus threw out the Swedish Amb. for Teddy Bear Incitement- he has no sense of humour and is a very thin-skinned person to boot. Now he is demanding from the International Aviation/EU Open Skies the data from the airplane that invaded Belarus airspace from Germany,Estonia,Latvia and Lithuania. Lithuania is the liaison agent now between Swedish and Belarussian g;ments. Lukashenko had been wiser to take the Teddy Bear Invasion with playing along and upstaging the pr-move. Now it just keeps accelerating for no good reason at all.
He had no choice but to take a strong stand against the teddy bear invasion. If he just let it go there's no telling what the next step would have been. Pandas?
When swarms of stealth predator drones swoop down over Belarus dropping legions of autonomous robot teddy bears all programmed to track Lukashenko down and slash him to ribbons with their tiny scalpel sharp Swiss Army knife claws, he will realize that this was only a test run.
BRUA-HA-HA-HA!!!
Can they put lasers on those things?
Damn, who made this kool-aid?
Any day now, Belarus will respond to the teddy-bear attack with an army of Mr. Potatoheads.
More bs from the tyrants looking for attention. Who gives a crap about the EU with their tyrannical chaos. Get out of the USA, you're not wanted here. Take you're tyranny and oppression and keep it over their, The devil goes about like a roaring lion seeing who it can devour before God put's it and it's cohorts into the lake of fire made for the devil and it's cohorts. Keep messing with God and you'll get exactly what you hoped for. Tyranny and oppression God will smash into pieces.
Forget to take your meds?
WoW are you suppose to be a Christian? I thought the citizens of the USA are suppose to be a CHRISTIAN nation. I personally welcome all religions and even the non believers. That's what my Faith says. What happened to you????? Sounds like the devil is after you.
The USA is a secular, not Christian, nation.
I agree it is secular. My point is there are some people that want it to be all Christian but don't practice the Christian doctrine.
I don't care what anyone says, the United States is a Christian nation. We make it clear everyday. We just are a crappy Christian nation. We don't really practice it to the full extent of the bible's teachings, and I am thankful for that everyday. That is probably what makes us, for the most part, the most "secular" nation in the world without actually being secular.
The US is/was a Christian nation. Atheists get a hard-on from playing semantics with the phrase.
It is not in the Constitution that you have to be Christian to live and vote here, but in 1776 especially, and even now, at least in the token sense, the US is a Christian nation, made up of a majority of people who claim to be Christians.
God and the Devil etc. etc.----"another mental case!!!!
actually in one of the first treaties the US ever signed the treaty of Tripoli in article 11 it states that "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" and in 1776 people in America were much less religious than they are today especially our founding fathers
first off who gives a crap about what religion America belongs too? secondly to whoever spouted something about Tyrannical EU well who foots the bill for these tyrants the EU and the UN? U.S.
and again with the religion obviously christians are hypocrites just like everyone else so who cares. If christians were so high and mighty they would kill and destroy every evil that exists on this earth and be done with it. Onward Christian Soldiers right? culture and society change you maybe a christian but I am not so what. Sooner or later I guarantee that this religion will just die out like paganism before it and the way that atheists go they are like a seperate religion.
One last thing to clear up there is no such thing as an ATHEIST! you can't know there is a god and vice versa you can't know there is no god. the people you refer to are Agnostics which means they haven't found god yet or just choose not to believe that simple get over it you haters.
why can't people ever comment about the article instead of bring up this dribble over and over again?
No such thing as an atheist? Tell that to the many posters here who identify themselves as such!
How would you like to be the judge or prosecutor assigned to the case of the guy arrested for posting a picture of one of the teddy bears on his blog?
The "decleration of independence" over NAFTA, the UN, the EU or any entity which seeks to take away our constitution.
All this conversation regarding the Constitution amazes me. How many that talk or write about the Constitution have read all the amendments to it. If it is so perfect why was it amended all those times. When you state something in the Constitution do you include the amendments?
You must be easily amazed.
I have.
No human endeavor is perfect. The amendments are added to make it better.
Yes.
Do you need another lesson in civics or philosophy?
demjo -
You would be "amazed" at how many Americans have read the constitution - it used to be part of public school curriculum. I personally have it on top of the "documents" file on my computer (pdf). I am sure that I am not the only one.
If you knew much about the term "Constitution", you would know that it always includes the Amendments. You can find the amendments missing only if you refer to the "original Constitution."
Send in Pussy RIOT!!!!
The English were kicked out of America by colonist using guns. Today's generation thinks the same will work by throwing stuffed animals at them. Seriously people have grown soft.
Are you suggesting the Swedish army invade Belarus?
Hell yeah!!! Get em Swedes. LOL That's like saying Get em France.
Lukashenko is the last dictator in Europe? Have they forgotten about Putin?
What about Ukraine? "President Viktor Yanukovych imprisoned and former President Viktor Yushchenko "testified" against Yulia Tymoshenko on some trump up charges.
It should be the Dictators3 (cubed)...Putin, Lukashenko, and Yanukovych.
I think Putin better then the bozo who runs the USA. I support Alexander Lukashenko. I think Americans and the Eu are idiots and know their comeupance will be soon. Putin is hated because he thinks about what is best for Russia rather than the United states of ass
Russia has not been considered a Dictatorship in decades and Putin was elected to the post through a civilian vote process; whether you believe it fair or not. And, I too am surprised the vast majority of Russian people would elect Putin, but am equally shocked that the American public would have elected Obama nearly 4 years ago on nothing more than a platform of change, without knowing what that change would entail.
Europe's last dictator? Did someone forget about Putin? I think a lot of people are just turning a blind eye to the fact that Russia is back to the USSR.
Good points being made about Putin. He indeed is a dictator.
What exactly is the sound of one hand clapping?
Sounds like two hands clapping. It is just harder to pull off. it comes down to using your fingers as the other hand. Or, to get the same sound without the name, you can use your thigh for the other hand.
the sound of one hand clapping...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Q1nLwYK6E
Retired -
It is the inverse of the sound that tree makes when it falls in the lonely forest. I've heard it many times myself . . .
Sweden, hah!! Hitler is lecturing about human rights. It is like Bush talking about torture being wrong.
Yeah Sweden = Hitler. Smart comment /o\
I am afraid I am probably like so many Americans that I have not really paid attention to
Belarus ,nor to the actions of it's President Alexander Lukashenko. But it sounds like that might end.
The EU and NATO are nothing more or less than adjuncts of the US,and the US is owned and operated by the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
Well, as long as you don't generalize.
"Bourgeoisie"-----------so you think this country is owned and operated by the "middle class" (Bourgeoisie)??-------if you are right (which I do not think you are) then that is not such a bad idea!!-----I would say it is owned by the Military Industrial Complex--as President Eisenhower warned!!
Don't you love it when the kids try out new words? Precious.
It is just history repeating itself----Slav. countries like all other Catholic dominated countries in Europe over the centuries, have been oppressive ---usually in the name of religion.
If you name the teddy bears "Mohammed" the Muslims will kill you.
They ought to try that in England, and the USA! [:-)]
They ought to try that in England, and the USA! [:-)]
Since when does a diplomat have a right to totally exeed his/her consular priveledges when in another nation ?! This official is absolutely out of line.
Incidentally, buddy should think about dropping teddy bears over the USA, with "Trapwire" and the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and other assorted neo-fascist going on there !
If Lukashenko had one ounce of gray matter in his brain he would turn his country back to a two year term presidency and stop being the laughing stock of the world. At any rate, his antics made me laugh more than the scene in the movie Blazing Saddles where a group of cowboys farted their brains out while while gorging on beans.
After shooting down the 2 Americans in the hot air balloon that accidentally crossed their border.......there might have been a huge hole where he would normally be sitting.......just saying./ Not a warmonger; just tired of americans (civilian as well as military) being killed overseas by those with nothing else to do than to promote violence. ETCETERA, ETCETERA, ETCETERA (ETC) for those of you who remember Yul Brenner saying that line.........
Sp, Sharon, not much of a fan of a country having secure air space? Granted that the US is far more patient with those that invade our airspace (we usually warn them and accompany them down), when you go into the air, you have the responsibility to realize that you may (even unintentionally) be performing an act that will lead to your demise.
first off who gives a crap about what religion America belongs too? secondly to whoever spouted something about Tyrannical EU well who foots the bill for these tyrants the EU and the UN? U.S.
and again with the religion obviously christians are hypocrites just like everyone else so who cares. If christians were so high and mighty they would kill and destroy every evil that exists on this earth and be done with it. Onward Christian Soldiers right? culture and society change you maybe a christian but I am not so what. Sooner or later I guarantee that this religion will just die out like paganism before it and the way that atheists go they are like a seperate religion.
One last thing to clear up there is no such thing as an ATHEIST! you can't know there is a god and vice versa you can't know there is no god. the people you refer to are Agnostics which means they haven't found god yet or just choose not to believe that simple get over it you haters.
why can't people ever comment about the article instead of bring up this dribble over and over again?
Now to get down to business true Putin is a dictator and so is the Ukraine except then under that senario you would have 11 other countries in the world that are American Allies that would be considered dictators also since the Ukraine is an ally of the U.S.
We just have to ask ourselves is dictatorship so bad to live with? you don't truly care for these poor people you don't even know their names and if so many of them were killed as reprisal for action in Belarus or even by our bombs you wouldn't give a damn so why do we even try?
True that the U.S. has no interest in Belarus but for some reason Sweden has something it wants from them that the current president won't let them have. I wonder what that could be?
Lastly really think logically everyone who are we to put ourselves up on the throne of heaven and dictate to the rest of the world what is right and what is wrong? You know that the U.S. military probably commits war crimes all over the battlefields they wage in some way and then cover them up and they are lost to history? We don't listen to the UN and thier justices we dictate to them what to say and what to look for when they investigate, and dictatorships are so evil yes that is why most don't even fight a war through their lifetime until they fall while we have commited so many conflicts all over this globe it ain't funny.
I am not saying the U.S. is evil in fact I wouldn't give a crap if we were Nazi Germany but I hate and just flat out hate hypocracy! ah but that is humans for you.
Everyone needs to wake up and see the government for what it really is and remember "only the victor dictates history."
WarLord72....what dribble. Only part of the last statement makes any sense, "only the victor dictates history". This I would say is true.
Calling Christians hypochrites is wrong. Calling people who are always boasting to be Christian hypochrites is more true than not. True Christians don't have to resort to boasting that they are Christian. Yes when asked of what religion they have a proclivity too, Christianity may be what they claim. It can be said they are Christian by the life they live and how they treat others. There is no other way! I find that those that boast of being Christian are almost always the ones doing more sinful actions than those that don't.
Of course the same can be said about people of all faiths.
First off their are many types of christians and secondly I call christians hypocrites because their whole religion just like all faiths is hypocritical at some point. How do you say peace on earth and to each his own while also declaring that evil is among us and we must destroy it using violent means. My point was if the U.S. was really a christian nation then practice what you preach and stay out of the worlds personal business!
You call yourself oppinionated yet you preach the same dribble as this supposedly civilized society.
whether wrong or right who are you to judge? it is that simple right and wrong don't truly exist in this world they are just oppinions but we decide to make morals facts of life and dictate to people how they should act.
WarLord -
Hope you don't live in the US. By your reasoning Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy weren't evil and did nothing wrong. Hitler doesn't seem like he was all that bad, right?
It may well be the lack of moral imperatives that brings this country down.
WarLord, by your comment you imply that the USA is a Theocracy based on the Christian faith and as such a Christian Nation. While many of our laws were based on some Christian principles, and a large majority or our population claim to be of Christian faith, we are not a Theocracy, but a Republic made up of many people of many hundreds of faiths. Our laws are created by those that our people elect to government, some good and some bad. If we don't like the laws of our legal system we are allowed a method by which we can pursue a repeal of the law. We are also allowed to vote for another if our elected officials do not live up to our expectations.
As for being judgmental, I really don't see that I'm judging you, just pointing out that you've seemed to already unfairly judged others.
As for staying out of the "worlds personal business", I'd say we are just as much a part of the world as any country and have the same right you feel you only have. Just as any country has the ability in some way or another, we can persuade or suggest another to change or proceed in another direction. However, it's still that countries decision in the end to acquiesce or proceed in the manor in which is felt to be counter-intuitive.
alright then so we have the right to persuade or suggest, not condemn and demonize and if it was really that countries decision then we would have been thrown out of Iraq and not have wasted our time there. They wanted us to leave and we said no we occupied them for three years before their government was set up and still is not a very good one at that.
Also nice you actually got my point the way people talk about this constitution debate they would think its a theocracy or something but it is not so the truth is no we are not a christian nation end of debate.
As for being judgemental it is all just an oppinion that can be taken however you like the fact is I said it myself I'm human therefore suffer from the same thing as everyone else. Why try to understand and control our lives why not just live.
And to comment on Hitler and Bundy I don't really know much about Bundy but since we were able to beat him no he wasn't that bad because we won and he lost. It's the same with us if you would open your eyes. We sacrifice how many to achieve some goal of influence or control over the world in Vietnam, Iraq, and for all we know in the future maybe even a conflict with China and Russia?
less than 3,000 dead on 9/11 may they rest in peace but combining Iraq and Afghanistan their blood spills way more than ours.
For years the wests hypocracy has made the world a battlefield and it is mainly because their are so many different concepts of culture and civilization. You may blame the dictator for putting his foot down on people who want change, but when that change only really entered their minds because of the influence we have over them and their education what do you expect?
I firmly believe Libya was wrong at least until I actually see a country that will be rebuilt and stand as a glowing idol to Africa as it did under Colonel Moamar Gaddafi. Syria as long as it stays a tolerant country as it is under Assad. Last but not least Iran well can actually be destroyed for all I care because I refuse to see religion rule over the masses of a soverign nation.