Belarussian Ruler Introduces Forced Employment

[agni]

_http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/lukashenko-threatens-forced-labor/472618.html

06 December 2012 | Issue 5030
The Associated Press

BORISOV, Belarus —Vladimir Dodonov wants to flee Belarus for neighboring Russia before it becomes illegal to leave his job at a wood-processing plant.

Belarus' authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, wants to stem an exodus of qualified workers to Russia, so he started by banning workers in wood-processing industries from quitting.

Critics have compared the measure to serfdom and warned that it will only deepen Belarus' economic troubles and fuel protests against Lukashenko.

Dodonov, 37, who earns the equivalent of $140 a month at the Borisovdrev plant, said that he could make several times as much in Russia and that he would have left earlier if he hadn't had to care for his ailing mother.

"How can you survive on such a miserable salary?" he said. "Naturally, I'm thinking about leaving for Russia before they turn me into a slave."

It could be too late.

"You will be sentenced to compulsory labor and sent back here if you leave," Lukashenko said Friday during a visit to the plant, in the industrial city of Borisov, about 70 kilometers east of the capital, Minsk.

The president said his decree would apply to more than 13,000 employees of nine state-run wood-processing plants and also to between 2,000 and 3,000 construction workers involved in modernizing them.

Lukashenko said his decree would take effect Dec. 1. Even though he hasn't signed it yet, Borisovdrev workers who tried to quit this week were barred from doing so by the administration under various pretexts.

Lukashenko promised to raise the average salary at the plant from $150 a month to between $400 and $500, roughly what it would be in Russia. He pledged to increase it further to $1,000 by 2015, but some of the workers were skeptical.

"My children want to eat now without waiting for 2015," said Nikolai Khmelevsky, 42, who earns about $200 a month at the Borisovdrev plant. "I have been looking for another job, and now they will tie me here."

Managers at the Borisovdrev plant, a set of grim-looking Soviet-era buildings, refused to comment. The plant and others like it are part of a conglomerate that is 100 percent owned by the state, as are most Belarussian industries. The wood-processing plants export most of their output to Russia and Europe.

Nikolai Pokhabov, the leader of an independent union in Borisov, warned that Lukashenko's order could spark protests.

"The government is trying to solve problems with a stick at the workers' expense," he said. "But it fails to understand that threats and reliance on the stick will only push workers to flee the country or stage protests."

Alexander Klaskovsky, an independent Minsk-based analyst, said Lukashenko may later try to expand the measure to other sectors of the economy.

"Amid a severe economic crisis, Lukashenko is launching a risky experiment that could later be spread to the entire economy," Klaskovsky said. "It amounts to Lukashenko introducing elements of slavery in 21st-century Europe."

About 1 million people in the nation of 10 million are estimated to be working abroad, most of them in neighboring Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania.

One of the ironies of the situation is that Russia, which is seen as a prized destination by Belarussian workers, prevented its people from working abroad during Soviet times through tight restrictions on exit visas.

A pariah in the West, Lukashenko often has tense relations with Moscow as well. Russia has been angered by his resistance to yielding control over Belarussian industries to Russian business. Lukashenko has kept most of the economy in state hands, but he is dependent on cheap energy and loans provided by Russia.

Last year, Belarus saw a sharp devaluation of its currency and inflation exceeding 100 percent after Lukashenko raised public sector wages in a populist move to ensure his re-election.

Lukashenko has managed to quell public discontent thanks to new loans from Russia, but analysts warn that the country may soon drift into a new crisis as it faces mounting foreign debt payments.

Russia may not be eager to provide more aid, which could be contingent on Lukashenko's surrendering control over more economic assets.

"The Soviet-style economy has exhausted its resources, and the Kremlin has become increasingly reluctant to issue loans," said Yaroslav Romanchuk, the head of Mises Research Center in Minsk. "Lukashenko has to invent abnormal motives in the absence of regular economic mechanisms."

 

[loreta]

Thanks for this article because it is the first time I hear about this "last dictator of Europe"- Really scary situation. Imagine if this method is expanding in the rest of Europe?

There is a lot of information in this article from Wikipedia about this Alexander Lukashenko:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lukashenko

Under Lukashenko's rule, the government's conduct has been globally denounced for being out of line with international law and for alleged human rights violations.[6][7][8] Belarus has been called "the last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe" by former and current European and American leaders.[9][10] He and other Belarusian officials are also the subject of sanctions imposed by the European Union for human rights violations.[11]

Indeed, a very bad guy. :(

 

[caballero reyes]

Hi, Loreta.

Does the "European Union for Human Rights" with a real benefit/justice?

 

[Nook]

Thanks for this article because it is the first time I hear about this "last dictator of Europe"- Really scary situation. Imagine if this method is expanding in the rest of Europe?

There is a lot of information in this article from Wikipedia about this Alexander Lukashenko:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lukashenko

Under Lukashenko's rule, the government's conduct has been globally denounced for being out of line with international law and for alleged human rights violations.[6][7][8] Belarus has been called "the last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe" by former and current European and American leaders.[9][10] He and other Belarusian officials are also the subject of sanctions imposed by the European Union for human rights violations.[11]

Indeed, a very bad guy. :(

Scary and disturbing but not surprising. Being officially regarded as a 'human rights violator'...they're definitely the 'last admitted dictatorship of Europe'. If they're so protective of humanitarian law and civil rights in Europe and the USofA, why is Israel is not being - and never have been - labeled as a human rights violator...'All the world's a stage' as Billy put it almost 400 years ago...

These officially labeled 'human rights violators' are important for the PTB to keep up a superficial 'contrast'. To show the masses how 'free' we really are in other countries...

 

[caballero reyes]

« Reply #3 of Nuke on: Today at 01:24:54 AM »
These officially labeled 'human rights violators' are important for the PTB to keep up a superficial 'contrast'. To show the masses how 'free' we really are in other countries...

---------------------------------- ------------------------------------- -------------------------------------

I agree, nuke.

 

[realitybugll]

its is a unique situation I suppose - for the year 2012. I salute them for being unique. but its definitely a bad thing. not humane.

 

[loreta]

The EU are a mafia of criminals, yes indeed. Always have been, always they will be. To see the world as it is is really interesting.

 

[agni]

EU and others are far opposite of saints, but it still does not make him any good and not a psycho control freak, just by the contrast. Ever furthermore, all that US, EU say, their imposed sanctions are just empty talk. Because when it comes to money, they are more then willing to trade.

No doubt he is involved in human rights violations. I mean, in which country all the other presidential candidates get arrested after election next day ? There are numerous people missing over the years. You get arrested by unmarked forces who do not even bother to identify themselves or tell you why you are being arrested, and if you resist to illegitemate arrest you get charged with that. There are closed hearings, they move you from prison to prison to keep you away from attorney and family. Belarus probably has the highest in the world rank of people "Swearing in public" per capita, followed by 15 days of jail time.

The "president" gets himself a plane for sweet $150mils, with gold curtains and faucets, while people earn so little. Then there is obsession with his safety. If he is visiting some city, it's ordered that no one should be on a balcony or have open windows, or even be near the window. Military solutes to his little son dressed in a military uniform. It goes on and on. Book case attributes of a dictator, imho.

But going back to original article, it's really not cool and not normal, when someone makes you a slave by forcefully assigning you to a job, under which you can not quit without huge penalties. Talk about NWO plans.