THREAD on spontaneous female solidarity chains 3 nights after elections in #Belarus => based on my observations & some interviews with women
1) Solidarity chains were NOT organised by one person/structure, this idea was born by several women groups independently from each other

2) Motivation: stop violence (not seen as Belarusian way), show society that protest is peaceful & people are not marginal (vs. state propaganda), reach new protest groups due to new, more secure protest forms during the day (vs. night violence), solidarity with night protesters

3) Motivation: political (release political prisoners, new elections, new Belarus), show women are also political subjects in #Belarus (vs. recent statements by #Lukashenka "Belarusian constitution was not written for a woman"), save their men (husbands, brothers, friends...)

4) Impact of women chains so far: significant decrease of police violence, maintenance of motivation for peaceful protest, spread new forms of decentralised protest via soc. networks/pers. contacts, increased protest visibility in public space/awareness ab. women role in protests

5) White colour stands for: peace, cleanliness, innocence, smth new (new beginning etc.)

6) Please read this opinion by @V_Laputska: "No one can take our power from us anymore - Belarus’ Women in White"
https://news.trust.org/item/20200820175337-r2ul1?fbclid=IwAR0y_E6zsUcjoqBDgUDUaE_vsA-QSKSoNQKBcdPSUgaIArlymAZcSS3gopQ