Today is the anniversary of the day when President Lukashenko held an illegal referendum to secure his limitless rule in Belarus. With parliamentary elections scheduled within the year, it is more important than ever for the people of Belarus to stand with each other and to know that others stand with them. This is why students from around the world walked for democracy on October 15. Knowing that you have support in your actions against a force as seemingly unstoppable as a dictatorial government will help you have the moral fortitude to stand up against what is blatantly wrong and even evil.

But as we’ve read in “1984,” sometimes it is even harder for people living within the regime to recognize that there are others who hate it just as much. Yet it’s impossible to protest or speak out because the government will simply throw them all in jail. So how are people supposed to come together for this common cause?

The day after the Walk, on October 16, a day of silent solidary with the people of Belarus was held. It marked a shift away from quickly disbanded protest to a new strategy altogether — in which anyone can participate without fear of reprisal. And even better, it comes with the realization of just how many people are on your side.

Instead of going out into the streets, people lit candles on their window sills at night. It reflected a show of defiance that even the government couldn’t stop, like wearing orange in Ukraine or pink in Iran. And guess what happened? One after one, the windows of Minsk lit up.

Tobias Ljungvall writes about it:

A new kind of protest action took place in Belarus this night. At eight o’clock, lights were switched off and candles lit in the windows of peoples homes. October 16 had been designated a day of solidarity with the struggle for democracy and freedom in Belarus. The candle-lighting was to provide people a moment to think about the kind of country they would like to live in.
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The advantages are obvious. Lighting a candle in your own window is not likely to get you persecuted by the authorities, at least not at this stage in the development of the Belarusian dictatorship. It is, if you like, a more mature form of protest, with a potentially much broader appeal than street actions. And if successful the lit candles could, in the words of Irina Khalip, “become a mirror in which we see that there are many of us”.

Such a mirror is important. A year ago, in a reliable sociological poll, half of respondents stated that people in Belarus are afraid to express their political views freely. (In sociology, this awkward phrasing of questions is just a smart way of getting people to be honest about their own sentiments.) Obviously, fear is an important factor underpinning the regime. But if dissent, even in the form of lit candles in dark windows, reaches a critical mass, then surely this fear should be eroded.

Did it reach a critical mass?

I just talked to a friend in Minsk, who was stunned. In the house facing hers, she appreciated that candles were lit “well, perhaps not in half, but in a lot of the apartments”. Friends around town whom she had been calling had given the same picture. On the other hand, another friend in the more backward provincial centre of Mogilev told me that the house across the yard, with some 75 apartments, displayed only one single candle. That probably better reflects the situation in most of the country.

Overall though, this day of solidarity seems the most massive action by the Belarusian democracy movement for years, perhaps ever.

And, yes, there was at least one candle burning here in Stockholm as well.

Democratic revolutions originate in the cities, and if what happened in Minsk is any indication, the barrier of fear is being broken in a new and exciting way. When people went to place their candles at the window, they looked out and saw that so many others had done the same. Others are still afraid, but undoubtedly the numbers will continue to swell as they as they become unafraid.

We’re looking for a revolution in Belarus. Lukashenko is going to remember October 17 as both the day he extended his reign and the day his country finally left him behind.