We often encourage you to donate to ABC-Belarus to support our prisoners, but we rarely tell you where the donations go.
It is important for us to make clear that ABC-Belarus activists do not receive any compensation for their work. We all work in our spare time and do it solely out of political convictions.
We do not depend on any foundations or grants. Almost all our money comes from donations of ordinary people and activists from Belarus and other countries. A small part of the funds is raised from selling books, T-shirts and brochures.
ABC-Belarus uses the collected funds for:
- Supporting prisoners: paying lawyers, covering expenses on care packages and, if necessary, supporting a prisoner’s family;
- Supporting former prisoners in their first time on the outside;
- Supporting people who served short arrests;
- Medical and psychological aid for activists, if necessary;
- Supporting family members and other people who are prosecuted for helping anarchist prisoners
- Sending letters written through our online form;
- Paying for hosting and other project infrastructure;
- Membership in international solidarity structures.
If you want to support a cause or an individual, you can always send a donation with a note on who it should be used for.
Hello ABC Belarus,
Thank you for putting this post up, but it doesn’t actually make it clear what the money is going for, if someone doesn’t already trust your judgement.
Specifically:
1. “Support for former prisoners” is a very general category. Theoretically there could be people who were in prison a few years ago, are well off economically, and get money. Please be more specific about what kind of support is funded, whether payments are made directly to people, and under what kind of criteria.
2. “Support for administrative prisoners” – please clarify that this is the same kind of support as for prisoners (or if it isn’t, in what way).
3. Assistance for activists – please make it clear which activists (prisoner supporters I assume?)
Hello !
I am not from ABC or Belarus but as someone who does prisoner support, I can try to answer your questions as it is usually quite similar from one group to another.
First of all, ABCs are not NGOs like Amnesty International. They don’t have a big structure with paid staff and forms to fill out. Some groups have been around for a long time, others are created in response to a specific situation. If I’m not mistaken, ABC-Belarus was created a decade ago and this is not their first wave of repression against anarchists. I’m sure they know how to handle their business. And don’t forget that if they encounter a particular situation, they can turn to other prisoner support groups around the world.
To answer your specific questions:
1. Supporting former prisoners is a way to help them make the transition from prison to civil life. Have a place to live, food, medicine and clothing. We help them find a job and receive psychological support if needed. They do not receive monthly payments. From time to time you can see specific campaigns to help a former prisoner who has medical problems (Ilya Romanov for example).
2. Even if administrative prisoners are imprisoned for a short time (less than 15 days in a detention center), they may need help.
3. If I understand correctly, by support for activists they mean anarchists and antifascists who are not in prison. They had a specific campaign for activists last year (https://abc-belarus.org/?p=13344&lang=en).
All that said, I firmly believe that the people on the ground know best where resources are most needed. But if you don’t, you can choose to give to a specific prisoner.
I hope this helps you make your decision. Anarchist greetings from Montreal.