Newsweek: Belarusians Realized Lukashenka Is Soap Bubble

• 16.07.2020, 11:07

Something has “clicked” in people's heads.

Newsweek Polska published an interview with Alicja Orczyk, a Belarusian woman living in Poland, and now following the events in her country from Minsk (translation - inosmi.ru).

- One of the strongest opposition candidates Viktar Babaryka will not take part in the presidential election scheduled for August 9, as the authorities refused to register him.

- Viktar Babaryka was arrested in June. He remained a serious rival to Lukashenka, not even having the opportunity to directly take part in the campaign. His electoral headquarters conducted active work, and used the help of lawyers. The campaign was carried out beautifully, and the people who worked on it were ready for different scenarios. There was no legal reason to refuse to register Babaryka, since he met all the requirements put forward for a candidate for presidency, and his headquarters collected a huge number of signatures - more than 425 thousand.

- Does the exclusion of Babaryka from the game mean that Lukashenka is really afraid to lose?

- Yes, although one could only dream of a fair election process in Belarus.

- Have the people like Babaryka or Tsikhanouski not only given hope for changes, but also aroused the protest spirit in Belarus?

- Exactly. People realized that we are not a nation of slaves, that we are not doomed to poverty. We have all social, intellectual, economic conditions to spread our wings. Why are we not allowed to end poverty? Why have we been told for many years that $ 500 is a salary to pray for? At the same time, in the crisis we get 200, but still you can’t buy anything for them.

But something is changing in Belarus. If after the elections of 2006 or 2010, someone took to the streets to protest against fraud, and they were captured by the police, people shrugged.

Now, thanks to satellite Internet, which is easy to connect to in almost the entire country, Belarusians have the opportunity to find out how everything really looks like. In addition, the coronavirus epidemic revealed the weakness of the regime. People realized that they themselves or their relatives can pay with their lives for the lack of an adequate reaction from Lukashenka. Residents of Minsk, Brest, Baranavichy saw that due to the small coverage of testing, their colleagues, brothers, parents get sick and go to hospitals with the coronavirus, that nurses do not have personal protective equipment, that doctors have nothing to print x-ray images of patients with COVID-19 on, and so on.

In short, the society has realized that the country is in a mess, and that Lukashenka’s Belarus is a big soap bubble. Previously, many turned a blind eye to this. Now, people have not only seen their sight, but also began to unite to help doctors, orphanages, teachers, and so on. At the same time, they saw that there were actually a lot of dissatisfied and determined citizens, for example, it could be half the inhabitants of one stairwell.

Something has clicked in people's heads.

- People are furious.

- Yes.

- What would happen on election day, that is, August 9?

- I don’t know, the main event of today was the refusal to register Babaryka as a candidate, and it is difficult to say what will happen tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow against this background. 465 thousand people put their signatures in his support, for a country with a population of 9 million this is a lot. After his arrest, protests began, people took to the streets when they rejected 200,000 signatures, and filed formal complaints with the court.

- Is this the beginning of the Belarusian “revolution of dignity"? The analogue of the “Arab spring”?

- I don’t know, I feel it must be something like that, this is my subjective opinion. I have never seen such a public mobilization, and I fled from there after the 2006 elections. Previously, people did not talk about politics: they were either afraid, or thought that this did not make sense. Now they are not just discussing it, but criticizing the authorities.

One journalist correctly noted that once every 26 years, a Belarusian can become furious.

- Siarhei Tsikhanouski led the campaign under the slogan “Stop the Cockroach!” He meant Lukashenka, right?

- Yes, people long ago began to call him a cockroach because of his mustache. This is a reference to the tale of Korney Chukovsky “Cockroach”.

- What should happen to make the Belarusian regime collapse? Should the army and the police go over to the opposition?

- I’ll tell you about my wildest dream (perhaps it is a bit naive). Fair elections should be held, in which all candidates will be able to take part. It is best that the opposition nominates one person, for example, the same Babaryka. In addition, people who count votes should ask themselves a simple question about which country they live in. Have any of their relatives died from the coronavirus, have any of their friends been arrested while walking in the Minsk park? They would need to answer the question of whether they want to continue to kneel down and kiss the hands of these authorities for $ 200. Perhaps we are capable of more? I believe so.