28 March 2024, Thursday, 11:41
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Natallia Radzina: Young people should go into politics

Natallia Radzina: Young people should go into politics
Natallia Radzina

Belarusians must become political actors.

This is what Natallia Radzina, editor in chief of charter97.org website, said in an interview with TV channel Belsat, commenting on the fifth "inauguration" of the dictator Lukashenka.

- Do you think this inauguration is in any way different from the previous four, in particular from the one that was in 2010?

- We all spent the previous inauguration in jail. In the KGB prison cell I did not have a TV, and I wrote a letter to the head of the prison, demanding to show me the inauguration of Lukashenka. Why did I have this wish? Because they brought to us information of a supposedly independent research institute NISEPI, which showed that Lukashenka allegedly won the election and I wanted to see what the inauguration of the winner looked like. I was taken to the office of the prison director Arlou, who turned on the VCR with a recording of the inauguration and I saw the same deserted streets as this year.

Obviously, this is not a proper inauguration, nor it is a proper election. It is hard for me to imagine that we are discussing. There is not the inauguration, but an usurpation of power by Lukashenka. Because the dictator has been holding power in Belarus by force of arms for more than 20 years. Let's discuss this.

- But he came to power legally in 1994. Since then, he has been the official head of Belarus.

- He is not the official leader of Belarus. He is really an impostor, as he is today rightly called by Statkevich. He is not the president. Formally, maybe he is one, but he is a dictator. Let's call him a dictator.

- But we see that the majority of Belarusians have no problem with it. They do not take to the streets to protest against the authorities.

- Why do you speak on behalf of all Belarusians?

- We conduct polls. We listen to the people.

- I do not believe your polls either. You must always keep in mind the fear factor of respondents and sociologists. It is clear why the public would not go out to protest -- because there are mass repressions in the country, because opposition leaders have been and are still killed, because the journalists have been killed, because there is no freedom of speech and assembly.

- But it was in the 90s...

- This is happening today as well. You want to say that there is freedom of speech in Belarus? Can every Belarusian now watch Belsat?

- Neither you nor I get killed.

- That's because many people have been killed. Today, any political activity causes reprisals from the authorities. We can say that in North Korea today there is also no protest, and Lukashenka's inauguration today is an inauguration of the Kim dynasty of dictators.

- But the question remains: what to do and how to change this situation?

- Fight. There is no other ways but to appeal to people and communicate to them the information, encourage them to defend their rights. I want to appeal to young people, your peers, to 25 and to 30 year olds to become politically active today. Look at the leaders of the opposition. They are in their 50s and 60s. Young people must join in, because without them, without us it is not possible to change anything today. Yes, it is terrible. Yes, there are repressions. Yes, it is hard. But we must do it, each of us must do something.

- But the strategies were different. In previous elections it was a protest on the square, this year we had a peaceful change from Tatsiana Karatkevich.

- I do not want to discuss Tatsiana Karatkevich, because she's a freak, she's a member of backup dancing campaign organized by the secret services, a dancing group for Lukashenka. Karatkevich is a candidate of the KGB. You know very well who is behind Karatkevich. Behind her is the leader of the campaign Tell the Truth Andrey Dzmitryieu, who works for the KGB. I cannot even say that he is the person who signed the document on cooperation with the KGB, I think he's long been working for this organization. And you know it well. So stop creating freaks, otherwise I will think that you also have a KGB curator, who told you to promote the figure of Tatsiana Karatkevich.

- I think that we have confirmed by our materials and interviews that we are not supporting any candidates, Tatsiana Karatkevich in particular.

- You know, I will remember for a long time the Belsat website startup screen, which was there for several months saying "Belarus presidential elections" with a photo of Lukashenka and Kolya. Maybe you find it is somehow funny, but I no longer think so.

- But we are not talking about elections now, but about what happens after the elections. Still, Lukashenka, or rather people around him, after the elections started talking about reform. There is a little hope that the government will be reformed, because it has to be reformed. But today we have heard again that there will be no reforms.

- It is obvious that there will be none. It would be stupid to expect them from Lukashenka, because for Lukashenka reforms mean the collapse of his regime. His paternalistic power structure has been built for 20 years. Any reforms would undermine it. Therefore, not reforms can happen with Lukashenka, and it is quite obvious and understandable.

- And what about the economic situation which, as many say, is forcing Lukashenka to slightly change his policy.

- The economic situation today is forcing Lukashenka to seek loans with the IMF and the Eurasian Foundation. But we know that these loans are taken today to return the debt on the old loans. So Lukashenka does not see any other way for himself. For him, economic reforms are like the death of the regime, because it is a loss of control levers.

In this situation, of course, we are going to have changes, because the economic situation of the Belarusians will only get worse. Because there have been no GDP growth in the last five years, and today the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is saying that next year GDP will fall. But I'm sure it will make Lukashenka further tighten the screws at home and take new loans, but again, he will not conduct any reforms.

We saw this in 2008 when Lukashenka also took loans from the IMF to have reforms. But these loans were spent on military exercises with Russia, on keeping the KGB and the police. And in the end it led to the fact that in 2010 almost all presidential candidates ended up in prison and there was actually an armed coup.

- And why would foreign creditors, in particular the western one, and western politicians not learn from their mistakes?

- I always ask them the same questions. Today, I met with representatives of the US Embassy in Warsaw, who explained why they had softened sanctions against Lukashenka. Against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine, we see the next false hopes that Lukashenka could change and somehow go to meet the West. We know that this is an absolute nonsense.

Lukashenka is a puppet of the Kremlin, who is dependent on it in terms of finance and energy resources. We know that should Putin raise the price of gas and oil in Belarus to the world level, Lukashenka would crawl to the Kremlin on his knees.

- It means, in your opinion, that until there is a regime change in Moscow, there is no chance for change in Belarus?

- No, we always have a chance for a change of power in our country. To do this, the Belarusians must get involved in this process. To do this, the Belarusians must want to become the subjects of politics, not its objects.

- But we have no other Belarusians.

- You know, every time I take responsibility and I urge you to do it, because so much depends on us, on journalists, because our task is to convey to people the information. If you say on TV "you Belarusians are so patient and cannot do anything," you are responsible for what they are. You and I are building a nation. So let us work together and stop getting depressed.

- Natalia, what would you say to Belarusians now? You can address them.

- Do not be afraid! And let's fight. We have a chance, and we can really change the situation in the country.

- But you are not in Belarus today.

- Yes, I'm not in Belarus yet, but I hope to return to Belarus. I as an editor in chief of the charter97.org website can do more here, in Poland. But at the first opportunity I will go back to my country. To do this, I'm trying to change the situation there doing the best I can.

- But unfortunately, as the trend shows, people are seeking a better life and there is a very large wave of emigration from Belarus.

- It was always like that in dictatorial countries, in countries with difficult economic situation. But I know that all the Belarusians who are leaving today will return and build a new Belarus. And today I ask the Belarusians who are now in exile, to help change their country. You can help financially, support independent media, support opposition movements and join in, not be on the sidelines. Feel yourself Belarusian. Feel yourself a nation.

- But today Lukashenka on all screens of state television actually threatened opposition activists, called them radicals, said that there will be no revolution.

- What do you expect from Lukashenka? You expect him to say "there will be a revolution, now overthrow me"?

- But this year the situation is slightly different. There is a situation in Ukraine, and our surveys show (you don't have to believe them) that people do pay attention to it, especially in the regions. Lukashenka took advantage of the situation in Ukraine. How do you think these people can be persuaded that Belarus is not Ukraine.

- This is a question for the Ukrainian authorities. Today we are trying to make them understand how important it is for Ukraine channels to work in Belarus. By the way, Poroshenko promised Lukashenka that Belarus will have a Ukrainian channel. Where is this channel? Information about Ukraine must reach Belarusians.

For this, there is a whole section on the charter97 website dedicated to Ukraine, and we report on what is actually happening in the neighboring country. And today we urge the Ukrainian authorities to insist, to remind Lukashenka of his own promise.

- There's a war going on, and this is what Belarusians are afraid of.

- Yes, there is a war, so it is necessary to defend our country and independence. Lukashenka is not the guarantor of the Belarusian independence. It is Lukashenka who is preparing such a scenario in Belarus, as he is today a Russian puppet.

If we compare the situation in Belarus, it can now be compared with the situation in the occupied Crimea. Only democratic governments can be a guarantor of the independence of Belarus, but not a dictator. And this should push us to change the regime dependent on Russia. Also, Kremlin can replace Lukashenka at any moment.

- But what Lukashenko says evokes a color revolution, democracy, just what happened in Ukraine. How to explain to people that it was not the Maidan that had caused this war.

- Again, the task of journalists is to explain that the Ukrainians wanted autonomy and independence. Lukashenka is on a short leash of Putin. Putin's task is to restore the Soviet Union. Actually now the collapse of the Soviet Union is continuing, because in 1991, it, unfortunately, did not break up completely. Therefore, today we must fight for independence and the democratization of the country.

- You say that everything is in the hands of journalists ...

- Not everything is in the hands of journalists, but journalists have a huge responsibility.

- What percentage of people has access to independent media? How many of them have interest in the independent media? How many of them believe the independent media? This is the question.

- The problem is that Lukashenka has been destroying the independent media for over 20 years, because in them he saw one of the main threats to his authority. Our task is not to give up and to communicate this information to people. This is what we do both through the Internet and through the TV channels. We need to develop a clandestine print and bring information to the people. I appeal to the viewers. Promote independent media -- tell your friends, relatives, neighbors, you can buy a satellite dish - watch Belsat. You can go online and read the Charter97 website.

- I hope that it will be like that. Thank you for your work and your stance.

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