Zmitser Dashkevich: Belarusians must count only on themselves

False illusions that someone will do our work instead of us must disappear.

Former political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich, a co-head of Young Front, said it in an interview with charter97.org.

– Head of the Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidziya Yarmoshyna, who is banned from entering the EU, arrived in Austria yesterday to take part in an OSCE conference. How can you comment on this event?

– The visit is yet another display of the lack of principles of EU officials. It is funny. It is not the first case when the European Union, particular officials and political leaders have invited Aliaksandr Lukashenka and his vassals despite their statements about the non-democratic character of the Belarusian regime, dictatorship and disappeared politicians. False illusions that someone will do our work instead of us must disappear.

It means that Belarusians should count only on themselves. We could expect the EU to have a principled position 10 years ago, but today we observe cyclical fluctuations between sanctions and “invitations” in policy towards Belarus.

I am getting more and more convinced that we must count only on ourselves. It is good in a certain sense.

– Besides relying on our own forces, what position should Belarusian civil society and politicians have to influence the stance of the European Union?

– If nothing is done, Belarus will be enclosed by barbed wire and 10 million people will put on prison uniform. Our people live almost like in prison.

Making others respect our rights should be a task of everyone. This is a normal thing in the West. If prices grow threefold or the national currency is devalued, people take to streets.

It became evident that the authorities cannot cope with their duties. People wrote on internet forums and try to shift responsibility for inactivity onto opposition leaders. But ordinary people are to the same degree responsible for defending their rights. The ruble is falling and prices are growing for all people, not only for opposition leaders.

As for political forces in Belarus, their main duty today is to demand the release of political prisoners. Politicians do not have right to carry out any political activities without this demand.

– Do you think the visit of Yarmoshyna to Austria is connected with the upcoming “elections” in Belarus?

– I can suggest that it is another attempt to legalise the election “campaign” of Lukashenka and the fake candidates he gathered around himself.