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Leonid Stonov: Belarus has dictatorship and manual control over economy

Leonid Stonov: Belarus has dictatorship and manual control over economy
Leonid Stonov

Belarusian officials are anti-Semites, and any advances to them made by Israel only worsen the situation.

This is what Leonid Stonov, International Director of the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), said in an interview with charter97.org.

- Leonid, you have always been rather harsh towards the Belarusian authorities on the issue of anti-Semitism. During one of your visits to our country you even claimed that "Belarusian officials hate Jews." How do you currently assess the situation here?

- We are dealing with the so-called "domestic anti-Semitism" – a personal anti-Semitism displayed by officials and the people in positions of authority. This, unfortunately, is yet ineradicable. There is also an extremely high level of xenophobia in the society.

There is no real Jewish life in Belarus, no Jewish theater, which was once very famous here, no good media, no Jewish schools, although there are some Sunday schools, but not in all major cities - only, I think, in three or four. And religious life is very limited. There are almost no own rabbis, all of them are visiting, and they often become hostages of the visa policy. When their visas are canceled, synagogues remain without rabbis.

The situation with respect to historical heritage and cemeteries is also very bad. Historical heritage should be protected and preserved, but people in Belarus are indifferent to this.

So there is, in fact, anti-Semitism, and hiding it is completely unfair, this must be fought. We tried to convince the authorities that any monitoring of human rights and especially religious life is in the interests of the state. And we do this work not for ourselves, and not even for the national community, but for the authorities, to ensure that the authorities had the objective information and take action to remedy the situation. Therefore, this issue calls for a decisive turn to openness.

- What kind of Jewish life could there be in Belarus, when the national, Belarusian life is destroyed?

- Absolutely. There is practically no support for the Belarusian national culture and language in Belarus. For some reason, few books are published of even such brilliant writers as Vasil Bykov, Svetlana Aleksiyevich and others.

The point is that human rights are above all else. Although all human rights should be respected in a complex, some (especially in the US) put on the first place freedom of religion, and on the second - freedom of speech. Maybe it's wrong, maybe freedom of speech should be in the first place – but it does not matter. These are the two cornerstones of a democratic society.

There is, however, dictatorship and manual control over economy in Belarus.

- Still, the Israeli ambassador to Belarus Iosif Shagal said that there are no political prisoners in Belarus.

- It is absolutely wrong and does not stand up to criticism. I think this was suggested by the policy makers in Belarus. I do not rule out that this was suggested to the ambassador by the editor in chief of the Lukashenko administration newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussia, Pavel Yakubovich.

The ambassador is balancing rather than openly saying that there are political prisoners in Belarus, and that these people must be released without any preconditions. Apparently, Mr Shagal wants to establish good personal relations with the administration of Belarus, but he is a diplomat, he is a messenger of his country.

If I were the Israeli Foreign Minister, I would have withdrawn such an ambassador.

- Relatives of political prisoners and opposition leaders appealed to the Israeli authorities with a request to withdraw this ambassador from Belarus. However, there was no response. Only now, a year later, it was announced that Mr Shagal will soon leave the country.

- We must continue to press our case. If there was no reaction for the first time, the second time we must make a demand.

I think that the West is really against any dictatorship. The dictatorship even in one country is a threat not only to the neighbors, but also around the world (take for example the history of Europe in the 20th century). A dictator thinks he is the center of the universe, life revolves only around him and his regime.

- In 1994, once in power, Lukashenko praised Hitler. Has Israel forgotten it?

- I think that the Israelis simply did not want to blow this issue. Not because they are afraid of something, but because this issue is very unpleasant for Israel. This meant immediate quarrel with the Belarusian leadership.

But I know that in other countries the response to these words of Lukashenko was very painful, our organization has repeatedly written letters on this subject. It is a shameful statement. He later tried to disavow it, saying that he had been misunderstood – but this is how people always say when they are properly understood.

- Such slips of the tongue are not random, and it is clear what model of "presidential republic" was adopted by Lukashenko.

- Sure. We also have to understand where this statement was made. In Belarus, where during the war 25 percent of the population was destroyed and where Jews from other countries were brought to the death camps for extermination. This is blasphemy.

- Recently, Lukashenko also spoke of the need to take control of all the Jews in Belarus. What is this if not anti-Semitism?

- One of the forms of anti-Semitism, by the way, is the assertion that the Jews rule the world. And some believe in this ideologeme. Close to this is a new form of anti-Semitism – anti-Americanism. Because there everything is based on allegations that US banks, US big business is controlled by the Jews, and through this they also rule the world.

There is then a great need for monitoring anti-Semitism in Belarus. And this is not there yet, for various reasons. Firstly, it needs to be organized and described methodologically. Some small money is necessary, and it should be as transparent an investigation as possible.

One feature of the monitoring is a signal to the authorities and the public of the troubles in a very delicate area. If I were Mr Yakubovich, I would introduce a newspaper section with publications of Charter 97 website. Activity of the opposition is a colossal intellectual activity, it's like electronics in the car (GPS) suggesting travel options. It is simply foolish not to take advantage of it.

- Where are the facts about human rights violations of Jews in Belarus sent?

- They are sent to the European countries, the EU leadership, US, UN, and UNESCO. The West should think twice before deciding to invest in Belarus.

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