Yury Khashchavatski: These Riffraff Should Be Driven Away Like 70 Years Ago

Today the fifth in succession, invasion of Belarus is taking place.

It has been said by a well-known Belarusian filmmaker Yury Khashchavatski in an interview to charter97.org, in which he commented on the fifth “All-Belarusian People’s Assembly” held in Minsk.

– What is your evaluation of the today’s event held by the authorities?

– I would say from the start: I was not listening to it, I didn’t switch on anything, and I am not going to. Mikalai Khalezin called these gatherings “Holui-een” once (from Holui – “a sycophant” in Russian).

There is no point in this “event” for Belarus, and moreover, it is simply harmful. 2,500 henchmen of the dictatorial regime, which had driven the country to utter poverty, gather there. With their support the dictator with the “nationwide support” continues to usurp the power.

Lukashenka had scheduled this “event” to June 22. He probably decided that this symbolism would allow him to lie that we are “surrounded by the enemy” and must “defend our country,” which should be understood as “everyone must defend him.”

Sure enough, it is a highly symbolic date. It is another invasion of Belarus, which is taking place for the fifth time. I think that everyone in Belarus already understands that. But partisans will be partisans: they are keeping head down up to a certain time. But I am sure that this paralysis, this dormancy are taking place temporarily.

I think Belarusians are to recall the famous saying: “we want to be called people,” and these words are to become guidelines for action. These riffraff should be driven away like 70 years ago – it is simply necessary.

And I am not even going to listen to the nonsense this leader, who had allegedly received “nationwide recognition,” is talking. It is clear what he could say: we are “surrounded by the enemy,” “the crisis had been imposed by the West on us,” “we cannot be blamed”, “things are well with us.”

Despite these statements, everyone understands perfectly well: one should have special skills to reduce our industry to the state of waste metal, and the regime has done that “successfully.” The sovereignty of Belarus has been yielded up, and regrettably it has been done to Russia, and the dictator pins all his hopes on Russia only (though he is still trying to cadge something from the EU and the IMF). That’s what these ignorant collective-farm authorities have done.

And today the same situation is observed: the collective farm members have gathered, the chairman of the collective farm is going to thunder, to brandish fists, to utter threats, to blame the West and opposition for everything…

The dictator won’t allow any reforms anyway. Any healthy reforms unchain initiative of people, and this is to result in the loss of his power only. And to lose power for him means to lose his super profits from grey and black trade in oil products. It is clear that all these settlements in Drazdy, where top officials live in luxury, have been built on this money. And these people pay utility bills which are much less than for common Belarusians.

Only one thing is interesting for me, as for the person who had been observing this life for almost 70 years: for how long it is to last.

– Each of the “assembly’s” 2,500 delegates has been presented a Samsung tablet computer. Its cost is comparable to an average monthly pay of an ordinary Belarusian. How could you comment that?

– It’s a typical manifestation of corruption. Lukashenka is giving bribes to “delegates,” for them to support his regime. That’s how it should be treated.

It has long been known by us that when Lukashenka promises to “fight against corruption” – it means that corruption is going to be implanted again. And so he is imposing it from top down. He is paying to these henchmen who had arrived to this “all-Belarusian assembly”, and showering them with gifts. He pays for constituency commissions and their chairmen for them to “whip up” necessary figures at the “elections.”

All that means bribery, corruption and theft from the state budget. We are deceived for our own money.