Iryna Khalip: "I believe in my husband's victory"

Over the last 15 years everybody has somehow forgotten that a wife could stand by the leader.

Iryna Khalip, the wife of the oppositional candidate Andrei Sannikov answers the questions of charter97.org website.

-- Iryna, you are a well-known journalist, and today you are also the wife of the presidential candidate in Belarus Andrei Sannikov. How comfortable it is to combine these two statuses?

-- I would say not statuses but rather different lifestyles. It is not always very comfortable to combine them: for instance, journalism and human rights protection, work and a maternity leave, participation in street rallies and impartial coverage of the situation in Belarus. It is hard to be a journalist under dictatorship. It is hard to be a wife of an oppositional presidential candidate. But both things could be changed by changing the political system. It will be comfortable to live and to work in a free Belarus, I am convinced.

-- It is well known that serious people offered you to become a presidential candidate yourself. Why haven't you agreed?

-- It's true, I was offered to participate in the presidential campaign. But I do not like to be a boss. If my husband were not Andrei Sannikov, I would possibly agree. But Sannikov is a person who can make Belarus a free country. During all previous presidential elections and referenda I supported oppositional candidates, but every time I worried: what if this candidate will betray all of us in the blackiest moment, on the square? It is clear that in a totalitarian country, and while we have a magic calculator of Madam Yarmoshyna, who multiplies six by eight and gets 7 millions, the presidential election is not a visit to the polling station, but gathering on the square. And not just to stand with a flag there, but to go and defend freedom.

Unfortunately, the previous candidates preferred to leave the square before anything bad happened. And we stayed, refusing to believe that we had been betrayed. And now I finally know: candidate Sannikov won't betray. He won't walk away. He won't flee. He won't hide. I trust in him infinitely. He will be able to win, to hold out and to make Belarus a democratic state, and the people will be proud to be its citizens. And I would be able to do more good as a wife in this situation. After all, over the last 15 years everybody has forgotten that a wife could stand by the leader. However, it is at least a proof of his mental and physiological normality, of his ability to live with a family, not with the menials.

-- It's true, after Iryna Shushkevich there was no first lady in Belarus...

-- Even today I admire Iryna Shushkevich, like I admired her in the 90s. That's the kind of a first lady of Belarus I would like to see. After weird Soviet protocol formalities which had been summed up by the phrase attributed to "dear Leonid Ilyich" [Brezhnev] : "Mister Nixon with his wife and me with Gromyko", the first ladies appeared and unexpectedly turned out to be perfectly prepared for meetings with Western presidents and their wives. Though they evoked misunderstanding and irritation first, and their public appearances made them targets for malignant gossip. Raisa Gorbachova was disapproved for looking well, for dressing well, and for making public appearances with her husband, just like wives of “damned” imperialists. What sublime impudence! Then Naina Yelstina emerged in Russia and Iryna Shushkevich in Belarus. They are beautiful, intelligent, decent women.

In winter, when we attended Stanislau Shushkevich's jubilee, and were met by Stanislau and Iryna, for a moment it even seemed to me that everything is like it was before, back to normal, and there had not been all these 16 years of hassle, no murders, arrests, destroyed biographies and warped lives. I even wanted to close my eyes. But it is not a solution to close your eyes and wait until you would be able to wake up. We must build the country in which one would like to wake up, as one more happier day is awaiting you.

-- Do you see yourself in a role of the first lady, and if yes, how it will be?

-- Certainly I do. I am sure I will cope with this role. First lady should simply love people and be concerned with their problems. Our state which is attracted by monumental forms, it prefers physically strong people- hockey players, biathletes, football players. Palaces, trails, fields are constructed for them.

They make the news, they get generous payment for raising the flag when it is necessary and slowing down in order not to outrun the chief. The state doesn’t notice the weak and ill. Of course, it doesn’t throw them down from a rock like in ancient Sparta, but doesn’t do anything to help them.

You may remember how some weeks ago I addressed your website readers after seeing a suggestion in comments to write an article to help the ill boy to collect money for his treatment. So, money has been collected, Adrian Mastyka and his mother leave for Germany on June 21 to undergo a treatment course. Do you know who helped to create and maintain the website “Help Adrian”, who spread information about him on the Internet? It was Natallya Zhurbina from Homel, who has been nursing her daughter Dasha diagnosed with ICP for 16 years. Do you think she doesn’t have her own problems? I guess she has enough. But it is her initiative to spend he spare time to help other ill children. Is this normal? This is normal for Natallya. But it is not normal when the state tosses caring for ill children to Internet community of moms.

First ladies in civilized counties are seriously engaged in helping the weak and ill. I think this will be my job after Andrei Sannikov’s victory. However sad it may sound, journalism will have to wait.

-- It not once when criminal cases have been initiated against you for your sharp articles, you have repeatedly received threats. You husband is running in the presidential campaign. This creates additional risk. Can this stop you?

-- A risk cannot be additional. If it exists and a person continues to live and work, new threats and criminal cases won’t change his or her own mental outlook. If a person is ready to risk for the sake of an idea, it doesn’t matter what an idea it is – “several lines in a newspaper” or victory over dictatorship.

-- You had several opportunities to leave Belarus. Why didn’t you do this?

-- I had such opportunities. America, Europe. Oh, I also have the right to repatriate to Israel. To be honest, I adore Israel. But bonds with my relatives I feel not in Israel but in Warsaw, where most of them were burnt in ghetto. But I want to live and even die here. This is irrational. I remember going for a walk with my cousin Vadzim, who left the country 20 years ago. He is a citizen of Israel and the US but sometimes visits Belarus. He says this is irrational, too. We were walking down the street one evening; Vadzim was looking around and then said thoughtfully: ‘How awful… And the other side of the street is awful, too. But I feel good only here.’ For an unknown reason, I feel good here, too. It is good even if everything going wrong with you. I’d like it to be a better place.

-- What should the Belarusians do to overthrow the dictatorship and win?

-- Stop lying to yourself by repeating overworked words like ‘Lukashenka won’t abandon his power, the dictatorship will last forever, Yarmoshyna will announce 105% turnout, the riot police will be thrown to the square, then police vehicles will come and we’ll go to prison, so it’s no sense in resistance.’ Believe in yourself. Understand that neither any presidential candidate alone, nor NATO and the US won’t give us victory as a gift – ‘Dear Belarusians, we’ve done a great job for you, now enjoy it’. Realize that every person can contribute to victory and gain it. Finally, go to the square on the appointed day and remain there until the victory comes.

-- And do you believe in victory?

-- Certainly I do. I believe in victory of Andrei Sannikov over Lukashenka, in a victory of common sense over absurdity of the last 16 years, in a victory of courage over cowardice, in a victory of awakening over the apathy which has smothered the whole country, and finally, in a victory of freedom over the stagnant, ugly, disgusting, rude and abrasive dictatorship. And I will do my possible for this victory. And everything impossible too.

Reference: Iryna Khalip is a special correspondent of “Novaya Gazeta” in Belarus. Worked as deputy editor of the newspaper “Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta” and editor of the weekly paper “Imya”, both closed by the authorities. Suffered from several criminal persecutions for her professional activity, got warnings from a prosecutor’s office. She and her father Uladzimir Khalip, a playwright and documentary filmmaker, were brutally beaten at a demonstration against the union with Russia on April 2, 1997. Received threats to her life at the end of last year. Winner of Zmitser Zavadski Prize (2003), Henri Nannen Prize (2005), Hero of Europe Prize in the nomination Brave Heart (2005), Courage in Journalism Award (2009).

We’ve defeated Fascism, we’ll defeat Lukashism: Andrei Sannikov and Iryna Khalip laying flowers to the Victory Monument

Iryna Khalip and Andrei Sannikov often take part in opposition demonstrations together

Action “March in Prison Robes”: Belarusian journalists protesting against suppression of freedom of speech

Receiving Courage in Journalism Award