Natalya Kalyada: We speak on behalf of all political prisoners

The European Parliament holds a special on Belarus on January 12. Ahead of the event, representatives of the Belarusian civil society had a number of meetings with American politicians and activists in Washington.

President of We Remember foundation, Iryna Krasouskaya, and director of the Belarus free Theatre, Natalya Kalyada, represented Belarus at these meetings. Both agreed to answer our questions.

– Whom did you managed to meet in Washington? What issues were discussed?

– We held three big meetings during two days. Two of them were carried out under the aegis of the German Marshall Fund (GMF). The first one was a meeting with journalists, representatives of the political elite and directors of NGOs, which cooperate with Belarusian democratic institutions. The event was attended by officers of foreign embassies in the US. A second event was a Capitol Hill meeting with representatives of 16 American senators. We also had a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that was initiated by the Department of State. And in the end, Bruce Jackson, president of the Project on Transitional Democracies, and Iryna Krasouksaya organized a reception with figures of the US political elite and the Belarusian diaspora.

Three key issues were discussed at all meetings: release of political prisoners, aid to Belarusian democratic forces and families of the repressed, and sanctions on the regime of Lukashenka.

– Sanctions are a popular topic for discussions in the Belarusian society. In particular, there are opinions that sanctions are not effective. Do you talk about political or economic sanctions with the American politicians?

– We discussed a full range of instruments to influence the regime. We often hear that sanctions are not effective, but it is far from being true: it was the economic sanctions that facilitate the release of Alyaksandr Kazulin, persons involved in the Case of 14, and American lawyer Emmanuel Zeltser. When the US Government put a number of Belarusian enterprises on the black list, the administration of Lukashenka had to release political prisoners, one by one. In the current situation, such a blow seems not to be enough. Judging by the recent actions, the Belarusian authorities have lost the logical thinking ability.

It’s important to conduct a quality evaluation to determine the ways of influence on the dictatorship. Sanctions should affect the financial interests of the governmental institutions, but negative consequences for common people should be minimized. Taking into account that eight EU countries are on the top 10 list of Belarus’s trade partners, one cannot state Europe has no leverage.

– What concrete political sanctions were discussed, if any?

– While economic sanctions may be imposed in the near term, but not immediately, political sanctions may be applied within the next several weeks. In this regard, it is pertinent to note the joint actions of the United States and the European Union. Of course, the prior question is a possible travel ban for officials and heads of the law-enforcement agencies. This list should be extended significantly up to imposing the ban on all officers of the law-enforcement agencies and members of election commissions. This issue is under consideration now. It was also suggested to include Belarusian foreign minister Martynau in the list, which I find right, because European and American politicians will hardly want to deal with him in the nearest time. A special issue was a ban to enter European countries and the US for Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his family.

At the same time, common citizens of Belarus should not pay visa fees, visa granting should be simplified, all students expelled from universities should be enrolled on universities in Europe and the US. Belarusians shouldn’t feel themselves hostages of the regime, they should know the world remembers them and takes care of them. It’s very important.

- You talked with European ambassadors in Washington. In your opinion, how will positions of American and European politicians differ?

– Of course, the positions are very different. The American political elite more focuses on respect for human rights, while Europeans base on political and economic expedience. The Americans have nothing to blame themselves for: the White House and the Congress have been carrying out a persistent hard policy, while the European strategy of involvement came out to be a fatal mistake. We warned European politicians thousands of times that flirting with the dictatorship wouldn’t be good. Dozens of political prisoners have been thrown in jails; even lawyers cannot visit them. People are pressed through their relatives; the authorities use Stalin-like methods to threaten them to do hard to their children. Relatives of the prisoners and those on wanted list suffers from psychological pressure. The country has found itself in the most terrible form of totalitarism: police vans are driving around the city; apartments of ‘suspicious’ people are being searched; offices of independent mass media underwent violent attacks; people stand in a queue to the KGB to be questioned. It’s because European politicians were turning a blind eye to the ‘last dictatorship of Europe’ and even helped it to survive with financial aid and credits.

After my meeting with Hillary Clinton I asked her assistants pass her a present, a T-shirt with a slogan “Fuck realpolitik”. We launched this campaign on September 16, 2009, after president of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite invited Alyaksandr Lukashenka to visit Lithuania on the day of the tenth anniversary of killing of Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski. We are going to present such T-shirts to all European politicians within the next several months in order they remember the rules of morality. Let me quote Tom Stoppard in this connection, “dictatorship is not a political problem, but a moral one.”

The question of morality in policy is acute not only for Europeans, but also for the Belarusians who will speak at a EP meeting. I mean Alyaksandr Milinkevich, who was the main supporter of a dialogue between Europe and Lukashenka. Judging by the recent statements of foreign ministers of Poland, Germany, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, we have a real chance bring European politicians down to earth. We have this chance even if these ministers only try to save their political careers after the political error that turned into a tragedy for Belarusians.

– Do you think it is the EU or Russia that has supporting the dictatorship on its conscience?

– We have never expected our eastern neighbour to help us to save the country from dictatorship. We have been sober-minded to understand that Russia has only geopolitical interests, it is interested not in respecting human rights, but in profit from energy transporting. Russia is rapidly turning into dictatorship. The recent events, trial over Khodrkovsky and Lebedev, crackdown on Dessideters March on December 31 prove this. Russia tries to change its foreign policy doctrine by building closer relations with Europe and the US. The European Union could have used these changes long ago and coordinated its activity regarding democratic transformations in Belarus with the Kremlin. Settling the Belarusian issue would be profitable for both parties. Instead of that, Europe financed the dictatorship and granted it credits allowing Lukashenka to build a giant financial pyramid, when he paid old debts by taking new loans. Belarus is close to default today as never before. As of the end of 2010, Belarus failed to pay 48% of interest payment on the country’s external debt. This is a turning point. Once we reach this point, we’ll find ourselves on the verge of global economic problems.

As Iryna Krasouskaya said at a meting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the result of financial games with dictatorship was that ‘Lukashenka turned into a bloody dictator from a European clown’. Belarus is a litmus test for Europe that will define if the continent is able to return some morality to policy. We haven’t seen any actions for the last 10 years, though the dictatorship signaled: 1999-2000, killings of opposition leaders and a journalist; 2001, 2006, 2010, fraudulent presidential elections; none of parliamentary and local council elections were recognized. Even ahead of the recent election, when Aleh Byabenin was killed, it was clear that we would have incredibly difficult times. If the world cannot manage with a thug, it is a geopolitical disgrace for the world.

– The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, refused to meet with foreign minister Martynau. Maybe it is a sign that the united Europe has turned its face to democratic Belarus?

– I’d like to hope it’s so. I suppose, the Global artistic campaign of solidarity with Belarus launched by the Free Theatre plays its role here. Politicians have to listen to cultural figures who raise their voice to support free Belarus. Catherine Ashton is responsible for her action not only to Belarusians, but also to representatives of the British intellectual elite, who supports Belarusians struggling for their rights. After Tom Stoppard, Mick Jagger, Steven Spielberg, Vaclav Havel, Kevin Spacey and dozens of other world’s celebrities had supported our campaign, we noticed it became much easier to convey a message to politicians.

– You are in great demand in the world. Doors of the world’s leading theatres are open to you. Why did you become engaged in politics?

– We are not engaged in politics. We are just speaking about the morality that politics must contain. Politics is an integral part of life of any person. This is especially true in our situation. Our friends are in prison now. These are Andrei Sannikov, Iryna Khalip, Zmitser Bandarenka, Natallya Radzina, Uladzimir Kobets, Alyaksandr Atroshchankau. We worked in different spheres with most of the people, who are now in the KGB jail. Yes, were in demand. We are successful in our profession, and this makes our voice to be heard. It’s our luck that we are not in prison and we have an opportunity to speak aloud. We’ll speak on behalf all people, who are held in the KGB jails as hostages.

Once in 2006, we talked with a European politician and asked if the EU was able to interfere with our problems and help Belarusians to get rid of the dictatorship. He said, “It will happen, when they begin to kill people in streets.” Is it so that the world needs deaths to save 9.5 million people from the terror of violence?

– Can you summarize positive results of your visit to Washington?

– It’s due to us that the US Congress will soon hold hearings on Belarus. We managed to provide a full information package on the events in Belarus to Obama. The US government assured us that sanctions on the regime of Lukashenka would be extended. We are assured that the American government would coordinate its actions with the EU leadership.

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