Liudmila Hraznova: There Was Hope For Quick Change Of Situation In Belarus

The Charter'97 became a core that united various opposition forces.

In November, 20 years have passed since the proclamation of the civil initiative Charter'97. On November 10, 1997, a document was published that was signed by over one hundred prominent Belarusian public figures, politicians, journalists, regional leaders. The Belarusians supported the initiative, more than 100 thousand people signed the document.

The website charter97.org continues publication of the interviews with the people who founded the civil initiative. Deputy of the Supreme Council of Belarus of the 13th convocation, candidate of economic sciences, head of the organization Human Rights Alliance Liudmila Hraznova answered our questions today.

— Mrs. Hraznova, you were a member of the Supreme Council of Belarus of the 13th convocation before the state turnover of 1996. Why did you quit and join the opposition? As they surely offered you, like other deputies, some lucrative job in the puppet “chamber”.

— Back then, we had a hope the situation in the country would change quickly, but, looking back, I think those were groundless hopes for the breakthrough. However, what happened, happened, history cannot turn back. We can only correct our actions today and assess the situation differently.

Extremely radical, romantic aspirations do not always serve as the most reliable benchmark, they do not always help to ensure a smooth, evolutionary, democratic, and most importantly independent development of the country.

— Why did you decide to join the initiative Charter’97 in 1997?

— Firstly, there was a proposal from Andrei Sannikov, whom I knew before and believed that he was a sufficiently trained person, with a knowledge of foreign policy, a real professional.

Secondly, outstanding, interesting personalities began to gather around the initiative.

The third reason was the hope for rapid changes, the country's return to the channel of democratic changes.

— In your opinion, what was the influence of the Charter’97? You worked in this initiative for a long time, participated in protest actions, monitored human rights violations, actively represented the Charter’97 at the international arena.

— The Charter'97 was a core that united various opposition forces, this was its greatest value. This played a big role in the conditions of confusion and disunity of the opposition.

The second aspect — the Charter'97 successfully held mass actions. Its technologies for holding mass events were the most advanced, and this made it possible to widely declare this initiative at home and abroad.

The third aspect is foreign policy. The Charter'97 greatly positioned itself at the international arena, we could offer interesting people who could clearly formulate and adequately perform at various international venues.