19 March 2024, Tuesday, 8:58
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

Leanid Zaika: It Is To Begin Soon In Belarus As Well

41
Leanid Zaika: It Is To Begin Soon In Belarus As Well

The country will "float" to the situation of 1989-1990.

Experts from the World Economic Unbalance Laboratory said that the level of social inequality in Russia resembled the situation of 1905, when the first mass actions of workers took place.

And how can the state of the Belarusian society and economy be assessed? The head of the analytical center Strategiya (Strategy) Leanid Zaika answers this question to Charter97.org.

– You have repeatedly talked about the lag in the economy structure that arose between the developed countries and Belarus. What happens to the "Belarusian model" today?

– Relations between the authorities, society and the economy in Belarus are now under the sign of kind of "paternalistic decadence." The second image that comes to mind is a jelly jolting. The authors of the "Belarusian model" suddenly became eager to find "social non-payers," people got indignant, took to the streets and squares – and the "innovators" were frightened of their initiatives and backed off.

We found ourselves in a situation where, instead of real economic processes, the authorities relied on the childish expectation of a "miracle." They promise "miracles" with an enviable regularity, like spells. Although, frankly speaking, the level of these promises is so low that I would like to offer Aliaksandr Lukashenka and his ministers to live for at least a year at the level they are promoting as a "benefaction."

Lukashenka's official salary is about four thousand dollars. It would be interesting to see how he would live on the salary that he promises to give to Belarusians. Or on the salary that the official statistics "shows."

Instead, in the revolutionary 2017, Lukashenka and his closest associate Mikhail Miasnikovich, provoked an attack on the entire Belarusian society with an appeal to "ostracize" the so-called "parasites." The attack failed and now we have entered a "waiting" phase.

But the fact is that no Christmas "miracle" will happen. The authorities know this themselves and have taken a completely absurd propaganda action to "stimulate" entrepreneurship. The end of the year passed in playing cat and mouse with entrepreneurs.

And this is one of the indicators of a substantial backlog: gentlemen, it's too late to do it, it should have been done in 1995! Secondly, the documents adopted on the entrepreneur activity left more questions than answers.

For the moment, the Belarusian ruler is interested in developing foreign business in our country – mainly the Chinese one. People can see how the important positions in the economy are step by step occupied by foreigners and the gradual "Chinazation" is taking place.

– What you describe is the reminiscent of the situation, in which China found itself after the "opium wars" of the mid-19th century, when the country became semi-independent. Is history repeating itself?

– As the Bible says, everything repeats itself in this world. The Belarusians have been actually turned into spectators of the play, who just sit and watch: and what they watch is who is becoming an owner of enterprises, and whether the next salary is paid...

Just imagine: 90% of Belarusians do not have property! Neither shares, no securities – nothing. When the authorities start to say something about "stimulating" entrepreneurship, it is more like the rhetoric of the feudal lords, speculating about if to weaken or tighten the chains of their vassals.

Unlike any Western society, it has not started in Belarus yet. And what is to start – I will not tell you yet...

– What can become a catalyst for changes in the society?

– There is no considerable stratification based on property owned in Belarus. To be precise, this process takes place behind-the-scenes and is hidden. The property is "wrangled" anonymously.

The authorities understand that anything, but wrangling the property will be forgiven. Once the property is openly sold to foreigners or shared between the nomenclature, the people can "close" the old era and start a new one.

Belarusians are very sensitive to social inequality.

– But in fact it already exists. For example, the government has adopted the budget for 2018, according to which the unemployment benefit will not be increased. Instead, the unemployed are to face a new decree on "parasites" ...

– Well, what can I say? If this is done stupidly and awkwardly again, as it happened the last time – the Belarusians with their "guerrilla immunity" will take to the streets again. It will be as unexpected as the demonstrations that took place in the USSR.

The authorities can feel this and will try to milden the effect of their own decisions. They will send orders to the districts demanding "to reduce tension" and "create jobs".

And here we come to the definition, which is the most important for understanding the historical moment: a "Mickey Mouse" document. Belarus is entering the stage of "mickeymousazation ". Numerous "Mickey Mouse" documents will be issued, aimed at "increasing" the number of jobs, "improving" productivity and so on.

In fact, this is the last phase of stagnation. Belarus did not experience a full-scale stagnation under Brezhnev: under Piotr Masherau there was some kind of dynamics, there was a social pathos. And now, under Lukashenka, we are going through this phase. And in terms of the age, Lukashenka is an aging Brezhnev now.

The present Belarus is coming to what happened in 1989-1990. It appears to be the main trend for today.

Write your comment 41

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts