Statkevich Plans To Bring Dozens Of Thousands People On Freedom Day

The pressure on the authorities should escalate.

Presidential candidate at the election-2010 Mikalai Statkevich is going to start crowdfunding for holding street protest actions, promising to bring dozens of thousands people on Freedom Day.

“We expected this very number of people to come to the action on February 17, I predicted that. Now, my colleagues and I will work so that dozens of thousands people would come to the center of Minsk on March 25. This is a real figure,” – the politician has said in an interview to Radio Liberty.

“I support activity in the regions, but everything is decided in the capital”

Mikalai Statkevich notes that the Belarusian National Congress (which organized the action on February 17 in Minsk) will discuss and adopt the detailed plan for the further actions. The politician is convinced that it’s no good to ease the pressure on the authorities – there’s a need to organize bigger protest actions, and exactly in Minsk.

“The pressure on the authorities should escalate. I support the activity in the regions, but everything is decided in the capital. To put a strong pressure on the government to make it satisfy our demands, we need to hold powerful escalating actions in Minsk. At present, we need to channel the whole activity in the regions to holding one massive national action to gather dozens of thousands people,” – he says.

The Freedom Day should become such action, Statkevich believes. The politician has added that warmer weather should settle by that time, and this is important because “there will probably be the need for prolonged actions”.

Herein, Statkevich is not going to support the “non-parasites” rally, which part of the opposition plans to hold on March 15 in Minsk.

“If our goal is not self-advertising, but achieving certain results, we should take only those steps which work for escalating of pressure on the authorities. I don’t even want to discuss weaker moves. No one must leave for the Bangalore Square after conducting an action in the center,” – he has said.

“We will announce crowdfunding”

Mikalai Statkevich has said he is going to start crowdfunding for holding street protest actions.

“If the Belarusian people want to be liberated, want normal life – they should participate in it, even if financially. Therefore we will announce crowdfunding. We need money for equipment, leaflets, and technical means. The regions need to raise money to bring the people to Minsk on March 25. We also need to collect money to the solidarity funds, to support those who will be fined. No one will pay for our freedom, forget the fairy-tales about grants,” – he says.

Statkevich says that the actions against the Decree #3 demonstrate the growth of social discontent of the Belarusians.

“If the patriotic opposition cannot organize and lead a social protest, it will be used by the anti-Belarusian forces. The social protest is dangerous because external forces may take advantage of it, and it may also destabilize the situation to such degree that Russia’s intervention would become possible. Therefore, one should be very well-considered, tough and calm. The organization of the protest is very important. We should take into account the experience of the year 2011, when the protest happened without the opposition’s leadership: some oppositionists were in jail and some just chickened. The protest then fell into a big number of small actions (he is speaking about the silent actions of protest – Radio Liberty) and eventually faded away,” – he says.

Statkevich thinks that Aliaksandr Lukashenka has three options to react to the protest movement which appears to unfold now.

“The first option is do nothing, apart from the petty foul tactics (which is fines). However, more and more people will start coming out to protest then. The second option is to brutally disperse the protest. Then it’s necessary to start from the key persons, the organizers. However, putting a person, whose release actually started the normalization in the relations with the West, back to jail would divest the whole normalization thing off its base. The third option is to start fulfilling our demands, which consist of three points. The first point can be fulfilled immediately by abolishing the decree. The second point also concerns social issues – the growth of the communal services tariffs, the drop of incomes. The third point is honest and fair elections,” – the politician says.

“People set political demands by themselves”

Statkevich disagrees with the opinion of some analysts that the opposition politicians’ attempt to broaden the agenda of the current protests by the slogans of the struggle for fair elections, the Belarusian language and against the "Russian world" would alienate people from them and the protests would decline.

“Now the people in the regions, especially in the district centers and villages, remain in despair. The social protest there is taking the form of hatred to just one person whom they believe should be blamed for everything. The people are setting political demands by themselves: on February 17, “Lukashenka, Go Away!” was one of the most popular slogans. Trust me, if people reckon us as their defenders, they will automatically perceive all the rest. The most important thing for the people is to live normally, to earn money. If a person who defends them has such special features, like, he is Belarusian-speaking and is on guard against Russia – then it’s how it should be. I was also quite surprised with the criticism of the “Long Live Belarus!” slogan. Do you want it to die or what? The slogan “Long Live Belarus!” is turning into a social one. The democratic opposition should head this protest, and it will. This will be the guarantee that this protest will not be used against our statehood,” – the politician has said.