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Zmitser Bandarenka: Drazdy Dwellers Should Think About Their Future

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Zmitser Bandarenka: Drazdy Dwellers Should Think About Their Future
DZMITRY BANDARENKA

A wave of freedom has come to Belarus again.

Coordinator of the “European Belarus” Dzmitry Bandarenka has said this in an interview to the “Belsat” TV-channel.

- The authorities seem hysterical. Why are the authorities so afraidofthis action? What are they scared of, generally?

- Lukashenka knows that only 5% of the population of Belarus supports him today. They are residents of Minsk area called Drazdy, who have houses for several million dollars. Instead of selling a few of such houses, for example, for diplomats, he decided to press the whole nation.

He miscalculated a little. Not all the force structures oppose the people now - SWAT, yes, the KGB - partially, and that’s probably all. Ordinary policemen don’t need this. As for the officials,he has been putting them to jail recently,they can’t love him. I told once that the time would come and the pensioners will rebel. They have. The same as entrepreneurs. And now Lukashenka with a small gang is actually opposing the whole Belarusian nation. He knows he is practically alone against the whole country. That is why he is shaking. I can’t give you an exact quotation, but thisis an internet hit - the statement of our famous athlete Vital Hurkou with avery serious analysis and assessment of what happened in the recent days.

- As for somebody wetting his pants, speaking a cultural language. Apart from the fact that Lukashenka is supported by a very small group of the population,and even the pro-government structures, apparently, dislike him. Is there any point of talking to him? Recently, practically all opposition politicians said that the situation was complicated,and, to prevent collapse,there wasa need for a dialogue. Is there any sense of having a dialogue with Lukashenka?

- He hasn’t crossed a certain line yet. I would like to remind that I reckon Lukashenka as my personal enemy. He is an enemy ofevery Belarusian family, of the whole nation,but negotiations are called negotiations not for nothing, because, we should talk even with enemies.

There are the times when conversations are no longer possible, as it was with Ceausescu, Mussolini and othersHowever, if the intellectual level of Aliaksandr Lukashenka remains as it is now - then he will get what he deserves. Today we are still saying that the dialogue is possible in the country.

- Where is the line?

- The day before yesterday, the Polish Sejm held hearings attended by many representatives from Belarus, from various political parties and there was an appeal to the Polish colleagues so that they contribute to the Polish know-how, the "round table", was implemented in Belarus. That is, at the moment I can responsibly declare that the absolute majority of all democratic parties and organizations stand for the dialogue.

- Maybe then it is worth negotiating not with Lukashenka himself, but with today's government structures, which, in principle, do not support him?

- Such messages emanate from many leaders of the Belarusian opposition, and we often say in conversations with our foreign colleagues: talk to the people from Dradzdy. Who knows? Maybe there will be a fire. Drazdy today is a symbol of corruption, a symbol of deception, a symbol of lies, but perhaps there are intelligent people there and they have something to lose. Lukashenka, perhaps, already has nothing to lose, but let these people think about their future, about the fate of their children. Because there were times when thousands of accomplices of dictators had to run away. Belarus is located in the center of Europe not for nothing, geography influences. Maybe there are smart people there too.

- Is it worth using such words as "lustration" in negotiations with today's government structures? Because there is such a thing as responsibility for a crime. How broad should this responsibility be? Or some kind of immunity must be guaranteed in negotiations, as, for example, Lukashenka was offered earlier. "You leave, with guarantees of immunity, only do not bring the country to the abyss." Is it possible to limit this lustration somehow, or maybe it is not needed at all?

- Everything will be like in a civilized world. Will the opposite side behave rationally? There will be guarantees, there will be lustration. In total, there willbe a little of each at different stages. And today, a lot depends on them, too. In case they do stupid things - there will be a great approach, and the fact that former political prisoners will come to power in Belarus in the near future is obvious to me.

- Is March 25 a Rubicon which will change our country, or have these changes already started happening? What is your assessment of the situation?

- This is not the beginning, but it will not be the end either. Perhaps, the authorities will manage to influence the number of participants through these parental, student meetings on this day. And what will happen on March 26? And what will happen on March 27? Will the jobs appear? They just went crazy with Miasnikovich, when they say that "Belarusians will work for a bowl of soup, they will cut timber". The people are simply outraged. This only adds fuel to the fire.

- Can we say then,it’s not a Rubicon, but maybe one point of non-return?

- We should do our best at our place, the place where we are. The duty of those who live abroad is to help the country: to help the repressed, to pressure Lukashenka from all sides, to appeal to the authorities of those countries where Belarusians live today. And we will do it.

I think a lot of heroes will be come out today in Minsk. Honor and glory for them today. Today, the whole Belarus and the whole world are looking to them with hope.

We should remember that there are no easy ways. When the Polish "Solidarity" was rising, it was not easy, but people did it. When there was a velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia, it also began with a violent dispersal of the youth demonstration, and then the entire country rose to protect its children at the call of the intelligentsia. And I am very pleased that 200 of the Belarusian culture defended their three colleagues. These are the steps that are needed.

Was it easy for the East Germans, weren’t they afraid to go out into the streets? But they won. And today this wave of freedom has come to Belarus again. We did everything we could, in 1991, and we repeatedly came out to protest against the dictatorship and to stand for independence for all these 20 years. However, in these coming holy and important days,we should believe in one another and be solidary.

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