Mikalai Statkevich: Working People Shout Stand Against Bootlickers

The May 1 action will be held in the center of Minsk and other cities.

One of the leaders of the Belarusian National Congress Mikalai Statkevich has said this in an interview to Belsat TV.

- Please tell us what to expect on May 1?

- This will be a festive action. May 1 remains a state holiday in Belarus, the Labour Day. This is also the international holiday – the Day of International Solidarity of Workers. Lukashenka, who went to power, promising to protect the rights of the working people, made it so the May 1 has not been celebrated in the center of Minsk for 20 years. He forced the celebrations out of the center to the suburbs, and then this holiday was banned in other cities of our country. I have an impression that those who are stealing from our people, disdain work, disdain people, they do not want to see anyone in the center of Minsk.

We want to return the tradition of celebration of May 1 in the centers of our cities, which existed for decades. Secondly, the working people today have a huge number of problems. As I said, the man who promised to defend the workers’ rights, solves his personal issues and the problems of his bootlickers at their expense.

We plan to hold a festive action, during which we will talk about the problems that the working people face. We have a draft resolution which is under discussion now, and which we receive remarks and suggestions about. We will put this draft resolution at vote. There is one more reason for this meeting – solidarity. Sadly, it happened so that, they put twenty young men to jail in order to intimidate the people, to prove the delirium of one individual. Their families are suffering. We need to show our solidarity with these people. These are the three aspects of the action: the holiday, the problems of the working people, and our solidarity.

- So, will it be not just a celebration, but a solidarity action and a protest action at the same place?

- Yes, all these things together. Traditionally, the workers discuss their problems on this day, and protest if necessary.

- It is a tradition that every action which you lead or join the organizational committee, is happening under a similar scenario, when it comes to the relations with the authorities. You just notify the authorities, just like it happens in normal countries. Is it the struggle for the freedom space?

- This is a struggle for the constitutional right. Article 35 of the Constitution says: people have a right to peaceful gatherings and demonstrations. However, today, the illegal “parliament”, or rather a bunch of marionettes, which follow the orders of one person, adopted such laws that the law “On Holding Mass Events” can be called a law “On Non-Holding Mass Events”. They allow a rally to the Bangalore square, and the width of the sidewalk in one of the places there is a meter and a half. What kind of a demonstration is that? Time to get back to the Constitution.

Lukashenka illegally holds the post of president. The Constitution states that "the president is the guarantor of all constitutional rights." Let him honestly say that what constitutional rights he is not going to guarantee us. Let him say: I cannot guarantee you a normal job, fair pay, I do not guarantee the observance of your rights, I do not guarantee the right to free gatherings. However, the Constitution does guarantee this. Even if he says: I do not guarantee anything else to you, just keep me, my family and the bootlickers - we will still fight for our rights. No one will give us anything, if we want changes.

We have no other leverage but the street. First, we should return our right to gather in the center of the city. We shouldn’t be afraid. Today, one more dispersal will cost Lukashenka $3,5 billion of IMF’s loan. Let him just try.

- You mean, your prognosis is that there won’t be harsh actions and brutal dispersal this time, unlike on March 25?

- You know, when a mentally ill person is at power, no one can guarantee anything by 100%. However, I’d like to note that Lukashenka paid a high price for that dispersal. Lukashenka’s people went to New York, where they were supposed to receive the loan, which Lukashenka planned to spend not on the people, of course, but on the police, the special services, the officials, so that our children would have to repay this loan. After the events of March 25, that loan was suspended, but there is still hope. One baton blow – and he could forget about that money. Let him check his cushions, his foreign bank accounts, and feed his hungry wolves so that they won’t bite him to death. I think he will switch on his brain, and they won’t repeat such massacre with a one-month interval. They should be smart enough not to repeat that. However, I cannot guarantee anything.

- We all hoped that his brain will switch on the Freedom Day, but it didn’t. In case the authorities detain you again, as it happened on March 25, do you have any vision how this action should or shouldn’t go without you?

- Thank you for this question, this should be said. First, I am not going to hide, as it costs too much for the people who hide me. And then there will be hacking of social networks accounts, statements on my behalf, and if they arrest me, they will deny that I was there. If they detain me – don’t trust any statements on my behalf, any calls not to come. You come out not for someone and after someone. You come to defend what you have. To defend your dignity, your life and the lives of your children.

Secondly, if I don’t come to join you at the action, gather from the direction of the GUM store in the Kastrychnitskaya square: it will be difficult for them to stop the metro, as it’s a multiple station. The place allows going somewhere – there’s the residence at one side, the Independence Palace at the other side, and two prisons full of innocent people are also located nearby.

They will think twice before banning our meeting, it’s in their interests so that action would be held at the place that we planned – the Kastrychnitskaya Square. If I fail to go there, I think there will be some decent leaders at the spot. It will be possible to take a walk along the streets, the meteorologists promise nice weather. Our main goal is to return the tradition of marking May 1, which Lukashenka has banned for 20 years. We have the right for that.

- I would like to ask you about optimism-pessimism which probably occurred in our people, who participated or watched the Chernobyl Way action. This action gathered fewer people than other actions this spring. In your opinion, does it mean that the people are uninterested in the Chernobyl theme? Do you think there will be more people on May 1 as the social theme is closer to the people?

- You know, people have already seen what real protests are. The Belarusians took to the streets without any requests, pleas from the category "let us protest against you". They went to the centers of their cities. People do not want, like some prisoners of war, to go to the Bangalore Square, lowering their heads, where no one sees or hears them. Belarusians want to protest with dignity. I do not know how many participants will be there, but I know that it is very important that we do not have to return this platform for protests again. And I know that on May 1 the most courageous, worthy citizens will come out for the action.