Mikalai Charnavus: Either Lukashenka Leaves, Or We Do Not Disperse

The entrepreneurs should set an ultimatum to the authorities.

The forum of entrepreneurs started in Minsk on October 10. The keynote of the previous forum, which was held in April this year, was the phrase: “Comrades, we are being robbed!”

How has the situation changed for the last half of the year? Are the entrepreneurs ready to fight for their rights?

Individual entrepreneur, public activist from Baranavichy Mikalai Charnavus answers the questions of Charter97.org.

- How does the real situation with the small business in the regions look like? What do people trading at the markets talk about?

- People say it’s time. Soon, very soon the entrepreneurs will arm themselves with sticks and be no longer silent. It is possible to hold on somehow for two or three months at the most, but what comes next?

Imagine – people have no money. It’s all empty, like some field after the locust’s raid. A person earns BYN 200-300 in the regions of Belarus. What kind of customers are they? The markets are empty. I lack words to describe what is happening.

If somenone said some 10 years ago that the markets will be empty – no one would believe them, such a person would be mocked at. The trade was ongoing, it was so crowded it was hard to move, to find a parking place. Today it’s such a situation that we might lie down on the ground in the middle of the market. They would pass you by without asking why you did this. These are the times we are living in.

- Do the entrepreneurs realize where the root of their problems is?

- Of course everyone knows everything. He drives around in his expensive cars, builds new palaces, flies no one knows where and no one knows why, brings barrels of wine from Georgia. Why all this? Where is the effect of his foreign trips?

He travels – that’s it. Water melons grow in Drazdy – and nothing else seems to bother him. The only thing he cares about is to show on TV that he grew big water melons, like in Central Asia or the Crimea. He wants to show he is hardworking, while all the others are loafers.

So, he should know: people in Belarus are not loafers and have never been such. The people are doing their best, struggling to the utmost, but nothing works. And there is one reason for that: he has driven the country to such a state for 25 years that nothing grows here, apart from the water melons in Drazdy.

Belarusians cannot earn normally with these authorities. As soon as they start raising their heads a little, the “tsar’s people” come and seize everything. Taxes, fines, draconian decrees etc.

The people realize this clearly and when they say it’s time to arm with sticks, everyone knows it is aimed against one person – Lukashenka.

- How do you assess the Forum of Entrepreneurs, which has started in Minsk on October 1?

- I think it is necessary to use other methods of struggle. Such forums have long become obsolete, the people in the regions do not perceive them. Anatol Shumchanka, as it seems to me, understands this, and ignored Baranavichy due to some reason. He could have called me or some other entrepreneur though. It shouldn’t be the way when Minsk sings one songs and the regions sing the other. Entrepreneurs should be united. The participants of the forum made a minor mistake. Other methods are needed.

- What methods would be effective, in your opinion?

- We need to go out to the Square and say it out loud: guys, either we live and will live and grow the economy, or leave, don’t interfere. We need to set an ultimatum to the authorities: either Lukashenka leaves, or we do not disperse.

Such position should be constantly voiced, so that it roots in the memory of entrepreneurs and other citizens of Belarus. The people do not want any more subtle tones, mild measures. They want to hear precise, categorical, loud statements.

This slogan should unite everyone. The people are ready to sign under clear demands. As soon as there are precise and clear demands, the entrepreneurs, and other people will unite in solidarity. So far, it’s Minsk on the one hand and the regions on the other.

- You’ve mentioned solidarity. Recently, Editor-in-Chief of the website Charter97.org Natallia Radzina stated there was a threat to the work of the website due to the decrease of financing, and called on the readers for help. What do you think should the entrepreneurs do in such situation?

- That's right: entrepreneurs should be the first to respond and help the Charter website. Entrepreneurs can now be at the forefront of the struggle for freedom of speech and democracy in Belarus.

Look: an entrepreneur is more or less independent of the authorities and can support political and civil initiatives. People in the regions feel this and get attracted to entrepreneurs, some of whom are becoming the center of social activity. For example, I am constantly being asked to help influence the authorities on a variety of issues.

You have to be brave, go ahead - and people will follow you. Entrepreneurs can and must now have their say. People at the factories are still afraid: the authorities can fail to renew labor contracts on any convenient occassion.

Entrepreneurs are more independent and this should be used to help good initiatives.

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