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NEXTA: If We're Amoebas, Nothing Will Change

NEXTA: If We're Amoebas, Nothing Will Change
STSIAPAN SVIATLOU

There must be something to start with.

Last week, Stsiapan Sviatlou, better known as blogger NEXTA, released the documentary "Lukashenka. Criminal materials". For more than a week, the film has remained in the trends of the Belarusian YouTube, gaining almost 1.5 million views. Now the blogger announced the meeting of subscribers at Freedom Square in Minsk on Friday, November 8 at 18:00, Radio Racyja reports.

- If we talk about statistics, it's already about two million people in all social networks - one and a half on YouTube and five hundred thousand on Odnoklassniki and others. Every fourth adult Belarusian got acquainted with the film, showed it to parents, friends, grandparents and neighbors. And also many stories were shown to officials, policemen, social workers. Half of the country got acquainted with this film.

- You call people to the Square. Why? What for? And why so soon after the film was released?

- This is not my initiative. It's the initiative of the people who write to me in the comments, in personal messages, they say something should be done so that this film is not forgotten in 10 days, as it was with other high profile videos. One of these proposals is to meet together to discuss possible options regarding what to do next, to propose ideas, and, in general, to get together, to get to know each other and to meet together in one place.

- You're talking about comments, and many people would say, "Well, listen, you're in Warsaw, and you're calling people to the street in Minsk.

- As for my stay in Warsaw, it doesn't mean I'm safe. I continue to receive various threats, various messages. And despite the threats, the persecution of the authorities ... and I have noticed that with every attack, my popularity is only increasing, the number of subscribers is growing. This film has also required a lot of work, effort and energy. And I wouldn't say that I'm just sitting in a chair and calling someone else out. First of all, it's not a call, it's just an offer to meet. If anybody wants to, please come and get acquainted, it is absolutely legal, thanks to the legal pre-election campaign.

- And how do you assess the actual reactions that have appeared, that you call for some sort of action?

- I think the authorities got scared, frightened, and gave out the guidelines to "ruin" him, first of all, for being a Polish blogger who is outside Belarus. Secondly, he calls, but he won't go there himself. This is aimed at those who do not know the situation at all. My subscribers know it all for sure, they just let it slide.

- And what can we expect at Freedom Square on Friday, November 8?

- This will just be a gathering, as youth bloggers say, or a meeting of the channel's subscribers to discuss the film. Some of the famous bloggers will speak to the people. The people will get acquainted, and a bank of ideas, where they can send their proposals, will appear. I hope that it will be possible to play prizes and bonuses among the best ones. I hope it will be striking, it will be held without violence, or conflict, or provocation. It will be just a meeting, as in any civilized country, where hundreds of bloggers hold their events, and this is not an event of a national scale.

- In your film you say that Lukashenka has been leading Belarus for a quarter of a century, and that there are always such voices if someone calls to protest, saying that this is not the time yet. And what do you think, maybe it's not the time to do it now?

- There are people who have been saying for 25 years: not the time. And I would like to ask them: when will the time come? If you continue to do nothing and be such an amoeba, then, of course, nothing will change. If you try to do something, at least to unite together, to look at each other, to get acquainted with each other, it's a completely different situation, and you must start with something.

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