Brest Bloggers: Over 95% Belarusians Are Oppositionists

The only way to make them respect the opinion of the people is a protest.

Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau, better known on the People’s Reporter channel, told Sergey Tsikhanouski from the Country for Life Youtube channel why they became vloggers.

It all started with the fact that Siarhei Piatrukhin, solving the communal problems of his home, made a film that proved to be an effective tool the officials react to. They met with Aliaksandr Kabanau in the wake of the fight against the decree on “parasitism”.

“The state media is a bunch of loafers who are funded from our taxes. Their publications speak of complete degradation. You need to subscribe to the channels of Belarusian vloggers in order to receive honest information,” says Siarhei Piatrukhin.

“In order to live in a country for life, Belarusians need to fight for their rights. No one will do it for us. You can’t think that if something didn’t concern me personally, then nothing happened,” says Aliaksandr Kabanau.

In Brest, people fed pigeons on Sundays for a year and a half. In total, there were at least 150 people a day. This is a good example of how citizens unite around a common problem. Vloggers said that during this time there were practically no detentions, except for a few cases when they unfolded banners. Sometimes administrative fines were imposed on them. The police detained Piatrukhin and Kabanau several times allegedly for calling for a protest.

“Kabanau put forward an ultimatum in the video, and Piatrukhin called on people to join him. As a result, they were joined by the Brest riot police, which surrounded their house. Police officers like to carry out such detentions on Friday evening, so that people will have to wait for the trial until Monday. This is their favorite feature,” the vloggers say.

“It is important that people understand that the power, which we have not chosen for a long time, is not there for the good of man. It just doesn’t care. Not a single power structure in Belarus thinks that a person should feel good. It is pointless to trust them,” says Siarhei Piatrukhin.

If Belarusians themselves hadn’t allowed the authorities to scoff at individual entrepreneurs at a time, to raise the retirement age, then the government would have never been able to do this. Everything depends only on ourselves. The only way to make them respect the opinion of the people is to protest. If people defend their rights, they will achieve their goal. This is a global experience. Piatrukhin and Kabanau believe that every Belarusian should always be ready to fight for their rights. The vloggers came up with an idea that Belarusians could feed pigeons, as residents of Brest do on Sundays at noon, in all cities. After all, there are hungry birds not only in Brest. And you need to give the birds some kind of grain.

Feeding pigeons is normal. After all, Belarusians should not feed only the officials, who adopt such anti-people’s laws. Opposition is normal. In the country, more than 95% do not support the head of state, which means they are in the opposition. However, the state has made this word abusive. “Every Belarusian can make a T-shirt with the inscription “I am an oppositionist”, and thus break this stereotype,” the vloggers say.

Piatrukhin and Kabanau believe that if we keep silent again, then Lukashenka will win again with the harshest possible margin in 2020. Or Belarus will become part of Russia. Lukashenka is not a pro-Russian ruler, but pro-Lukashenka. He always applies double standards. On the one hand, the quality of stadiums should be European, and on the other, the requirements for holding “elections” should be Belarusian. Fear and apathy of Belarusians cannot pass quickly. Belarusians should understand that the country needs a new worthy president.

When asked why he is keeping his vlog, Kabanau replied: “First of all, I do it for myself so that my conscience is clear, that I did everything I can, I resisted this whole regime in every way that was available to me. And I do this so that when my son grows up and asks me, you did something, so that Belarusians live better, I could answer him: type in ‘People's Reporter’ on YouTube and see what your father did,” Piatrukhin said . If every Belarusian feels the same way, then something will change in our country.

All Belarusians should do what they can to achieve changes for the better. Then we will definitely live in the Country For Life!