Nina Bahinskaya to Police: You Are the Ones Who Should Run From Me

The story of the fearless activist.

Massive protests have been taking place in Belarus for four months: tens or even hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to express their disagreement with the presidential elections' results and the violence by the security forces against the protesters. At these rallies in the center of Minsk, both earlier and now, you can see a short woman in whose hands will certainly be a white-red-white flag. She always protects the protesters from detention and fearlessly demands the return of the flag when the security forces snatch it from her hands. This is Nina Bahinskaya. For many in Belarus, she has become a symbol of protest. Murals with her image appear in the city; the Italian magazine Vogue published a photo of Bahinskaya in September.

The correspondent of Current Time met with the activist, whom Belarusians recognize on the streets.

"In fact, I am a sponsor of the police, so I am not afraid of them: you are the ones who should run from me. That's what I tell them: if you kill me, who will pay you your salary? You are taking, stealing 50% of my pension."

Nina Bahinskaya is one of the most famous Minsk activists. At 73, she does not miss a single protest rally, which she goes to with a white-red-white flag. The undesirable for the authorities flag is almost always taken away from the pensioner by the security forces. Once again, after the rally, she uses a sewing machine and sews a new flag, with which she will go to the rally. "Flags… Eight flags have been taken away since August 9. This is a record," says the activist.

Nina Bahinskaya is from a family of Minsk intelligentsia: her mother is a teacher; her father worked as an engineer and rebuilt the post-war Belarusian capital. Nina herself is a geologist; before retirement, she worked at the Institute of Geology. Bahinskaya has two children, grandchildren, and a great-grandson. There are many photographs of ancestors in the apartment, taken at the beginning of the 20th century.

"This is my grandmother. She raised me since my father was busy with work, my mother was also busy with the garden, and, as they say, she fed the pigs," says the pensioner. "But now I don't eat lard; I think that the Jew; Ire doing the right thing, eating lard is harmful, especially after 50."

Nina Bahinskaya has been attending protests since the late 1980s. She worries about young people and wants a decent future for them in her country. The 73-year-old woman from Minsk has not been afraid of detentions and fines for a long time and even goes to single pickets.

"They took so much. And the last time, they took me away so that I would not participate; they let me go and even gave the flags. And then, after the elections of Lukashenka, fascism already began - they began to use fascist methods. Well, they still fear to kill me, an old woman, because they probably won't receive a bonus check, but young people are killed! How is it possible that people in our country were killed in the government's presence?! Who is this president who walks with a gun? Who is this machine gun against?" Bahinskaya is indignant.

For participation in the protests, Nina Bahinskaya has hundreds of protocols and about 20 thousand dollars in fines. Two dachas of the pensioner near Minsk were arrested and put up for auction. In addition, half of the Minsk resident's pension is forcibly regularly transferred to the state. Nina Bahinskaya's is left with an amount equivalent to about $ 80.

"Until October 2017, they [the authorities] withdrew 20% of the pension. After the events of 2017, they toughened up after the Ukraine events; they were afraid that the Ukrainians had freed themselves from Moscow oppression, that the Belarusians would be freed. They began to fine people as much as possible so that people would stop fighting for their freedom and independence."

For Belarusians who go to peaceful rallies, Nina Bahinskaya is a symbol of protest. On the streets, they take selfies with her, give flowers and gifts. Nina does not refuse to take pictures with anyone, although she does not consider herself a celebrity.

"Popularity also comes with commitment. So I am with the people. And now I myself am interested. The people in such numbers as the youth raised him - this never happened before."

In the apartment of Nina Bahinskaya, security officials conducted searches several times and took away household appliances. The pensioner admits that at such moments she worries most about her family: "They are courageous. Perhaps this is a concern for me, and I think that I don't care. But what can you do! They [the authorities] arrested my dachas, but they did not take them, and they won't be able to! They take away the pension, but it's okay; the government is not eternal: as soon as their power ends, there will be a pension. I will also think, maybe I will write a statement to return what was stolen."

Nina Bahinskaya refuses help from human rights organizations in paying fines. She says that, with this money, it is better to support young people, with whom the pensioner goes to protest rallies.