Aliaksandr Kabanau: One Thing Is Left -Mass Protests At Square

The authorities are leaving us no other option.

This was stated by Aliaksandr Kabanau, a well-known Belarusian blogger, coordinator of collecting signatures for presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Brest region, in an interview to the program of Charter97.org "Change of Power."

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- Good afternoon, Aliaksandr. You're on self-isolation now because of coronavirus. How are you feeling?

- Yes, it's the second week I've been self-isolated. I'm feeling fine. They took a second test yesterday. I'm waiting for the result.

- What's the coronavirus situation in Brest?

- In my opinion, that picture and the figures the Ministry of Health gives us are not true. I can see it with my own eyes: the numbers that some doctors dare to give also differ. But the most important thing is not whether I believe it or not, it is a matter of trust. What is important is that the doctors themselves understand that the picture that the Ministry of Health is giving is different.

- And what is it like in reality?

- In reality, there are more, many more people sick. The testing is not good. There are tests that give the real picture, but the express tests are often wrong. Of course, doctors try to keep silent on deaths, I understand the pressure on them, they do not voice a lot, but you can see that they are very tense.

- Coronavirus has become one of the reasons why people in Belarus take to the streets today. And you are now not only a blogger, but also a press secretary and coordinator of Siarhei Tsikhanouski's team.

- I'll make it clear to you. I was asked to become a press secretary and to work on public relations. But I am not the coordinator of Siarhei Tsikhanouski's team. I am a coordinator on collecting signatures for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Brest region. Siarhei also addressed me because I have experience in collecting signatures, asked me to help him with pickets, with the organization of collection of signatures.

- And how did you get in this team?

- Absolutely by accident. I communicated with Siarhei Tsikhanouski more on blog topics, on topics of content. We had purely personal communication with bloggers. I knew he was going to run for presidency, but I wasn't sure if it was serious or not. We raised this topic a bit, but not much, more on the level of: "Sasha, my subscribers wrote to me: run for presidency". I used to say to him: "Siarhei, subscribers often write this to all bloggers. So it's up to you, of course".

But after his arrest in Hrodna, other people addressed me, Sviatlana personally, and told me that in case of his arrest, some unforeseen circumstances, Siarhei had asked to contact me and ask for help. So she addressed me regarding the press service.

- Siarhei Tsikhanouski is a unique leader, who gained popularity in a very short time. In your opinion, what is the phenomenon of Tsikhanouski's popularity?

- We, bloggers, or politicians, or opposition activists, have a rather narrow circle of communication. And there is no sociology in the state. We don't know the public sentiment. And we do not know the simplest elementary things: how people feel about elections, how people feel about some actions of the authorities, about some decisions made. And it seems to us that the society knows everything.

In fact, it is not so. And what did Siarhei Tsikhanouski do? He took a camera, took a microphone and went to these very people, went to the regions to communicate with different people and listen to their problems. These people had no voice at all - they wouldn't be shown anywhere, nobody would write about them. And then they suddenly had an opportunity to talk about their painful concerns: not about politics, not about the state as a whole, not about some global things, but about their little problem that concerns them. And it turned out that such problems exist all over the country. It concerns the absolute majority of people.

I think that's what the great popularity of Siarhei Tsikhanouski is connected with, he has given people the opportunity to speak out. And what's more, we have people, mainly in the kitchens, communicating with each other, holding "kitchen protests". And here people suddenly felt brave, showed their face on camera, expressed their opinion - this is such a release. A person starts to feel like a human being in this situation.

- How, in your opinion, is it possible to achieve the release of the people's blogger now?

- In my opinion, the powerful international pressure is the first thing. And the second one is, of course, the support of its subscribers, people who support Sviatlana, who come to sign. If the people who have signed come out in support of these pickets, if they thank the volunteers, if they communicate with each other, if they express their thoughts and so on - it will also be a huge support for Siarhei, and the authorities will be sent a message that we will not let them tear him apart.

- Maybe his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya needs some kind of support?

- To date, she has not asked me for that. Yeah, she's getting help with care packages for Sergei. She sends them almost every day as far as I know. There are some routine moments, but it's all decided in a narrow circle. And then, if something happens, then, naturally, we will announce it.

- Bloggers are a new and unique phenomenon for Belarus. In fact, you have largely replaced independent journalists who work under serious censorship in Belarus, and - no need to hide - self-censorship. Why did you decide to become such a bringer of freedom?

- I do not know, to be honest. It just so happened. In fact, I've been in the opposition for quite a while, I'm a member of the United Civil Party. I joined it because I didn't like what was going on around me and decided to try to change something, to do something about it. I didn't want to just sit, watch, listen. Yes, you could get some information, you could talk to smart people and so on. But it didn't help to change something around. And then it so happened that I started working on YouTube channel, started making some videos, started showing some things.

I came to understand that this is what we need now, this is exactly what we need: to work with people, to show them the truth, to open their eyes, to change their worldview, to take them out of the little world they live in, out of their kitchen, out of their work. He comes from work, he talks to three people and comes back home - that's it, his circle is closed. And we decided that we should somehow expand our audience, work, show, communicate with people, conduct investigations. That's how it started.

- Do people support you?

- We have recognition. Not only in Brest, people recognize us other cities. They support us, they come up, they shake hands, they thank us. There is that kind of support, yes. But then again, they are our subscribers who watch us. It doesn't mean that we walk down the street and they throw flowers at our feet, absolutely not. But it often happens that people come up, make selfies, communicate, advise something, tell something.

- Brest is one of the most revolutionary cities in Belarus, where protests over the battery factory have been going on for several years. What is the situation on the eve of the so-called presidential elections?

- The protests have not been stopped. People go out every Sunday to the already famous feeding of pigeons. In order to prove something and achieve something, people have to go out to the square. They do not go to the official's office and solve these issues there, or go to court and solve these issues there, but they have to pay fines, be sentenced to arrests in order to get their right to live in a clean city, to breathe clean air. This is an abnormal situation.

- Do people have an understanding that if we solve one problem - remove the dictator - we will solve all our other problems?

- When the protest started, many people distanced themselves from politics and many people said that our protest is purely environmental, we are not involved in politics, we are not interested in these issues at all. When we tried to explain that this is all politics, a lot of things depend on the political line of the "party" and the government, people initially did not understand. Many people were scared even by the very word politics. In the past, "politics" was something terrible for the vast majority of people. The authorities have been striving for this for 26 years and the result is obvious.

But now the opposite process is already underway. And it was very strongly influenced by the so-called parliamentary elections, when the initiative group against the construction of the plant was nominating its candidates for the "parliament", and people suddenly saw it happen. The people, who were absolutely not politicized, who had never taken part in these processes, saw - and they were shocked how everything was going on, what was happening at these polling stations, in these commissions.

Now, in connection with Siarhei Tsikhanouski detention, in connection with the campaign to collect signatures for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, many people's brains have become very cleared. And even those people who supported the current government and said that everything could be solved in court got disappointed. The officials themselves, the authorities themselves made oppositionists out of them.

- Tens of thousands of people went out into the streets and signed for Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya. What is the next step they should take after they put their signatures?

- First, I would not only come to the pickets for Sviatlana, I would support other pickets. Not everyone supports Sviatlana Tsikhanovuskaya, we must understand that. But most people are for the changes in the country. And every person can come and support the pickets of those candidates who are in favor of these changes, who are in favor of Lukashenka being no longer in power. One can come to joint pickets, to communicate with members of initiative groups. Since the campaign to collect signatures is already over, come to thank them for their work, it is very important for the guys.

- Well, how will we change the power? We can't count on fair elections under Lukashenka.

- I understand perfectly well how the district commissions will be formed. I'm sure that there will be the same refusals again, that people have no experience. It turns out that supposedly only those who are part of Lukashenka's team have experience, while the rest are illiterate and can't count, can't see, can't fill in the protocols.

How can we fight this? In my opinion, we need as many people as possible who will apply to the district commissions. When there used to be 2-3 thousand people per country - this is one moment, but can you imagine for a second when there will be 100-150 thousand of such people, and the authorities will refuse everyone? The elections can already be considered over if these people are not allowed.

Closer to the voting, when people go to the polling stations, there is only one thing left - the mass protests of people at the Square. Unfortunately, the authorities leave us no other option.

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