Final Verdict for Usurper

The man with "blue fingers" is a de facto turned page.

Usurper Lukashenka has mentioned the need to "write a new chapter of independent Belarus".

The metaphor is interesting and meaningful. However, it does not play in the hands of the man "with blue fingers", Yuri Pshennik writes in the article of Nashe Mneniye.

The fact is that the people "turned the page" as early as August 9, 2020 - they clearly and unambiguously expressed their will. One can firmly state the people of Belarus started "a new chapter" in the country's history at that very time. Only the authorities of that time and the author of the page metaphor were categorically not satisfied with it. They are clinging to the old. They do not want to write a new chapter and block the transition to a new and civilized Belarus.

Thus, the man "with blue fingers" is a de facto "turned page". He has not understood it and strongly denies it. Anyway, it does not matter now. People should see it. And people do. They saw it in spring and expressed their opinion in August 2020. Yes, the extreme violence on the part of the resigning government has slowed down the legal formalization of the fact but the government cannot influence attitudes through violence. On the contrary, it proves that people made the right choice. After all, the "page turned" was not so rosy.

History will deliver the final verdict. Nevertheless, we can already say it was a dark page in our history when citizens' rights were infringed, laws failed - "sometimes laws can be neglected". The country was stagnating and degrading. It was not only like that last year. During Lukashenka's rule, the authorities repressed opponents of the regime on deliberately far-fetched pretexts; there was no economic freedom in the country either, although the screws were sometimes loosened a little. Nor were there many things, typical of civilized countries. The main thing we lost in the country might be time to exercise opportunities. So, there was a good reason for people to turn this dark page of their history.

Indeed, it is impossible to turn the pages back to August 9. The only way out is to turn the dark page and move forward. It is precisely the choice the Belarusians made. They have done it being an overwhelming majority. The old, obsolete and corrupted do not want to move forward. They make themselves comfortable on this "page".

It won't last long, especially from a historical perspective. The page of tyranny and lawlessness has already been turned. One cannot turn back the clock of history. Moreover, the more active the violence, the less likely the country will continue to live the old way. The rejection of this way of life is only growing.

Challenges only strengthen people and shape a new kind of elite, despite the efforts of the dictators. Look at the development of Germany and Japan after the Second World War. The epoch of dictatorship is about to end in Belarus; its citizens have hopefully become immune to it. It is high time to build a new, democratic and high-developed country. By the way, the group of Ludwig Erhard, "father" of the post-war "German miracle" began in 1944. The dictator was still alive, but everything was already clear. It was clear that a new country had to appear, practically from scratch. The Belarusians have realised something similar to that. The old authorities cannot write a new "chapter", whatever they may say. Sooner or later, other people will do it.