Veraniega Mishchanka: Mikalai Statkevich Would Be The First To Stand For Strike

Today it is important to stay at home under any pretext.

On November 1, leader of the Belarusian Workers' Association Siarhei Dyleuski announced a strike, and called on Belarusians to stay at home. The daily scale of the strike reaches 1 million workers out of 4.2 million employed in the Belarusian economy.

The Charter97.org website spoke with the blogger and activist of the Narodnaya Hramada party Veranika Mishchanka about the nationwide strike.

- How effective do you think the strike and the “stay at home” notion are?

- We have been saying for a whole year that today a strike is the safest and most effective method of protest. I will not repeat myself many times, but in August last year it was clear how frightened Lukashenka was of the strike. Due to the current situation in the country, today it is important to stay at home under any pretext, even saying that you have a “hangover” or something. I believe that a strike is the most effective method.

- Why did Mikalai Statkevich's team, which you represent, decide to support the strike?

- We had a discussion in the party whether we support the strike. We all decided unambiguously that we support it, especially the “stay at home” concept. I think that Mikalai Statkevich would be among the first to stand for the strike. Just a few days ago, I published his old material, an appeal to Lukashenka on COVID-19. Then Mikalai Statkevich thought most of all about Belarusians and Belarus.

Naturally, we support all the requirements that were put forward by Siarhei Dyleuski. Moreover, the first requirement is the release of political prisoners. The rights of workers are very important to us, which is why we support them.

- As a blogger, did you receive any interesting information about the course of the workers' protest?

- Yes. I promptly upload information to the Basta! and BOR Telegram channels. I want as many people as possible to learn about the situation, so I immediately share and urge my subscribers to do the same.

- You are in Lithuania. To what extent is the Belarusian diaspora ready to support the strikers today?

- The Lithuanian diaspora took part in the filming of the video “Stay at home”, and this Sunday on the square of Vincas Kudirka at 2 o'clock we will have an action in support of the strike and the workers. Of course, we have supported and will continue to support the workers.

There are many people in Lithuania who fled from the regime, including from the liberty restriction sentences. There are even those who had to cross the river, that is, there are people who participated in the protests. They understand what it’s like in prison, why it is important to release political prisoners. There are also many workers here who understand why it is important to finally finish it all.

- You recently said: the actions of the workers will help change the situation in Belarus. What can both political leaders and ordinary people do today to make the workers' protest even stronger?

- It is important to understand for individual opposition leaders and bloggers who are making a mess, claiming that “we will not succeed” and we need to “wait for some kind of trigger”, that is, better times. Better times never come for those who don't want to do anything. There are always excuses. We will create the trigger ourselves, no need to wait for some kind of “referendum”. We will do it ourselves, stop waiting.

You know, I think that if more Belarusians would have joined in supporting the workers when there were calls to come to the checkpoints of factories in August 2020 ... Unfortunately, many went to work instead of supporting the workers. It seems to me that today the situation could be different, so the support of workers is more important than ever. You need to help people emotionally.

People write to me in the comments that there is very little information about the strike, especially among older people who do not use Telegram, but receive information from Viber or Odnoklassniki. I believe that, first of all, there should be information support. Even if you cannot go on strike today or stay at home, you need to support the workers with information. Advocate staying at home, tell and share all the things that happen in factories: safety violations, infringement of workers' rights, and so on and so forth.

- On November 4, impostor Lukashenka signed “alliance programs” with Russia. In this connection, leader of the European Belarus civil campaign Andrei Sannikov stated that citizen Lukashenka committed high treason. The Belarusian Workers' Association called on everyone to stand up for our Motherland, and join the nationwide strike. In your opinion, what should Belarusians do now to protect the country's sovereignty?

-Considering that the Belarusians have a very limited list of actions, then, probably, it’s everything that the Belarusian Workers Association called for, and continues to do. We understand very well that no matter how they signed the roadmaps, there are still a lot of agreements on the way. It is a long process for these agreements to come into force, so Putin does not need a rebellious Belarus, in which unrest is going on, and where Lukashenka is not the boss. We should continue to express disobedience, and show Russia, the EU and the US that Belarusians do not recognize Lukashenka as legitimate. We must stay at home, share information, and those who are the most daring need to openly go on strike.