Everyone Wants Change!

The leader of pensioners told about the inevitability of the power change in Belarus. 

The head of Our Generation public union Tatiana Zelko told Salidarnasts why her entourage is not afraid of "the bottom".

Tatiana came for an interview with her son and assistant, executive secretary of Our Generation. Neither of them keeps silent and waits. They have long worked in elections as independent observers and every time fix violations. Last year is noteworthy.

"One raises the ballot box, the bottom falls out."

T.Z.: I had a story with a falling bottom: in 2006, I came to the polling station. I saw one ballot box had been moved off its place. When one raised it, the bottom fell down.

In this election, it was clear we would face rigging. One could not imagine the number of people who came to learn the results.

A.Z.: Every neighbourhood of Minsk had its peculiar features. For example, in the Frunzenski neighbourhood, only seven observers out of 600 were detained. The number of observers detained in the Oktyabrski neighbourhood was 20 out of 200. In the Frunzenski neighbourhood, the largest one in Minsk, no independent observers were allowed to polling stations. Some were even sent to the other side of the road, and people used binoculars!

On the night of August 10, Tatiana Zelko and other observers spent near the school. The commission closed the doors and called the police. However, one independent observer could come in and take photos of the protocols.

T.Z.: It's funny how they tried to kick us out of the polling station, supposedly, to keep the distance and how they "counted" 80% turnout, although there was a crowd of people who had voted and wanted to see the protocols. In the morning, in one hour, people gathered again near the school with their passports and had 480 people who had voted for Tsikhanouskaya.

- After the first violent protest suppression, a new wave of protests erupted. Despite the stereotype that most elderly make up the support of Lukashenka, we witnessed in October that it was wrong.

T.Z.: It's not true at all. There are just as many "yabatkas" (supporters of Lukashenka) among the young as among the elderly, because many of them were born under Lukashenka and haven't seen anything else.

During preparations for October 1, we decided to write an appeal to the Minister of Internal Affairs Karayeu. Before that, we wrote a letter to him when they detained Tsikhanouski. Why do we need such police, which imitates theatre to detain a person? Karayeu answered that our police were excellent and always protected citizens. The second appeal brought no result.

We also wrote a letter to Vladikavkaz. I know that Karayeu's uncle works in the ministry of North Ossetia. I have many relatives there. We didn't get any answer, and Karayev left his post soon. Comments under the address urged pensioners to set their march. We decided to act.

I was absent only once. I had "a talk" at the police station with a colonel. His subordinate could not believe that he needed only to draw up a protocol on me. While I was waiting in the corridor for the protocol, I saw two men in plain clothes and one in uniform leaving the office. They saw my white-red-white scarf and ribbons on my bag. One of them half-questioningly says: "Long Live Belarus?" I said: "Guys, through your prayers!"

"It's our city; we have the right to march whenever we want".

T.Z.: The first march had no problems. Many more people gathered for the second one, and our "trademark" knitted flags appeared. We tried not to take young people because they were the first to be detained. The law enforcers blocked the traffic on the avenue, and the drivers could not honk in support. The police shouted into megaphones to keep us from the road, although we did not cross it.

We walked from Independence Square to Yakub Kolas Square, but everything was blocked and the metro wasn't running. We decided to go to the Academy of Sciences.

We were almost there and saw doctors picketing near the 1st Hospital. Then three minibuses arrived and started grabbing doctors. When the pensioners saw it, they rushed to fight them off! Law enforcers sprayed us with pepper spray and used stun grenades. People surrounded the buses and shouted: "Let them go!"

We made them release everyone, even two women stepped inside the bus to make sure no one had been hidden under the seats. A few more vehicles arrived. However, the law enforcers stayed inside, then they backpedalled and drove away.

Then, we walked several times to Yakub Kolas without any problems. People sang, danced, took pictures, received flowers. I remember Maxim Horoshin, the owner of a flower store, gave me flowers. Later, as you know, he was brutally detained. I felt so high that I didn't feel any fatigue, laughs Tatiana Zelko.

In November, Tatiana Zelko paid her first fine - 25 basic units - under "people's" Article 23.34. She felt upset because the trial coincided with the funeral service for Raman Bandarenka.

T.Z.: Then Lukashenka ordered to clear the area so that "people wouldn't wander around the streets", and the "tightening of the screws" began. The apotheosis occurred on December 14. We wanted to gather and show that it was our city, and we had the right to march whenever we wanted and the way we wanted.

According to the Constitution, citizens have the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, peaceful procession, and if all this doesn't work, the right to a peaceful protest. The police told me, "You don't read further what you should do". I answered: "What you have written further is illegal, as the authorization of mass assemblies is advisory, while the Constitution is the supreme law of the country".

A.Z.: It's not just that the Constitution and the law are in conflict. Pensioners are deprived of the right to hold mass actions on legal grounds, because of their low income. Even if we imagine that the Minsk City Executive Committee satisfies our application and permits us to hold anything, we won't be able to pay the police, public utilities, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and so on.

It is much easier to go to an unauthorized rally and pay a fine, it is cheaper. That is, the existing laws do not let pensioners exercise their rights.

"Zechki, rise!"

According to the leader of Our Generation, the average pension in Belarus is 120 euros: "The Ministry of Labour has other figures, but it is the average temperature in the hospital".

Here are the figures for "per days" and fines that Belarusian courts issued to active Belarusian pensioners. Anna and Yury Shklar, 63 years old, who were detained on Freedom Day, received the fine of 5,220 rubles for two' Svetlana Yatskova, 71 years old - 3,700 rubles; Nikolai Solomonov, 73 years old - 13 day-arrest.

T.Z.: From November to December last year, I received fines equivalent to 5 monthly pensions. All in all, from October last year till this March 25th, 191 elderly people aged 55+ were subject to administrative and criminal convictions, fines. According to the Human Rights Center Viasna, there were more than 300 people.

By the way, Our Generation has never been registered in almost 15 years. We tried to register it three times, but then Poland registered us. So I gave up trying to register it in Belarus.

- It's obvious that the authorities are trying to suppress the protests of pensioners with arrests and exorbitant fines. How much do they succeed?

T.Z.: It is not working! Any pensioner, even those who are over 80, call me and ask: "When are we going to get together again' we can't stand it anymore". If you visit court hearings and listen to our old ladies "trolling" security services for unjust accusations; the pensioners have a great sense of humour.

One of them says: "Why did I go out to the march? I went to find an old man. My children and grandchildren are adult. I am alone. I wish I had a man net to me". The second one was fined and said through gritted teeth: "Wait till it gets warmer". The third one is asked: "Why did you come to Minsk? - I went to pray in the church. - And why on Monday? - ONT TV channel said one couldn't go on Sunday, there would be protest marches, so I arrived on Monday".

The interlocutors assure that neither mass detentions on 14 December last year, nor detentions on walks in the woods, nor harsh sentences in the "case of reading classics in the commuter train" (the trials on it are not over yet) can stop pensioners.

T.Z.: For example, we have a 68-year-old veteran of labour, who has been through three prisons since August - Zhodino, Minsk, Baranovichi. She served a total of 25 days. There are many such examples.

We have political demands: the release of political prisoners, punishment for the violence, and new fair elections. Yes, we may not see this new bright future. But our children, grandchildren will. Do you know what kind of posters we had? Not "Give me a pension", but "Our children are the best!", "Let our children out!"

- Almost the entire country is trying to find its footing in the swamp of violence. The absurdity of the news is sometimes so excessive that one doubts one's sanity. When you feel like losing ground, who or what does inspire you?

T.Z.: People. When the four of us were taken from the Leninski District Police Station to Okrestina. We're sitting there, counting when we're released if jailed. "Oh, girls, don't worry! We'll serve the table for the New Year!" In the morning, one of the cellmates says: "Zechki, wake up! It's time to do exercises!" The sense of humour helps. Now, we are almost relatives; we have already gathered twice and come to some courts to support others.

A.Z.: In general, we try not to have a protest leader. Otherwise, we sometimes get the impression that Nina Bahinskaya and Ian Hryb are the only pensioners protesting. Although Hryb is our good friend. We support him and help to pay the fines. Everyone deserves to be a leader here. Everyone who was not afraid and came out on the march, who went through a repressive machine is a leader and a hero.

Everyone can ask for help. We help as much as we can because many people in their 60-80 years of age go to court as a defendant for the first time in their lives.

"We will stand for old ladies!"

T.Z.: Those who come out to protest are far from being narrow-minded; they are intelligent and sane. It is crucial to maintain the solidarity that was born and consolidated last year, despite all the efforts of the authorities.

A.Z.: Lukashenka's electorate appeared and is actively supported by the authorities for a reason. Pensioners are a very profitable "enemy" from both sides: some say that pensioners vote for Lukashenka and slow down the changes, while others can easily shift their idleness to pensioners. The programs of most parties, I can say as an expert on this issue, do not say a word about the pension system.

In Europe, all major parties, except for the liberal ones, have a pension wing. It means that party members treat the elderly with respect, take their interests into account, and consider them full members of society. Show me one such party, pro-government or democratic. We have more than 2.5 million elderly people!

T.Z.: It is crucial to give the elderly family access to information. We have an educational project in several cities. We teach pensioners to use tablets, install Telegram, subscribe to channels, use Viber, and find news from various sources.

Thanks to the support and solidarity, it is possible to leave tablets to our students after the training. It has a great effect - a person becomes more active and shares news.

T.Z.: Everyone is waiting for change. Of course, we want changes, because we've been waiting for better things all our lives. I remember the 50s, postwar reconstruction. Then we built socialism, communism. After all, I want to live, not to exist or wait for something or serve someone; especially someone who is not entirely healthy and completely illiterate, who has gathered around himself a circle of others like him through negative selection.

I'm constantly trying to talk to law enforcement officers. I wonder what they have in their heads. Some would like to leave, but they have a contract because they have to pay a lot of money for breaking it. One guy mentioned he owed $12.5 thousand to the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: "My mom doesn't have that much. If I leave, she stays. I wanted to be an officer so much!".

Some think that they are defending the Motherland from us. Some confessed: "I'm ashamed, you can't even imagine how. I'll work till he retirement age. I'd better go and clean the streets". One proved to me how great to live here. Then he was a witness in court - no name, no rank, like all of them. I asked him what I was wearing - "I don't remember".

- You are so young and have such a short memory. You still remember that I shouted Long Live Belarus, don't you?

In my opinion, we need to change the way we treat each other to bring changes closer. We must not let them separate us. We should stand together.

Onсe yabatkas told me: "If you don't like living here, go abroad". I can do that, I have enough relatives. Will those who stay here feel comfortable? For 25 years, we have "lost" 9 zeros in our currency while Ukraine lost none.

I'm not Belarusian. I came to Belarus with my military husband and stayed there. Frankly speaking, I fell in love with the country and the people. I never thought that I would live to see people standing up for each other here in Belarus. It is worth a thing when we were being gassed at the march and people across the street were chanting: "We'll stand up for our old ladies!" Old ladies chanted, "Our grandchildren are the best!"