“Our Requirements Include Only Negotiations on the Transfer of Power and New Presidential and Parliamentary Elections”

In Belarus, prices go up, and up, and up.

The leader of the Belarusian Workers' Association Siarhei Dyleuski answered the questions of Euroradio about the preparation of a nationwide strike:

- Before announcing the pre-strike state and our demands on August 30, we worked with workers in the country for probably seven months. That is, this is not a spontaneous statement. It is not my whim.

And this is a systematic, well-done work that took more than one month. If people had been ready earlier, we would have declared the pre-strike state earlier. That is, in itself, the announcement of a pre-strike state is not just a bell ring, but a direct statement that we are ready to start a strike.

Dyleuski believes that this has already happened in the history of Belarus. The country may experience "hunger riots," which were in the 90s. Although the situation in the country is now very similar, no one will destroy, smash, and break anything.

- I am sure that an empty refrigerator will force people to protest, to go on strike, to some kind of street actions, protests. People who are now at the stage of "my hut on the edge" will come out. Sane people already understand what is happening in our country. And they are already actively shopping for groceries. Because products are not getting cheaper. That is, we have not had anything cheaper in the past year. Our prices go up and up and up.

In the 90s, in the early 90s, there were already such food riots. My father took part in such protests, working in the same tractor plant as me. They took to the streets precisely because they had nothing to feed their families.

And I don’t remember that even one store was looted. This is not the way of the Belarusians. The Belarusian people are extremely peaceful. All protests in Belarus by the people, not the power bloc, were as peaceful as possible. And I can say with two hundred percent certainty that no one will (if this is not a provocation) break shop windows and try to rob shops.

- How to reach out to those workers who pour ink in their eyes after their shift and don't give a damn about anything else?

- In fact, there are absolutely few such workers. It's just that there is such a stereotype about a Belarusian worker that he goes through the checkpoint and runs to the wine and vodka department. Because such workers behave as brightly as possible. But they are in the minority, very few.

But alcoholics are the electorate of the current authorities. The ideal victim of propaganda is a drunken creature who only thinks about "getting drunk" in the evening.

So I would not take such people into account, and there is no point in reaching out to them - these are unqualified personnel. If a person really knows his business, then such a person simply does not have time to get drunk and fell sick the next day. A person who really knows his business, his job, his machine, will never allow himself to be in such a state. Because it interferes with his mental development, mental abilities. And I would not pay attention to such people.

- Negotiations with the regime: are they possible?

- I think that every representative of the democratic opposition of the democratic forces in the country will agree and will be ready to negotiate. Me too. Personally, I believe that a strike is the most extreme method of fighting the regime. I don't want a strike. I don't want to stop production. This is a very strong, very serious blow to the economy of our country. But this is the only effective way to show our strength and the seriousness of our intentions.

And if negotiations take place, if a round table between the democratic forces of the Republic of Belarus and the current government takes place, then, I think, thanks to this, there will be some chance to avoid strikes in the country. If we can agree. But we are not ready to turn the page. As I wrote and said in our demands: only negotiations on the transfer of power and new presidential and parliamentary elections.