It’s A Fateful Moment For Belarus

President of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic addresses the Belarusians on Freedom Day.

On March 25, 2023, President of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Ivonka Survilla addressed the Belarusians on Freedom Day.

The Charter97.org website publishes the message:

My dear compatriots!

As always and first of all, I want to greet you personally and on behalf of the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic on our great national holiday, the day when we celebrate the proclamation of the independence of our national homeland every year.

Much time has passed since and so many events have we experienced since the Rada of the First All-Belarusian Congress, elected by almost two thousand delegates from all over Belarus, proclaimed the following:

“A year ago the peoples of Belarus, together with the peoples of Russia, threw off the yoke of Russian tsarism, which had oppressed Belarus most of all and, without asking the people, precipitated our land into the conflagration of war which totally destroyed Belarusan cities and villages.

Now we, the Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, have cast off from our native land the last vestige of national dependence which the Russian tsars imposed by force upon our free and independent land.

From this time on, the Belarusian Democratic Republic is proclaimed an independent and free state. The peoples of Belarus themselves, under the aegis of their Constituent Sojm, shall determine the future national relations of Belarus.

Proclaiming the independence of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, its Rada expresses the hope that all freedom-loving peoples will assist the Belarusian people to achieve fully their political and national ideals.”

Dear compatriots, 105 years have passed but the worst bloody enemy on our eastern border still has not got rid of its imperial intentions. Today, we once again proclaim to the world that the goal of our people is still to fight with all the forces available to us to protect our free and independent land from the current impostor and from his Russian patrons, who still threaten to enslave our people again.

We have almost a century of experience of life not as "tuteishyia" slaves of the evil empire, but as educated, intelligent and advanced people who are able to act in the free world. Our future depends on us - on each and every one of us!

I would like each of us to think about what he or she personally can do to draw the attention of the free world to Belarus. This is extremely important at this time, given the disgrace that dictator Lukashenka has brought to Belarus through his complicity in Russian aggression against Ukraine. While the world admires the courage of the Ukrainians and is indignant about the crimes of Putin and the Russian army, the Belarusians should demonstrate to the world as much as possible in word and deed that they are on the side of the forces of good and that Lukashenka does not represent our people. God forbid that someone comes up with the idea of giving Belarus to a bloody tyrant in exchange for peace in Ukraine.

The present time is in many ways fateful for Ukraine, for the whole world and for Belarus. Nevertheless, together we will not let the enemy break our unity. Together we will endure all challenges and achieve our goal: to live in our native land, in our independent state, where we will be making decisions on the “future national relations of Belarus”.

God help us!

Long Live Belarus!