Belarusian Woman Responded To Lukashenko's Reasoning About Stores

It's worth facing the truth.

At the meeting on August 26, Alexander Lukashenko was again concerned about the situation in trade, especially in rural areas. The politician demanded to bring large retail chains there. A reader of the site Charter97.org responded to the dictator's arguments:

- I spent my entire childhood in the village, and our village was filled with children's laughter, mooing of cows, grunting of pigs and evening sitting of women on benches. And, of course, "unauthorized gatherings" at the store waiting for fresh bread.

But somehow in the early 2000s our store was suddenly closed for repair-modernization. They promised that in a month our "center of the universe" would be filled with new products and equipment. And the villagers on the shoulders of the "temporarily" laid a heavy test - to go to the store in the neighboring village for 3 kilometers or to the district center for 10. But the locals encouraged themselves, saying that a month would pass quickly, and we would live again as before.

Month after month went by, and the store was not opened. On the complaints of the villagers, a truck started to come to our village. Since the liquidation of the stationary store we can count the decline of our village.

First, children disappeared - parents stopped bringing them to their grandparents for vacations. Then residents with children made every effort to go to the district center, because one can't live on one's own mistress, and it is absurd to go to the village even for socks.

So, for 25 years our village, where one herd of cows numbered 20, turned into an abandoned, neglected wilderness. Today there are 7 people left in it. Who and what kind of store will open there?

And who needs it there? The only things left in the village are the inhabitants, who are over 70 years old, and old apple trees. Even dilapidated houses are destroyed so that they don't bother the eyes, if there are no heirs, so that nothing reminds of the former prosperity. There is no village - no problems.

To restore the stores, you must first restore the village. And who is in a hurry to go there today? No one, because besides a roof over their heads, people need work and infrastructure. There is no road to the future for my native village. At least, not under this government.

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