Shades of time
- Mikalai Khalezin
- 2.03.2011, 12:30
There is only one wining tactics in the conditions of resistance to a dictatorship. It is attacking.
Presidential elections in a democratic country divide society placing people on different sides of the “front line”.
It’s almost the same in dictatorial countries, but a front line here is not notional, but a very real: you can even feel it passing through yourself.
Among all historic events in Belarus for the last 15 years the events following the December presidential elections probably seems to be the most important for the Belarusians. No other event has dispersed the society by the centripetal force of political confrontation. Some dozens of political prisoners in Belarusians jail do not have a real possibility to influence the situation with actions, but now they are doing for the country more than most of the Belarusian opposition politicians have done during the years of the dictatorship. They show their force, the force that will finally destroy the dictatorship.
Only those who have been in a Belarusian prison can understand what these people have to go through. A range of tortures applying to political prisoners hasn’t been invented today or yesterday. For the years of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rule, the Belarusian penitentiary system has worked not to “execute sentences”, but to destroy the personalities of those thrown in prisons on fair or unfair grounds. Talk to former member of the Supreme Council Andrei Klimau, who has served two prison terms and gone through all circles of hell, or to ambassador and former minister Mikhail Marynich, who was imprisoned in a case, fabricated by the authorities, and had two strokes in prison. These people are noticeable people, widely known in the country, but there are also politically active young guys behinds bars, who do not have an experience of resistance in confinement.
The present authorities have been encouraging the system of destroying personality by representatives of punitive agencies. It wasn’t just an encouragement. A former Belarusian official said in a private conversation that Lukashenka had invited him to detention facility #1 to watch execution of a prisoner. It happened in the times when the jail was headed by the notorious Aleh Alkaeu. Now he actively criticizes the Belarusian dictator, but in those times he kept 15 people in cells designed for 6 and gave an execution gun to commander of the “death squad” Dzmitry Paulichenka, who shot Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krasouski from it.
In a period of dictatorship, the life seems to stop sinking into the sticky silt of stagnation. But such periods often show human heroism and human vices so clearly making you understand that you might not have known some important things about human nature if there had been a “dull” democracy in the country.
Circle dance of political deaths
It’s only at first glance that the manipulations with political prisoners conducted by the authorities over the last two months seem strange and unexplainable. In actual fact, these processes follow their inner logic and can be explained logically basing on just two factors that influence the development: power and weakness.
The first person to demonstrate his weakness was Yaraslau Ramanchuk. I wouldn’t like to throw around lofty accusations, but I do want to ask Yaraslau’s colleagues in the United Civil Party why none of political activists called things by their proper names taking into account that everyone knew the events ahead of the elections and just after them, taking into account that all details of this issue have already been discussed on the backstage. I suppose the reason for this political closedness is a self-preservation feeling of political structure and false political correctness.
So, what is said behind the scenes of political councils? It is said that during a night conversation with Ramanchuk, an officer from president’s administration came with a laptop. Yaraslau was shown an intimate video of himself and his male partner. This fact wouldn’t arouse interest in any civilized country: sexual preferences of politicians are of little interest for society. But it doesn’t work in our homophobic society, where the president told a gay, the Foreign Minister of Germany, that homosexuals should be sent to kolkhozes for correction, and where the Belarusian Orthodox Church spreads literature for free saying homosexuality is a disease.
The choice that the authorities offered Ramanchuk caused fear, fear caused betrayal, betrayal caused political death. Hard as Yaraslau tried to prove by his increased pseudo-activity in the first days after the betrayal that the “death” was just an illusion, it became obvious even for him: the political death of the “outstanding Belarusian economist” is real. Was it possible to make another choice? Surely, yes. Even on various stages of the process. The main mistake of Ramanchuk was probably his running in the elections. He should have understood that the presidential elections are not holidays at a ski resort in the Alps, but a cruel fight in which the authorities will throw all forces, from common blackmailing to brutal violence, to the altar of preservation of their power.
Another bright political self-killer was Uladzimir Nyaklyae’s campaign manager Andrei Dzmitryeu, who appeared on Belarusian TV like Ramanchuk. However, he didn’t condemn “violence of demonstrators”, but praised “decency of the Belarusian police that rescued presidential candidate Nyaklyaue and his team members from drunk young people”. This was a blatant betrayal of his leader coupled with incredible cynicism.
And again, he demonstrates surprising political activity just after the release: press conferences, political reports, comments, and even a buffet with red caviar. Two of his statements sounded especially bewildering. The first one was that Tell the Truth campaign was the brightest political campaign in the contemporary history of Belarus. As if we didn’t have such campaigns as Chernobyl Way, Marches of Freedom, Young Front, Zubr, For Freedom, We Remember, Time to Elect – Time to Remove, Jeans – For Freedom, the campaigns to release Pavel Sheremet, Mikhail Marynich, Alyaksandr Kazulin. As if we didn’t have tens of thousands of political activists, thrown in prisons; killed political leaders; beaten demonstrators and students expelled from universities. As if the most significant campaign was Tell the Truth destined to save the reputation of its director Andrei Dzmitryeu.
The second statement was that “Tell the Truth campaign continues its activity and its leader Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu works a lot”. But two KGB goons are sitting day and night at Nyaklyaeu’s place. They do not allow him to work and even don’t allow doctors to examine him. Nyaklyaeu cannot see his children and even stand close to windows of his own apartment.
Expiation by truth
It is hardly possible that a person, who did wrong and betrayed (intentionally or not) his friends and colleagues, can save his reputation. I know only a few examples of people, who managed to avoid political oblivion after a mistake. They saved their reputation by telling the truth, absolute and hardline. Ales Mikhalevich is probably the only one among the political prisoners released on their own recognizance after a deal with the authorities who can be put on this list.
I didn’t like Mihalevich during the election race and before it. He seemed a quiet and pragmatic social activist, who ran in the elections for self-promotion. It most likely sounds like the truth, but only until his arrest. Then probably happened what can be called “education by circumstances”. I’ve seen several times how having been placed in an extremely difficult situation, a mild and weak person suddenly summoned up all forces and acted in such a way that brave and strong fighters took him for a model.
The authorities clearly saw the weak points of Mikhalevich and used almost all their resources and professionalism to press on him. The moment came when he assented to desire to stop it and signed a contract on collaboration with the KGB. Ales was released. He attained freedom and realized at that very moment that he had made a mistake. Unlike Ramanchuk and Dzmitryeu, Mikhalevich found inner strength to make a step. His step had double importance, because he made it in yet relative but freedom. I am convinced that we, who have never been in this situation, cannot fully appreciate his act. Revealing crimes of authorities under a threat of returning to that hell is not just a brave act, it is a change of fate in fact. It is an opportunity to get a second chance in the sphere that often does not give even the first one.
Of course, one cannot become the nation’s leader after such a story, but he can remain in politics, save his face, and not be ashamed to look into the eyes of his children.
A cell for president
When the authorities went mad after realizing a threat to their existence, they began to imprison one and all, but then it became clear that when the hysterics ended, they would have to differentiate their approaches to the arrested. Betrayers were freed first. Then the turn came for those who agreed to collaborate or talked a lot at interrogations. Then the time came to release young women, whose detention cannot be explained even to elderly women supporting Lukashenka. Now, only “irreconcilable” people remain in jail: Zmitser Bandarenka and Alyaksandr Atrishchankau, and those whom Lukashenka considers his personal enemies, for example Anatol Lyabedzka or Alyaksandr Fyaduta. Some people, like Andrei Sannikov and Mikalai Statkevich, belong to both categories.
Other two groups include “Russians” and “background actors”. The “Russians” are the citizens of Russia left in jail to trade with the Kremlin and demonstrate power; the “background actors” are young Belarusians imprisoned to scare the others at liberty and to trade with the European Union.
The Belarusian authorities think they control the situation and nothing endangers it. It may be so in near-term prospects. But what concerns mid-term prospects, I wouldn’t risk to bet even one thousand Belarusian rubles on the present authorities. Any Lukashenka’s move will just aggravate the situation. However many people he would imprison, this will lead to escalation of a direct conflict with the West and indirect one with Russia. If he takes a decision to release all KGB prisoners, this will escalate the inner confrontation in the country, because there is a great probability that a future president is today’s KGB prisoner, whatever his name may be.
When the Czechoslovakian authorities decided to release Vaclav Havel after his first term in prison, security services had talked to him underlining that his political activity would bring him back to prison. Some days after his release, Havel wrote an appeal to the nation that was immediately spread across Czechoslovakia. He was imprisoned again and later released a step away from being elected president. One of the leaders of the Czechoslovakian Civil Forum, Jan Urban told me in 1999: “At those times not many people knew how he looked. Many were disappointed to see a not very tall smiling man with a low voice instead of a 200cm tall rugged athlete.”
Mikalai Khalezin
There is only one winning tactics in the conditions of resistance against the dictatorship. It is attacking. Attacking in spite of threats and intimidations, pressure and blackmailing. All other ways are a game in politics that increases chances to lose and even more, increases a risk to find yourself under such pressure that you cannot withstand.