Lukashenka is Europe’s Assad

• 16.06.2013, 16:02

For the first time the situation around freedom of speech in Belarus was discussed at the international Internet-Conference 4M in France.

The 4M Conference is held annually between 12-14 June in the French city Montpellier. This year it gathered 150 experts from 35 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caucasus, Balkans and Arabic world.

For the first time the problems of freedom of speech in Belarus were discussed along with the situations in Syria, Iran, Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, Vietnam and Burma. Natallia Radzina was a speaker of the Conference.

One of the organizers of the event, director of the department of Europe and Asia “Canal France International” Nikolas Sanson said:

“We decided to discuss the situation in Belarus at this year’s conference. Website charter97.org is a partner of “Canal France International”. We organize training sessions for journalists of this site, and we believe that these projects need support. Freedom of speech in these countries that have such problems needs special help. The purpose of “Canal France International” is to do everything possible for the freedom of expression in the world. Conferences like 4M give an opportunity to journalists from problematic countries to share experience in their struggle for the right to tell the truth. We hope that some time in future every Belarusian journalist will be able to express their opinion freely and that the message will reach the people.”

Before Natallia Radzina’s speech, the organizers reminded the participants of the conference that on June 14, Aleg Biabienin, the founder of the website charter97.org found hung before the presidential election 2010, would have turned 39. The Belarusian powers are suspected of being alienated with his demise.

In her speech, Radzina remarked that the raise of the dictatorship in Belarus started with the destruction of freedom of speech. “Any dictatorship starts with the destruction of the state of law, independent parliament and court system, persecution of the opposition and civil society, and control of the mass media. Belarus is not an exception. My career began at the television, soon monopolized by the state. Then I started to work with the Internet. Before the presidential elections 2010 when Lukashenka was determined to stay for the fourth term at any price, the website charter97.org suffered severe repressions: its founder Aleg Biabienin was murdered, journalists were arrested, I faced charges and could be sentenced to a 15-year term,” Natallia Radzina pointed out.

The journalist said that the media find new ways to work in a dictatorship: the editorial office works without self-censoring and fear of arrest or murder from abroad, while journalists and informants work underground in the country. Thus, today charter97.org, TV-channel Belsat and Radio Racja work from Poland. Their journalists cannot get the accreditation to work in Belarus.

During a discussion of the journalist work in different countries, the participants of the conference came to the conclusion that the situation in Belarus today reminds of Syria where centers of opposition and independent media also are forced to work from abroad.

”While the situations are alike, the international community doesn’t pay due attention to Belarus. Today Syrian dictator Assad is killing thousands, while dictator Lukashenka has been exposing people to repressions, jails, tortures, kidnappings and murders for the last 20 years,” Natallia Radzina emphasized.

When activist of the well-known Egyptian media-team Mustafa Yusuf, organizer of the protests via social media, found out about the repressions of moderators of oppositional groups in Belarusian social media, he remarked that even Hosni Mubarak’s regime wasn’t so penetrating and violent. He agreed with Natallia Radzina that today there’s no time for euphoria about the “Arabic spring” made possible with the Internet. It is necessary to reflect about what should be done when such dictatorships as Lukashenka’s regime are pro-active.

Apparently the well-known Tunisian oppositional website Nawaat that has played a crucial role in the rallies against dictator Ben Ali was created basing on charter97.org model.

“I learnt about charter97.org in 2004, and decided to create a similar site. We don’t just inform our citizens about what’s going on in the country, but we also mobilize people to fight, urge them to protect their legal rights. In general, when the revolution in Tunis was being prepared, we used the experience of Belarus, Ukraine and Serbia,” editor-in-chief of Nawaat Malek Khadarvi said.