The New Protest Movement Initiated by The Ministry of Defense of Belarus Within a Month
- 31.07.2019, 11:11
The situation may be even more acute than in 2017.
On 30 July, amendments to the military conscription procedure were officially published in the country and come into force on 9 August. Their opponents believe that it may end in mass protests, Radio Svaboda reports.
In late June, it became known that the Ministry of Defense of Belarus had prepared changes to the conscription procedure. The main innovation is only one deferment for education (previously their number was not limited). In practice, it means that if someone has already graduated from a technical school and wants to enter university, he will be able to do it only after military service. It's the same about the Master's programme. The Ministry of Defense explained innovations with the lack of recruits and noted that the new rules would allow recruiting 4.5 thousand more young soldiers every year than before.
The project appeared on the Internet and predictably made a splash. There are posts on social networks. But it's not the end of the story. In a short time, #учебаважнее (educationfirst) movement has arisen on the Internet. One of its coordinators, Dzianis Tsikhonenka, told us how it all happened and how it could end.
Snowball
"As soon as the draft law got into the "parliament", I foresaw all the threats and problems it would bring. The issues raised there do not solve national security problems. And its adoption will create an even greater threat to national security. Young people will leave abroad, be reluctant to serve in the army.
Tsikhonenka decided to create a telegram-channel dedicated to the new law. He does everything on his own.
Besides, Tsikhonenka has created a petition on the Internet against changes in the conscription procedure. The results were unexpected.
"On the first day, we collected a thousand signatures on petitions.by," he said. - The next day we collected more than ten thousand signatures. Famous bloggers and other telegrams got involved. We would have collected more, the limit is 10,000. It was like a snowball".
90% come not from Minsk
The collected signatures were sent to the "House of Representatives". A month after the creation of the chat, not only Tsikhonenko is engaged. He says that the structure is now horizontal. There are 5-6 coordinators. Everyone who joins offers and implements their ideas. At the same time, people are ready not only to write posts on the Internet. Half a thousand badges have already been made to show attitude to the new law. Someone even collected signatures against the changes.
"It's civic activism, it comes from the inside," Tsikhonenka says. - It's not because I told someone to do something or because someone paid for it. This is an initiative of people. People do things they can. Now we have a new online form to fill in. People write all their data, addresses. I see that the whole country is involved. I thought 90% would come from Minsk. The whole Belarus is involved.
According to Dzianis Tsikhonenka, about a thousand people have already added their real contacts and addresses to the database. Even those, who are not subject to the military service, participate in the new campaign.
"We want to organize a mass rally"
"There is the story with the website," Tsikhonenka says. - The guy comes from Belarus but lives abroad. He says it's so outrageous that he just can't stay idle. He bought the domain, created the site, and now monitors everything. I am not a specialist in this sphere. Another young man made a video explaining the situation. It is uploaded now."
One last step is to raise funds for advertising the initiative and its products on social networks. Dzianis Tsikhonenka says that this case is unprecedented in Belarus. At first, he even doubted whether it would work. It was planned to spend about €30 per month on advertising. Now €85, $25 and Br205 have been raised. The telegram chat, created soon after the publication of the bill, involves more than 1700 people. After the official publication of the document signed by Lukashenka, opponents of the changes in the conscription procedure thought about the offline mode of protest.
"Our goal is to hold a mass rally in Minsk," Dzianis says. - So far, I cannot guarantee it happens. First of all, we need people. Active people who know about this problem. So far, we have been working for a month and this is the informing stage and it will be continued. So far, few people know about the problem. Propaganda proves what a "good" law it is. People watch BT TV channel, we are still mainly informing through the Internet. on social networks, in messengers"
"Pretty much the same as the decree on parasites"
Several activists have already applied to hold single pickets. No response has been received from the local authorities yet. The coordinators are waiting for a reaction. According to Tsikhonenka, it's vital to show people that one can protest legally and without repercussions for oneself and one's family. At that, he emphasizes that the protest aims not only at a complete abolition of innovations. Activists may also agree to make changes to the new rules. But they should take into account the interests both of the military and civilians. Otherwise, Dzianis believes, mass protests of 2017 may reoccur in Belarus.
"The law on deferments" is pretty much the same as the decree on "parasites," he says. - A huge stratum of society is affected. It is not only about conscripts, who join the army this year. These are their parents, acquaintances, the younger generation, high school students and freshmen. Even before the vote on this project, the "deputies" were told to be aware of the reaction triggered by Decree No. 3. There were "letters of happiness", and now there are draft notices. People can take to the streets. Not a single petition has had such resonance. The situation may be even more acute than in 2017. We have the right to peaceful protest. If it is not authorized, the situation of 2017 will repeat itself. It is likely to happen."
The new conscription procedure comes into force on 10 August. The activists of BY protest campaign are convinced that the changes will soon be abolished.