‘Belsat’ will live. Thank you for support!
After Polish media spread information about the possible closure of “Belsat”, not only Belarusian intellectuals, social activists and the opposition, but above all regular viewers, for whom the channel is not just a means of objective information, but also the only protector, stood up for the channel.
Belarusian internet users were the first to react to the information about the closure of the channel. They made hundreds of online posts under the hashtag #savebelsat and photos in support of ‘Belsat’.
Overall, there were 12 appeals in support of ‘Belsat’.
Svetlana Alexievich was one of the first to support the channel. Together with the Nobel laureate, the letter sent to the Polish authorities was signed by Alyaksandr Milinkevich, Ales Bialiatski and Uladzimir Nyaklyayeu, a group of Belarusian historians of the Center for Belarusian Studies at Warsaw University, the movement “For Free Russia” (Warsaw), the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Belarusian National Congress, Zyanon Pazniak himself on behalf of the Belarusian Conservative Christian Party BPF.
BPR Rada also joined in.
On the Polish side, “Belsat” was supported by 50 journalists, academics and experts on Eastern Europe.
The need to support the station was repeatedly raised by members of the unrecognized Union of Poles in Belarus. Andżelika Borys, newly elected chairwoman of the organization, said that “Belsat” was practically the only source of information that comprehensively covered the persecution of the Union by the Belarusian authorities.
The fate of “Belsat” worried Metropolitan of Minsk and Mahiliou, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. The head of the Catholic Church in Belarus expressed his hope that the problem of ‘Belsat’ would be solved.
Majority of signatures for the preservation of “Belsat” was collected on the Internet. The petition prepared by the movement “For Freedom” received nearly 4.5K signatures.
Residents of the town Naroch alone collected 144 signatures in support of the channel over 4 days under the appeal of the Belarusian Christian Democracy .
Many voices of support reached us offline. At the time, characters of our stories were Belarusians from all over the country — now villagers of the Maretskaye, Dzerkaushchyna, Zauraty (near hlydokaye), Sosha, Kachanovichy, Dudzinki, Belavezhskaye, Malech, Lukamer, Kabaki (Brest region), Malyushchytsy (near Navahrudak) thank and support us.
We heard voices of support from Donbas — from the Belarusian volunteers who are defending Ukraine. Members of the ‘Belarus’ tactical team read poem by Uladzimir Karatkevich called ‘I was.I am. I will be.”
