Emigre politician warns Belarusians against responding to provocations on Freedom Day
Emigre politician and Chairman of the Belarusian Conservative Christian Party Zyanon Paznyak is calling for establishing the movement of Belarusian working people.
“There might be some provocation [during the march on Freedom Day on March, 25]. From my political experience, I can tell you that Belarusians should be very careful. Do not fall for any calls to destroy the residence of the head of state or something else – they will be provocative, as well as the calls to pitch tents or protesters’ camp – one should not do it, because it is not time yet. Our society, our good, sincere, hard-working people are not organized yet. They have recently taken to the streets because they were humiliated, they were put on the ‘parasites’ list! They do not have jobs, they are unemployed, and the authorities depreciated them and wanted money that they did not have,” said Zyanon Paznyak.
In his opinion, if the authorities have a reason to put down the protests, they will fade away.
“Our people should make groups – at enterprises they work for, at the places they live, ect. We need, say, a movement of working Belarusians or a movement of working people. It is important that such groups be established. And when all over Belarus such movement of working people start to consolidate, our slogan should be: “For a change! For a new free Belarus!” the politician believes.
Zyanon Paznyak, 72, Chairman of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian People’s Front, became one of the founders of the Belarusian People’s Front in late 80s. Historian and archeologist Paznyak discovered Kurapaty, an area on the outskirts of Minsk, in which a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Stalinist Purge. The discovery and exhumation of the remains in 1988 gave an added momentum to the pro-democracy and pro-independence movement in Belarus in the last years of the Soviet Union’s existence.
After Alyaksandr Lukashenka became president of Belarus in 1994 the contrast between the two politicians only sharpened. He led the first mass protests against the methods of Lukashenka’s rule, which later became known as Spring 1996. After a wave of political repression, Zyanon Paznyak emigrated to the West.
