Vaclau Areshka: They are afraid of boycott, and observation

The boycott must be an active action.

This what said in his interview, to charter97.org by Vaclau Areshka, Belarusian culture expert.

- Why did you decide to boycott the elections?

- I believe that the boycott - is absolutely a natural solution, because all the possible conditions that were once staged by the opposition, the conditions for participation, were not satisfied by the government. And so far participation in the "elections" makes government more legitimate in the eyes of Belarusian and international society. If you listen to Yarmoshina, then with her words it becomes clear that they are afraid of a boycott, and observation. And they do not have to go towards this. Boycott - is a way of ignoring things that do the authorities to legitimize themselves and gain popularity. Thus, we express our attitude to the authorities and to what she does.

- Is the boycott a refuse from any activity during the electoral farce?

- There is such opinion, even among those who consider themselves activists. But the activist - is someone who does something. And in this situation, if I boycott and sit on the couch, even if I'm singing folk songs on the couch, democracy in Belarus will not appear from this. But if I convinced 8 - 10 people not to go to the elections - it is a boycott. If you participated in the observation and recorded the number of people who came to the elections - this is an active boycott. The boycott should be an action.

- Are the supporters of the boycott who participate in the monitoring?

- Observation is very important. If we won’t show the public that the boycott is happening, there will be only those people the authorities say about. And they will say that 80-90% came to the “elections”, and no one can say that it is not. But it is quite possible, if one will talk to people all over Minsk, then 50% of voters may not come at all. We can carry out work in such a way that the "elections" will fail. And if the authorities will lie, we will be able to prove that people did not come.

- What result, on your opinion, will give the boycott?

- Those people who are aware that the boycott is more useful and more important than imitation of the participation in the "elections" – are our future allies. Today, we see that attempts to unite the opposition were in vain for unknown reasons. It cannot take a single solution, a single concept. In this situation it is necessary to unite with those who have much in common. Boycott is one of those things we can rally around. I hope this will be the basis for future of a real coalition.

- Does the current situation in Belarus facilitate the organization of a boycott?

- Yes, for now, because we have a minimal level of voter turnout - 50%. If there were no such thing, then the boycott would have lost the sense, a certain percentage of people would have come anyway – the "elections" would be held.