October 16 – Day of Our Solidarity :: Charter'97 :: News

Representatives of civil society of Belarus have offered to announce October 16, 2005 a Day on of Solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners, disappeared oppositionists, their families, independent journalists, with everybody who fight for freedom and democracy in Belarus. At a press-conference in Minsk the leader of the civil initiative “We Remember”, member of the “Free Belarus” Iryna Krasouskaya, a coordinator of the Zubr movement Mikita Sasim and a well-known journalist Iryna Khalip called upon the Belarusians to switch off the light in their apartments for 15 minutes on October 16, at 8 p.m. and to put a burning candle to their window boards as a solidarity sign. “We all shall light candles, think, pray for the disappeared, political prisoners and their families. We are to imagine Belarus in which we could live. Maybe everything would start with that. Dark cities, dark windows, where only burning candles are seen. This could become a mirror for us to see that we are many,” Iryna Khalip said.

Iryna Khalip explained what a Solidarity Day is:

“They are trying to intimidate and isolate us. I have heard dozens of variants of answers to the question “Why haven’t you come to the square?” over the last year. The most common answers are: all protesters are dispersed, beaten up, and I have only one life and health, I can be fired from job, expelled from university, my business can be liquidated. It is often heard that we are in minority, so what’s the use of all that?.. In reality we are a majority long ago. We just do not have such a mirror into which we could see everything and realize that we are many,” the journalist said. “It is really so that little people dare to take to the streets. And it is senseless to appeal to the people that are afraid today, to change everything immediately and to take to the streets. It is not realistic. If a person has come to a gym for the first time, he won’t lift a 100-kilogram weight. He should start with a lighter weight, with a pair of dumbbells. Then the next time we would be able to do more, and eventually we would be afraid no more and realise that we are a majority. We shall take to the streets”.

“The next year is to be a very difficult one, and a crucial one. Next year we are to lift our 100 kilograms, so let’s consider a switched-off light and a burning candle our dumb-bells of 1 kilogram, which are to be the beginning of everything,” the journalist said.

As said by her, every person worried by the fate of Motherland cannot say that he or she was afraid of switching the light for the fear of secret services or dismissal from work. “It would be a simple cowardice or hypocrisy,” the journalist said.

The protest on October 16 is supported by the wife of the disappeared public figure Anatol Krasouski, the leader of the civil initiative “We Remember”, member of the “Free Belarus” Iryna Krasouskaya, and one of the “Zubr” coordinators Mikita Sasim.

“Today we are to be solidarity with one another, as never before. “Zubr” was the first to hold actions of solidarity with the families of disappeared. In March 2001 we went to the streets of Minsk with portraits of Viktar Hanchar, Yury Zakharanka, Anatol Krasouski and Dzmitry Zavadski. Since that time thousands of people have joined us, hundreds of solidarity actions have been organized. Today we should stop talking and come down to real work. It was a solidarity that has helped me to live through many hardships and stay in the Resistance movement. We shall continue our struggle, and we call all Belarusians and people who are not indifferent to the future of our country for solidarity,” the Zubr coordinator Mikita Sasim said.

Iryna Krasouskaya reminded about the ultimatum delivered to the regime by the families of the disappeared Belarusian citizen. Families of the disappeared Belarusians demanded the official authorities to carry out an objective investigation of the cases of their abducted family members. The refusal of the authorities to investigate the cases of the disappeared, brutal dispersals of the recent protest rallies “We Remember” and “We Want to Know the Truth!” prove that the authorities are involved in the politically motivated abductions of people, and intentionally hinder establishment of truth.

The wife of the disappeared oppositionist has returned from Geneva. There, in the UN Commission on Human Rights, a session of the Working Group dedicated to elaboration of a draft Convention against Forcible Abductions has been held. “It is a very serious document, which is being worked upon for several years, and which creates new possibilities for investigation of the cases of disappearances, and bringing to justice those who are responsible for abductions. Now a serious discussion is held, and I hope that at the next session of the commission this convention is to be passed,” Iryna Krasouskaya said.

Iryna Krasouskaya reminded that passing the Convention is of great importance for Belarus. According to this document, all persons implicated in politically motivated people’s abductions, from architects to perpetrators, including every official who interfered with an objective investigation of the forcible abductions’ cases, are to stand trial.

A well-known journalist Iryna Khalip, a coordinator of the Zubr movement Mikita Sasim and the leader of the civil initiative “We Remember”, member of the “Free Belarus” Iryna Krasouskaya