Speech of Belarusian Student at the Solidarity Protest for a Democratic Belarus

Oszd meg!


Anna Mazurkevics’s speech at the protestst of Belarusian solidarity.Forrás: Momentum Mozgalom

Dear  compatriots and people who came to support us!

 

  1. As some of you might know, I was one of the organizers of the exit pol in Budapest. This exit poll was part of a larger civic initiative span across 23 countries.

The initiative was spontaneous, built on volunteer efforts, consultation and consensus. We are not members of any political party or organization, our efforts are not financially supported by any donor from either the West or the East.
We conducted exit polls as we wanted to know the REAL results, as we knew that government organized exit polls can’t be trusted and that the elections would be rigged.

 

  1. To cut the long story, short:
    the initiative was largely successful, we counted everyone who got out of the embassy gates between 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening. Our results, as well as the results of other 23 project countries, showed that Svyatlana Tsikhanovskaya won by 83%.

 

Yes, we do understand exit poll is a methodology built on trust. And we do understand that people abroad might vote differently compare to those back home. But these two facts are not enough to dismiss our results.
Testimonies of the independent observers, I repeat, independent, who reported
over 2000 thousand violations already during the preliminary voting, and documents collected on the main day of voting all speak to the same: Svetlana Tihanovskaya is our new president!

 

  1. Thus it is even more appalling to see some of the international media talking about these elections in such phrases as “Lukashenko won by cheating” or that “Lukashenko still has the overwhelming support and could have one without rigging the elections”.
    This, at the very least, betrays profound ignorance of the situation back home. But for most of all is a sign of disrespect of all the efforts that we, people of different age, gender and class in Belarus and abroad, invested into protecting our right to vote and choose.

 

By doing that, the media sides with the authorities, with the patriarchal Belarusian state.
They dismiss  our results and testimonies as anecdotal evidence not worthy of attention.
Don’t get me wrong!
We are extremely grateful for all the media coverage as it helps to draw attention to the pledge of Belorussian people. But we also ask to be paid some respect.
Listen to us, talk to us, collect evidence  beyond the „official” sources. Together we can achieve an accurate and respectful coverage of the events!

 

  1. To conclude my short speech, I would like to tell you that yesterday Svetlana Tihanovskaya was forced to leave the country. The authorites claim that she fled, but we know it’s a lie.
    We know that it is being done to decapitate the protest, to make us all give up on our rights. We know that all of us are fighting for one cause.
    We want to have free elections, we want to have our voices heard.
    We demand to put an end to violence against peaceful protesters and to organize fair and transparent elections!
    Once again: We are not members of any political party or organization, we are not sponsored or asked to do it. We are people of Belarus who are have chosen to fight for our constitutional right.

 

We are asking journalists, politicians of European Union, civilians:

Please  help us spread the word and join us in supporting Belarus and this brave woman who has done so much for our country. We want to put an end to violence against peaceful protesters and to organize fair and transparent elections!

Long live Belarus! Zhyve Belarus!

Vélemény, hozzászólás?

Az e-mail címet nem tesszük közzé. A kötelező mezőket * karakterrel jelöltük