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Cichanoŭskaja’s NYD address broadcast live unimpeded in Belarus
January 1, Pozirk. Belarus’ pro-democracy leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja suggested in her New Year’s address that Belarusians should leave behind empty quarrels, lies from TV screens, and the regime clinging to power.
She recorded the address together with politicians Maryja Kaleśnikava, Pavieł Łatuška, and Pavieł Sieviaryniec and posted it on YouTube. Notably, unlike in previous years, the authorities did not try to block access to the live broadcast in Belarus.
“And of course, like many Belarusians, I would gladly leave in the past the bluish fingers of one old man — but it seems they are still clinging on and coming with us into the new year,” she said, referring to Alaksandar Łukašenka, whom she claims to have defeated in the 2020 presidential election.
Kaleśnikava said that after her release following five years in prison, she was happy to discover that Belarusians had not forgotten solidarity and love despite the many hardships they had endured, and that they had achieved a great deal in culture, thought and engagement with the wider world, both inside the country and beyond its borders.
“You helped political prisoners and their families. You sent flowers to wives and mothers who needed support in difficult moments. You contributed money whenever you could. You helped raise children who were innocent of anything, deprived of their parents’ presence. People endured, they did not break, and that was possible thanks to you — your faith and your solidarity. When you know that you are remembered, that people pray for you, it gives you the strength to hold on,” said Sieviaryniec, who was also released together with Kaleśnikava in December in a deal brokered by Washington.
Warsaw-based politician Łatuška appealed to civil servants to engage with the opposition.
“You see that the system has reached a dead end. Every day, you face decisions made not in the interests of the people, but for the sake of one person alone. Yet you and we want the same thing: respect, freedom, and security. We all dream of a better life,” he said.
