Belarusians in EU states hope to join forces and battle for change in their homeland

Belarus gained independence in 1991 after being part of the Soviet Union for some seventy years. In two years time, the second term of the country's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko will come to an end. But Lukashenko, who is widely accused of human rights abuses and has also clamped down on the use of the Belarusian language in favour of Russian, now hopes to have the constitution revised by national referendum to give him a third term as head of state. There is a growing diaspora in Europe of Belarusians opposed to the regime, who have left the country, and one of the centres of the country's opposition in exile is Prague. Now the Belarusian community in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Czech Republic has come together to battle for change in their homeland.

Belarusians in EU states hope to join forces and battle for change in their homeland

George Stankevich is from the Belarusian civic association Skaryna in Prague:

"There are primarily two things that bother us: the dictatorial nature of the regime, where everything is like in the former Soviet Union where all the initiatives are being stifled, and at the same time our rights, especially the cultural rights, that of are being trampled on every day. They call us ethnic Belarusians indigenous people. Mr Lukashenko grew up speaking Belarusian and now he doesn't speak a word of it, only when he wants to ridicule our language. It's the mocking of everything that's dear to us."

But can there be an external initiative from Belarusians outside Belarus?

"Well, so far we haven't been able to exert much influence but we realise now that many Belarusians, both immigrants and indigenous ethnic groups, now live in EU countries like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and there is a growing number of Belarusians living in western and central Europe. So, at the end of August, we convoked the first convention of Belarusians in Europe and we formed a democratic forum of Belarusians in Europe."

With the exception of denouncing what Lukashenko is doing, are there any concrete actions or is there any concrete pressure that's being put on him from the outside, international world?

"Well, the situation is not as good as we would like to have it since there are not fifty million of us but only ten million of us and we have no oil...even the EU has been neglecting us and we keep pointing this out in successive articles of our periodical, which is being sent to all heads of the governments in the western world. So, we keep pointing it out that it's really unfair because Mr Lukashenko's ways of governing are now being adopted by his friend Mr Putin. It just seems convenient to use terrorist attacks to further their own goals."

What about the Czech government?

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel

"The Czech foreign affairs ministry established a special section of cooperation in transformation to provide assistance in the struggle against totalitarian regimes anywhere in the world and will focus its attention on nearby countries like Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, or Serbia. The organisation People in Need is also very helpful and some senators like Jan Ruml too. As a matter of fact, some members of the Senate formed a special senate committee to help freedom and democracy in Belarus. Michal Zantovsky, too, who used to be a senator, is also very helpful. And, let's not forget the former president Vaclav Havel, who doesn't shy away from publicising his views. We keep pointing out that Mr Lukashenko's ways of governing are now being adopted by his friend Mr Putin. It seems convenient."

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel is one of a hundred influential figures in Europe and the USA, who have just signed an appeal to all heads of state and government leaders of EU and NATO member states, calling on them to question the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The signatories accuse Mr Putin of using terrorist attack like the tragic Beslan school siege to promote his own agenda and say he is violating human rights and democratic principles through the systematic suppression of the free press, incarceration of political opponents, and persecution of leaders of critical non-governmental organisations. Czech President Vaclav Klaus, one of the recipients of the letter, has yet to read the appeal as he is currently on an official visit to Madrid.

And for the latest news from Belarus, visit the website www.belarusianreview.org, the on-line version of the Belarusian Review, published in English in Prague.