Volha Mikalaichyk: It's Time for Lukashenka to Pack His Bags

New aristocrats of the spirit, courageous and free people should run Belarus.

Charter97.org discussed the situation in Belarus and the world with a well-known film director and civil activist Volha Mikalaichyk.

- Summing up results of the outgoing year, you said that the most important event was an obvious challenge to the Belarusian independence thrown by the Russian Federation. What is the secret of your cool-headedness - you participate in the Kurapaty watch, shoot inspiring films?

- I am inspired and made stronger to know that Belarus has always been a true European state, with traditions of Western civilization.

And the path destroying our European paradigm, in comparison with Belarus' presence in the European context, was very short. Therefore, we can move forward and be assured that we have hope to become a full-fledged EU state, in the heart of Europe.

It is not easy, but we can make it through: it runs in our veins. We will like a duck to water, when we are in Europe.

The experience of our close neighbors is the best proof. Lithuania, which was under the Soviet yoke, has become a successful European country. Ukraine, which took a thorny way, but escaped from the "embrace" of the Eastern Empire and moves towards the European dream. Yes, there is a war waging in the east, but the civilized world did not let the conflict to flare up all over the country. Still, there are more decent people in the world than those who "understand" Putin.

There's one more weighty moment I am inspired with. It's my personal experience. Being a film director, I meet different people - intellectuals, scientists, poets, artists, pensioners, teachers, workers, the unemployed, villagers...

I make films about them. People are frank with me. Do you know what howlers a simple country woman or a pensioner may say! As an opposition activist I can speak the same language with them! She says "We are Europeans." She goes to the National Museum and compares our history to the current situation and says "I do not want to live in this colony. I'm against the war Putin is waging in Ukraine".

And it's told by the woman who watches TV. Her son works at the Tractor plant. Ordinary people are more broad-minded than our authorities.

And they know who is right. They take a stand. You know, this "slave gene" is defeated. An ordinary villager or veteran of labor, who worked at the Luch plant all her life, is able to go alone against the corrupt, dim-witted power of Lukashenka and tell him: "I am a human. I am the people. Listen, you will obey my rules." This is not the major thing. This is what cannot be ruined by any empires.

Even now Belarusians are ready to fight, when, one may think, the authorities have already given in the sovereignty. I am proud of our people.

We have our "noble gene", which wins over the Soviet "slave gene". It has turned out that our noble gene is preserved by every layer of the Belarusian society. For example, it is demonstrated by our villagers, who, by and large, are impoverished and landless gentry, who made up more than 10% of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

We are descendants of Kalinouski, Kastsyushka and Radivilov. . We just need to wake up.

The Belarusians should be headed by new aristocrats of spirit, brave and free people - those who are able to wake up the gentry gene of others. Our people need a leader to follow and escape this prison and wreck the walls with bare hands.

- After your words about aristocrats of the spirit, I remembered how you made films for our "Iron People of Belarus. Men and women were people there. Today you are talking about villagers capable of defying Lukashenka. Who, in your opinion, will wake up the Belarusians and be able to take a lead?

- Freedom for Belarus will come from the union of a man and a woman. I am joking, of course.

I sometimes imagine a free Belarus as a sleeping beauty, which should be woken up. I can't tell you who can be a wizard who's going to get us out of this terrible dream. If it's a Prince Charming, a man, that's good.

That's great if it's a woman, a Belarusian Margaret Thatcher or Golda Meir. Perhaps, the Belarusians will soon have a modern warrior woman, like Anastasia Slutskaya. It may be a young and beautiful girl like Amelia Plater. Or it may be a wise and experienced woman. It's hard to say.

It must be an educated, moral, European person, respecting our traditions and Western civilization, committed to family values, unlike today's Shklou freak, whose family status is not clear.

- And was the most decent person to be called an ideal in 2018? Who is the person of the year, in your opinion? And please tell us about the most outstanding events this year.

- I start with events. I consider the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the BPR with a peaceful street procession to be the most decent one. The one that we tried to hold despite intrigues, provocations and repressions.

I consider Mikalai Statkevich, Uladzimir Niakliaeu, Jauhen Afnahel and Maksim Vinyarski the most courageous people of the year. Especially for their very attempt to celebrate the 100th anniversary. They did not give up and led the people who were not afraid.

And the second great event is an attempt to close the "tavern on bones", built on the protected territory of the international memorial in Kurapaty. We tried to stop this mess. I believe we succeeded.

The "tavern on bones" is almost empty. Owners are obviously scared. They will not keep building on the Kurapaty territories. I'd like to point out the role of Pavel Seviarynets in these Kurapaty actions. He headed this resistance, despite a baby at home who often does not see his father because of administrative arrests.

I am very grateful to Pavel; this summer he served as an example of a decent struggle for national memory. In fact, there were a lot of decent people on our part, it was a vivid protest. But Pavel headed it, and that is why he became the person of the year to me.

- This year, in addition to the centenary of the BPR, the end of the First World War was also marked. It caused the collapse of empires and the emergence of sovereign states in Central and Eastern Europe. Do you think such a fate awaits a modern empire called Russia, which threatens the independence of Belarus?

- Within a historical context, there is no doubt that the Russian Empire will collapse. The collapse is the predetermined outcome of any empire. It is clear that it will happen to the Russian Federation. The only question is when. I would like to witness it.

The speed of the process depends on the Russians themselves, who, fortunately, have now begun to get rid of the drug addiction of the Kremlin zombie TV. We can say for sure that the population of Russia has begun to awaken. Russian citizens want to distance themselves from Putin's policy, and now they often stress that the Kremlin mafia, not the people, is waging wars.

The Russian empire will collapse both from within and outside. From within, because people in Russia are tired of tricks of the Kremlin. Russians, Chechens, Tatars, Udmurts, Bashkirs and Yakuts, are equally tired of this.

From outside, China has joined in being ready to take everything from Russia which is under poor control. And Putin is playing into hands of it and rents out for centuries territories, which are several times larger than the annexed Crimean area.

I have already mentioned that the number of good people in the world exceeds the number of Putin's adherents. I believe that as soon as the peoples of Russia start liberating from the empire, the world community will give them a brotherly helping hand.

Belarusians are not an exception in this sense either. Moreover, we have a historical experience of influencing the eastern neighbor. One can joke about the "union state", but the paradox is that one can offer Putin or Mikalai Statkevich to head. I think that the Belarusians would support the second option. As once our ancestors put the heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ladislaus IV Vasa, at the head of the Moscow state.

- During Lukashenka's reign, Belarus has repeatedly found itself on the verge of losing its sovereignty. What has rescued our state despite the dictator's policy?

- I think that Lukashenka has been afraid of protests of people, who would not put up with the loss of independence. Some objective data about sentiments of Belarusians should have been received by the dictator, so he used every chance to manipulate the idea of a "union state", but was afraid to cross a certain line. And now the number of patriots ready to defend their sovereignty to the end has dramatically increased. The dictator knows it and trembles for his life.

Second, the position of neighbors made a difference. Lukashenka, despite his unwise approach, still realized that the neighbors of Belarus - Poland, the Baltic States, Ukraine - would not like if our country lost its sovereignty and tanks of the aggressor country stood on the border with NATO. Although Russian troops are present on the territory of Belarus, a clear loss of sovereignty over such an important military springboard and its transition to the Russian aggressor would have caused a very acute reaction of the most influential players in world politics.

Third, Lukashenka is afraid of Putin and peculiarities of the Kremlin's policy. After the annexation, he may just "disappear" all of a sudden. He would like to be a semi-independent king who trades sovereignty in pieces to uphold his regime. And in case of legal loss of independence, the former chairman of the collective farm with his mafia will become useless to the Kremlin and will hear: "here's your suitcase - the station - the middle of nowhere". In this sense, the situation for Lukashenka's regime and senior officials is critical. They face the deadlock.

We now have our own way and hopes for the future. We will defend our country and its European future. As they say, following wind is our advantage. And Lukashenka suffers the stalemate. He has few ways out. Our way leads to Europe. And there is no such way for those who have acted against the Belarusian people.

- The year 2018 has become a rebellious one. The "velvet" revolution in Armenia, concessions of the French government to "yellow vests", protests against Putin's "friends" in the Czech Republic and Hungary, which almost turned into revolutionary mass actions in Iran. You say that Lukashenka faces the stalemate. How long can his regime survive? What kind of changes may happen in Belarus?

- My intuition is very strong. It tells me that this moment is about to come. It will be the moment when Lukashenka is about to pack his bags and run in the middle of nowhere. The Belarusian people will feel this moment and just kick him out of the country.

I'd call these upcoming events a revolution after we're free. Only summing up the results one can describe the process and what it was like - a modern "velvet" revolution, or a classical revolution, or even an "evolution".

The main thing is that we should be ready to take part in a decisive, peaceful protest action, follow our leaders and fulfill our historical mission to remove the dictatorship. Without it, we just can't look into the eyes of children and grandchildren.

Will it be like in Armenia? I don't know. Perhaps, there are few Armenians here (laughs). Activists in Kurapaty once kidded: "Is it time to be in hiding? No. There is too many places to hide." More and more Belarusians realize it. The more stupid the regime's policy is, the more people want to put an end to it.

I would describe the current situation as follows: people are extremely encouraged to liberate. Despite 25 years of repressions, the spirit of resistance exists, and it has enhanced. 90% of people are ready to say Lukashenka in his face "get away!"

And it will depend on us how it is called later. If hundreds of thousands of people take part in a peaceful action, nobody will do anything to us. We will win right away, and that's it.

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