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Grandma Says Have A Go: How Mahiliou Student Put Local Authorities On Toes

Grandma Says Have A Go: How Mahiliou Student Put Local Authorities On Toes
ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTO

The student stood up to struggle against the “law on postponements”.

Aliaksei M. from Mahiliou (we do not publish the name so as not to let the guy down) filed an application with the local executive committee for a single picket against the “law on postponements”. Euroradio has found the student and asked about the desire to go into politics, the unwillingness to join the army, the support of relatives, the couldn't-care-less attitude of friends, and how he sees his action.

“Structures with different abbreviations”

A few days after the application for the picket was filed, all city authorities stood up on their toes. Aliaksei, the student of the Mahiliou State Economic Vocational and Technical College, got a phone call.

“The curator called and asked about the picket. She said things like what I am up to, why various “structures with different abbreviations” call to the college, asking for my characteristic. She said, do you want the whole city to know about you? In short, in college they tried to somehow influence me so that I give up the idea of the picket. ”

But the young Mahiliou citizen is not going to change plans.

- Why did you decide to hold a picket against the “law on postponements”?

- This problem does not concern me particularly: I need to go to college for a year and a half more. But in the future, if I want to enter a university, then I will have to serve in the army first. And this is not what I would like.

- Were you scared to file the application for a picket? Didn’t you think that problems could begin after that?

- A certain fear arose when they started calling from the city executive committee and asking why you need this picket? But I won’t expect this from the college administration.

“Grandma said I'm doing everything right”

- How did your parents react?

- I live only with my grandmother. She supports me - she said that I am doing everything right. Of course, she is also worried about me. But basically she supports me. Her opinion of the army is also negative.

- What do classmates say about your initiative? Do they support you?

- They don’t seem to care much. They are either not fit for service, or have already come to terms with the fact that they will go to serve. Some are simply afraid.

- Is the law on postponements the only thing you don’t like in the Belarusian politics?

- Until that moment, I was not very interested in Belarusian politics, because in our country they talk more about Russian politics. But after this situation, I try to delve deeper into our affairs. I try to read the laws - for example, the Constitution - and news sites too, to find out what is happening in Belarus.

- How do you see your one-person action, if it is allowed?

- If the picket is allowed, then I will come out and stand with a poster. Perhaps I’ll write a hashtag #educationismoreimportant.

Currently, 17 applications for single pickets have been submitted.

Their initiators are demanding to abolish or amend the “law on postponements”. This was told by Dzianis Tsikhanenka, the creator of the Telegram channel ProtestBY. Pickets are planned to be held in Minsk, Vorsha and Mahiliou, in the second half of August and the beginning of September.

Activists plan exactly single pickets, because it is expensive to protest in a different way. In Belarus, the organizer of the action must pay for the work of the social services for maintaining order and cleaning the venue after the action. It can cost a tidy sum. However, it is possible that the authorities will demand money from the organizers of 15-minute single pickets. In this case, each of them will need about 200 rubles.

The law “On changing the laws on the effective functioning of the state’s military organization”, which is also called the “law on postponements,” came into force on August 10. Shortly before that, the Ministry of Defense explained that young people enrolled in universities and master degree studies this year will still receive the right to a second postponement from the military service to continue their education. However, this will not affect graduate students whose enrollment officially occurs on November 1, when the autumn army draft will already end.

Like other unpopular decisions of the government, the “law on postponements” was criticized by many Belarusians. Groups of opponents of the law appear on social networks, but so far they are not in a hurry with active protest actions - they only file applications for the pickets.

“The tax on parasitism”, the construction of the battery plant in Brest - all this at one time led to the emergence of new public activists who had not previously been seen in the “opposition movement”. It is difficult to say whether the protest movement from yesterday's “draft dodgers” will become large-scale, but new activists are already appearing. And one of them is 19-year-old Aliaksei M.

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