Birthday of the Belarusian Revolution

It was not in vain.

I don't remember if it snowed that day. That's probably the only thing that slipped from my memory. I remember all the rest for ten years. It will always be marked "as if it was yesterday". December 19, 2010. It’s the birthday of the Belarusian revolution.

No, of course, everything started much earlier. The first mass procession to Kurapaty was held in 1988. Water cannons dispersed it. Then there was Charnobylski Shliah-1996," when protesters overturned police cars. Then there was the Freedom March-1999, when, to protect themselves against possible attacks of law enforcers, Belarusians dismantled the stone steps near the Gorky Park. There was Ploshcha-2006 with its tent camp, which lasted for three days.

During the Kurapaty march, the Belarusians, then still law-abiding holders of USSR passports, learned how the water cannons worked and how Cheryomuha-10 gas smelled. Charnobylski Shliah taught them to break through the cordons and not to stop. The Freedom March reminded them that the cobble stone was not only a tool of the old regime proletariat. During the Ploshcha-2006, the cornerstones of the people's solidarity were laid: every evening after work, Minsk citizens brought food, warm clothes, thermoses with tea to the tent camp, and many of them were immediately jailed for 15 days. In between, there were much smaller, but no less important events.

However, there was still hope that things would work out without everyone's involvement. They hoped that the ruler would suddenly get scared of what he had done and escape to the Emirates. One night he would be quietly removed by officials and Swan Lake would play on TV. That Putin will call him and say "it's enough, Sasha". That Bush will fly from Washington DC, personally handcuff him and present the Statue of Liberty to the Belarusian people - or at least he will send the Sixth Fleet to the shores of the Belarusian seas and oceans. In other words, deus ex machina. And we won't have to take any risks - just be patient and wait.

In 2010, everyone finally realized that no god would appear from a car, and the destruction of the regime is everyone's own business. Even if one has to take the risk. On December 19, Belarusians took to the Square - even those who had never done it before. Even though an intimidation campaign had been launched in the summer. While presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu was beaten on his way to the Square. There were no telegram chat-rooms and developed social networks; one had not come up with an idea to assemble in street and district columns; people were reaching the Square on their own, not knowing for sure if they could ever get there. Yet, they still did. They stood in the square. They were ready to stand as long as necessary. They did not run away when the troops attacked. Fifty thousand people. It was the birthday of the revolution.

Some of us said that it would end within a year or two. Others argued that the vile dictatorship was as tenacious as a cockroach: seemingly small, but always managing to crawl into a crevice, and therefore it would remain. Some others believed it would stay for a while. On December 19, all Belarusians have realized that the Square is indispensable. However, it takes some time from comprehension to action. They were right. This way took ten years. It's a long time. Luckily, it is shorter than our lives. So we will make it in time. It was all not in vain.

On the first anniversary of our Square when I did not know whether my husband was alive and where he was - whether in the correctional institution in Vitsebsk or somewhere else - I said that sooner or later Lukashenka would be brought to justice for everything. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians had a personal grudge against him. But I was ready to join the line and let the relatives of those he had killed go first. Now, ten years later, there are not hundreds of thousands, but millions. However, the number of those who should be the first in the line is growing. We must hurry up. To stay devoted to that awesome and frightening December and this hot desperate August.

It's December again. Ten years have passed. It still feels like yesterday. Everything is etched in memory - the troops on the square, and Nyaklyayeu being carried to the ambulance, and my beaten husband Andrey Sannikov lying on the square, and me and Natasha Radzina going on hunger strike in the KGB jail, and the screams of those tortured that reached my cell, threats to "leave to rot in prison", and through all this horror - a firm, strong, fundamental knowledge: it was not in vain. This knowledge is still with us today, as well as the feeling that victory is about to come.

The only thing I can't remember is whether it snowed that day.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]