We Can Make a Difference

While the moustached С-student broadcasts that there is no coronavirus, the Belarusians organize themselves.

The things happening in Belarus today reminded me of a severe winter and spring in 2011. Neither the depreciating ruble nor long queues near exchange offices stirred up this emotion. The reason is human solidarity.

In the winter of 2011, someone was certainly depressed or went introverted. But there were few of them. The majority somehow incomprehensibly found each other, raised money and handed it over to the families of political prisoners, found out where to bring it. Many people had no idea before where the BPF Office was located. They shared the phone numbers of relatives of the arrested, came to visit them, brought food, offered help with children or with heavy bags. Taxi drivers, when they heard the address of the prison, often drove for free. Individual entrepreneurs did not take money when they learned that a tracksuit or slippers would be given to a participant in the Square. Strangers wrote dozens of letters and postcards to prisons and sent parcels. It was pure and bright solidarity. No one listened to what the state television said about the enemies of the people and the conspiracy.

Now it's just like that. On TV, the moustached C-student tells us that there is no epidemic and we just need to drink vodka and not panic. Early this week he was talking about 50 grams, by the middle of it it was 100. In a week or two, he will recommend Belarusians to drink half a litre in the morning and the same amount in the evening. The method is clear: let them get drunk and not think anything through. I wouldn't be surprised if the price for alcohol will go down. Meanwhile, people organize themselves and fight the pandemic with their means, not relying on the state.

A young man and a girl are standing near the drugstore. They say to the approaching pensioners: "There are many people inside now. Let's better wait". In a supermarket, where the queue at the cash desk always resembles a locomotive game, and people stand close to each other, everyone keeps a distance. They stand a meter away from each other, and it is clear that no one ordered them from above. They do not need words to understand each other. Children of elderly parents, not so caring in normal life because they are too busy with their careers, now bring them food and call every day. Parents of schoolchildren leave their children at home, ready to help with studies if necessary. Moving announcements for pensioners appear on the entrance doors. People offer them help. Telegram creates a channel for mutual help. People help each other contrary to government policy. There is still a difference.

The main difference is that now no one is afraid of anything. Then they were. The scale of the repression was obvious, and any stray word or action could have fatal consequences. People helped quietly, not mentioning names, looking around to see if there was no KGB officer behind their back. They felt strong but were careful and discreet. It's different now.

Parents of schoolchildren - those who agreed to force their children into pioneers and the BRYU several months ago not to spoil the relationship with the school administration and the child's certificate, who brought money to school at first request without asking any questions, now leave their children at home and spit on the administration, the ministry, which refuses to impose holidays earlier. You can do whatever you want; our children's health is more important to us.

Students of MSLU - even those who just recently obediently went to early voting in order not to lose a place in the dormitory - now collect signatures to study online and, having received a boorish refusal of the rectorate, prepare for the strike. They don't hide their faces, give interviews, write on social networks, knowing well that they risk losing not a bed in the dormitory. They call for solidarity among students of other higher education institutions. Andrei Grigoriev, a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Education, writes on Facebook that the strike must be supported. No one pays attention to the foolish authorities and flick officials away as if they are fat dung flies.

Solidarity has no leaders. This is the highest form of self-organization in society. That's when no one waits for the signal "we go there, raise flags". People decide what and how to do, and fully "coincide in phase". They save their families not only from the pandemic but also from the obsolete marantic power, compared to which the dear Leonid Ilyich in the last months of his life is an example of clear mind and high intellect. Believe me, we have something to be proud of. We have learned that we are the ones who can save the country. We have learned to make decisions. We've learned not to be afraid.

We can make a difference.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

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