“Belarusians Woke Up”: A Belarusian from the USA Told How She Supported the Bear Force

Bears from John Oliver's show caused a stir in America.

A week ago, the host of the popular American show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver made an episode about Belarus. At the end of the program, he offered the audience to buy teddy bears and promised to send the money from their sale to support the Belarusian independent media and human rights organizations. Ten thousand toys were sold in less than 12 hours. One of them flew to Las Vegas to a Belarusian named Vera, writes zerkalo.io.

- The package with the toy came to me two days ago (September 18. - ed.), - says Vera. - It's interesting that the show is being recorded in New York, and the bear was sent to me from an enterprise located in New Jersey.

The toy itself, the interlocutor continues, is made in China. A special place has already been allocated for it in the house: the bear will sit on the owner's desk.

- For me, this toy is like a memory that a program was released in America, in which they talked about what is happening in Belarus. It is very important that it was a John Oliver show because he has millions of fans, - Vera notes.

Vera is from Homel. She moved to the United States in the late 1990s. Now the woman lives in Las Vegas and works at the university. She and her husband have been watching the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver show on HBO for a long time.

- On Sunday night, when it starts, we leave everything and sit in front of the TV. And if we suddenly do not have time, we watch the recording, - says the interlocutor about a good family tradition and admits: she loves political satire and is a big fan of John Oliver. - He is known for his caustic jokes. Once, in my opinion, he even joked about North Korea. I expected him to prepare an issue about Lukashenka. And when it suddenly happened, I was at the peak of my emotions - both happy and excited.

At the end of his programs, the interlocutor continues, John Oliver, as a rule, offers to donate for something. In the episode about Belarus, it was teddy bears. The cost of one is $ 20. Vera ordered it as soon as the show ended.

- I wanted to support the message that came from John Oliver, his desire to draw attention to what is happening now in Belarus,” - Vera explains why she bought the toy. - I reasoned like this: if I do it (order a toy. - Ed.), and other people follow this example, then the action will get more resonance. This means that even those who have not heard anything about it will learn about the situation in our country.

Having ordered a bear, Vera wrote a post about this in one of the communities of Belarusians in the United States. The next morning, she saw that her message was reposted by about a thousand people. In the comments under the post, many wrote: "The bears are out of stock."

- Did those who did not manage to order a toy offer you to sell them your teddy bear?

- No, - the interlocutor laughs. - But I saw that some wrote under my post: "If someone ordered several, sell one."

- Did you follow the events in Belarus after the 2020 elections?

- When I came to Belarus and talked with friends, political topics were never discussed directly, - says the interlocutor. - And when last year I saw what was happening, I was shocked. I subscribed to all possible telegram channels and followed the news. I read it and thought: "Have the Belarusians really woken up?