This is the third iteration of the ‘New Belarus’ conference, during which Belarusian dissident politicians, experts, activists, and civic society representatives participate in debates on the future of their country.
This year’s congress, attended by some 300 opposition figures, was opened by a speech delivered by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of Belarusian democratic opposition and head of the United Transitional Cabinet.
“Victory does not come out of nowhere, and unity does not happen without teamwork,” Tsikhanouskaya said, stressing the need for maintaining solidarity and action in spite of the tough situation, her press office reported.
“But we must remember: Disappointment and depressive episodes are not forever. We must not deviate from the chosen path, we must continue moving towards our common goal. It’s normal to complain sometimes, and arguments can be productive,” she said. “But after that… After that, exhale, make peace, shake hands, and keep moving shoulder to shoulder.”
“The regime will not be able to break us only when we stick together. We cannot turn the page for as long as our country remains enslaved. As long as political prisoners are made to suffer living death.”
She said: “Only as long as we are together, the regime will fail to break or discourage us. It will fail to turn over the page while our Homeland is enslaved. While political prisoners face slow death in the regime’s clutches. While all the repressed have not been rehabilitated. While those responsible for torture have not been held accountable. While our evacuated and imprisoned compatriots can’t attend the funerals of their relatives or visit the graves of loved ones.”
Pavel Latushka, Tsikhanouskaya’s deputy in the United Transitional Cabinet and the head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, also participates in the conference.
Before joining the opposition, he served as Belarus’ ambassador to Poland and later France, and in-between held the post of the minister of culture.
“This conference is special: next year, Lukashenko is planning his ‘re-appointment’,” Latushka said, referring to the presidential elections scheduled for 2025.
He also highlighted the need to develop a joint strategy for the democratic opposition forces.
“We have achieved much during these years: we have created a truly democratic institutions, that is President-elect [Tsikhanouskaya], the United Transitional Cabinet and the Coordination Council – an alternative to Lukashenko’s regime and his dictatorial system. We will continue our work and strengthen our institutions,” Latushka said.
According to him, Lukashenko’s regime wants to present the massive 2020 protests that erupted in the aftermath of the fraudulent elections as a “coincidence.”
“It is our task to show, that it was not a coincidence,” Latushka said, adding that a “boycott allows the system to mobilize its supporters and falsify the elections,” and that the regime desires society’s apathy.
He added that that the Belarusian democratic opposition must expand beyond its core supporters and appealed to the opposition’s partners to utilize tools that will allow for Lukashenko to be held accountable.
Latushka’s office said that the democratic opposition plans to pass a document called ‘Platform 2025’ and a protocol establishing rules of cooperation between the main Belarusian political forces in exile, as well as adopting declarations on foreign policy priorities, the accountability of the Lukashenko regime, and reinstating justice.
