Feduta Made a Mistake (and this is not the first time!)

Belarusian fans at a football match, November 7, 2024. Photo: Nasha Niva

There are people who know millions of numbers, names, facts — but repeatedly make mistakes when it comes to conclusions and practical solutions. Alexander Feduta demonstrated this in 1994, and in 2010, and in 2021. I see that Feduta is not ready to contradict himself and is determined to follow the path of errors to the end.

"Changes can only happen inside Belarus itself. Whatever emigrants do or say, I don't think it can truly influence the situation inside Belarus," — said Feduta in an interview with "Svaboda".

Wait — what about Giedroyc's Polish "Kultura", which was published in Paris and which post-communist President Kwaśniewski visited after his election to pay his respects. "The Gulag Archipelago": the truth about Stalinist repressions was brought into the USSR by Western radio — it was broadcast to tens of millions of people in the voice of Belarusian Halina Rudnik. Ukrainian "Suchasnist", Lithuanian Metmenys.

Let's move to politics. Greek Konstantinos Karamanlis. Portuguese Mário Soares. Tunisian Rashid Ghannouchi.

Nations are different, geopolitical situations are different, circumstances vary. Feduta's mistake, perhaps, is that he continues to look at the world and Belarus through the prism of Russian history.

Павялічыць

Former political prisoner Alexander Feduta. Photo: LookByMedia

Yes, in the case of Russia, emigration had little influence on the course of events at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. But the political, cultural, and moral influence, and the assistance of the diaspora, was much greater in the case of many Central and Eastern European nations. Names: Valdas Adamkus, Salome Zourabichvili, Tomas Venclova, Czesław Miłosz, Aleksander Smolar, Miklós Haraszti, Vladimir Tismăneanu, Karel Schwarzenberg, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Toomas Hendrik Ilves (I intentionally list names from different countries and professions).

Moreover, the internet has changed the ways of communication. 

Belarusians inside the country and Belarusians of the diaspora have almost become "communicating vessels". The entire country knows within a day what independent media have written and reported on air. The diaspora collects significant funds for political prisoners and their families, for cultural projects. And how else here and now? There is no other way out. The role of the diaspora is to preserve, to help, to continue the tradition.

Let's distinguish. Indeed, the future of the country will be decided only within the country; systemic change, political transformations can only grow and mature within the country, within the state elite. An insider will always have an advantage over an emigrant in understanding the processes in the country. They will have a moral advantage because they remained there, despite everything.

But as for "whatever they do or say" — I beg to differ.

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