Pavel Latushka replied to Kalesnikava's call: How to defeat cancer if you don't treat it?

Pavel Latushka. Photo: LookByMedia

The occasion for a broad polemic was the recent statement by ex-political prisoner Maryia Kalesnikava at the GLOBSEC conference in Prague. She proposed a new strategy to European partners, which is not to fight Aliaksandr Lukashenka, but to focus exclusively on fighting for people. After this approach was criticized by Aliaksandr Fiaduta and Siarhei Naumchyk, Pavel Latushka joined the discussion.

Below is the full text by Pavel Latushka.

Fighting against dictatorship ≠ fighting for freedom?

You know that I try to avoid sharp criticism of representatives of democratic forces. I prefer not to name names in public discussions and to oppose without attacking. Adhering to the latter, I am nevertheless compelled to respond publicly to the esteemed Maryia Kalesnikava.

Because, in my opinion, her latest, also public, statement that one should not fight the dictator Lukashenka while fighting for people, for freedom and free elections — that is, for democracy — contains something more than just a proposal of a "new strategy" for democratic forces and our international partners. Namely — a substitution of concepts and a false message.

Let's start with the substitution of concepts. It's not difficult to uncover it if you ask yourself just one question: who took away people's freedom and free elections?

They didn't just evaporate on their own, and 2020 clearly showed that the Belarusian people, in their overwhelming majority, did not abandon them voluntarily.

Freedom was taken from Belarusians by Aliaksandr Lukashenka and his personalistic dictatorial regime, which he created. He created it through political assassinations, through mass repressions, through brutal suppression of protests, and relying on Russia's support.

It is this person, by retaining power in this manner for all these years, who deprived Belarusians of rights and freedoms and stripped the entire country of the opportunity to be a democratic European state, building instead an already practically totalitarian dictatorship that implements repressions on a scale that modern Europe has not known for many decades.

The freedom of Belarusians did not disappear on its own, it did not just dissolve into thin air. Mass repressions do not happen by themselves, like rain or snow.

The border between Belarus and Ukraine in February 2022 did not open on its own for the invasion of Russians into that country from Belarusian territory, which also did not provide itself to them for this purpose. The economy and industry of Belarus did not suddenly start working on their own for the war against Ukraine. Nor did Russian nuclear weapons arrive in Belarus by themselves, on autopilot, making our country a target on the map of Europe.

None of this happened by itself. Behind all these events stands a specific person, his orders, decisions, actions. And his name is Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Dictator. Murderer. Military aggressor and criminal.

According to Maryia, there is no need to fight him. One must fight for people and for freedom. And this is a false message. And a dangerous one, if one listens to it and takes it as a guide for action. Why?

Let's imagine that when treating a person with oncology, someone comes and says: "don't fight cancer cells, fight for healthy ones." Or that during a forest fire, someone proposes not to fight the fire, but to fight for the trees.

And for some reason, doctors or firefighters choose to follow these pieces of advice. What this will lead to is obvious. The person with cancer will die. The forest will burn down.

Today, our country is sick with cancer named Lukashenka. Our country is engulfed in a fire called the Lukashenka regime.

And I want to ask: is fighting the disease not really equivalent to fighting for the health and lives of the people who suffer from it? And is fighting the fire not equivalent to fighting for the house engulfed by it, in which we live?

How to defeat cancer if you don't treat it? And how to defeat a fire if you don't extinguish it? To let oneself be killed and burned to the ground?

If we go down the proposed path, the serial killer will continue to kill, and we will continue to bury the victims of his crimes.

Fighting against Lukashenka does not mean abandoning the fight for people, for their freedom.

Long live Belarus? Or let it perish?

What do you think?

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