"We are no longer a post-Soviet society." Ales Bialiatski spoke at the Nobel Conference
Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2022, human rights defender Ales Bialiatski spoke at the Nobel Conference in the section "Defending Democracy in an Era of Rising Authoritarianism." "Radio Svaboda" selected the most striking quotes from his speech.
"All authoritarian regimes are similar to each other. I have read a lot about Iran and Venezuela and each time I compare their regimes with the situation in our country. There is a lot in common. Not only democratic forces cooperate with each other — dictatorships have also learned to cooperate."
"We are no longer a post-Soviet society. We are a society that supports democracy. But the authorities have not changed."
"From the very beginning, I clearly understood: the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to me, but I am only one of hundreds of thousands of Belarusians who want to see Belarus as a democratic European country."
"The last few years have been very difficult, but I don't regret a single day. When we were young, when we were 20 years old, we dreamed of a free and democratic Belarus. This dream has not yet come true. Therefore, we still have work to do — in Venezuela, Iran, and Belarus."
"Dictatorships are uniting, so all forces that stand for democracy and human rights must also unite, because there are more and more challenges in the world. And these are not minor challenges. They exist in dictatorships, but they also exist in democratic countries. We see very serious problems in European countries. The far right is asserting itself more loudly. We see more and more populists."
Bialiatski's full speech can be watched on YouTube (starting from the 46th minute).
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