Kseniya Halubovich, Journalist, German-French Journalist Award 2021, Belarus (in exile) on the Panel The Rise of Far-Right Nationalism, at the Conference “Defending Democracy and Human Rights”, December 12, 2024 Skopje.
Belarus is a big silent gray zone in the center of Europe. Because regime of Lukashenko with big support of Putin’s regime makes it impossible for people inside the country to speak, to write, to express their minds openly, because you can be imprisoned for years only for one comment in messenger. For example, for the last four years, something between one million and half a million people left the country and thousands of these people can’t return home.
Most of the journalists and activists now live in exile and work in exile, and now only these people can be voices of Belarusian people who can’t leave the country and who live in this silent gray zone inside under this pressure. Yesterday, we have terrible news that one woman killed herself because of the political repressions in Belarus. It is what happens when people can’t speak anymore and they don’t know what to do with all of these terrible conditions?
This regime tried to do some harm to our relatives. When they can’t do anything to people and activists and journalists in exile, sometimes they come to our relatives inside Belarus. And of course, all this happened now with the support of Putin, because most of Belarusian people want to be free. But we know that we have these Russian troops inside our country and I think, in my opinion, we have something like a hybrid occupation of Belarus.
Our situation totally depends on victory of Ukraine now and a lot of our guys and girls fight inside Ukraine for freedom of Ukraine and freedom of Belarus. But I think we have really the most strong desperate opposition, maybe the most strong in the world. We have great organizations in exile which help people, which help families of political prisoners, which help people to leave the country, which help people with money, with documents.
I’m proud about, because for years we will show the world that we are strong and that we continue our fighting. And of course, I’m tired to speak the same things for years, but it’s very important, because millions of Belarusian people can’t speak, can’t write, can’t speak and all people in exile need to continue to speak for them and to speak with Western world about our problems, to speak that we are not Russians. We have our own problems. We have our own language, it’s not Russian, and we have our own culture. We are not brothers. Unfortunately, we will be neighbors in the future, but never brothers.
D. Tahiri
Camera: Atanas Petrovski/ Igor Chadinovski
Editing: Arian Mehmeti
Photo: Robert Atanasovski
CONFERENCE, FULL VIDEO, Streamed live on December 12, 2024:
https://youtube.com/live/1f2Eo1ZXEQ0
PHOTO ARCHIVES: #DefendingDemocracy, Panel 1: Democracy under Siege
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#DefendingDemocracy, Panel 2: The Rise of Far-Right Nationalism
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#DefendingDemocrcy Panel 3: Countering Authoritarianism
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#DefendingDemocracy conference, Panel 4: Commitment to democracy
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#DefendingDemocracy Conference (overall)
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#DefendingDemocracy – workshop and meeting with the press
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#DefendingDemocracy PRESS CONFERENCE
For more information on the Conference, please visit the special website DefendingDemocracy
