A few years ago I used the cabinet of my friend in the Belarusian parliament, Vladimir Novosyad, as something of a logistical base. I handled my e-mail on the computer that was a gift from the People's Republic of China, and had lunch in the government's dirt-cheap stolovaya. In 2000 Vladimir had been the only opposition member elected into the parliament, and it was an eerie feeling walking the long, silent corridors of the enormous white building behind Lenin's statue on Independence Square.
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My friend's cabinet was the only one not displaying the assigned portrait of Lukashenko, who had been placed face-down on the safe. In fact, apart from a print-out of his daughter's picture, there was not much decoration or comfort in there at all, as if Vladimir knew he would not stay very long. In 2004, he was not allowed to run for re-election. There was nothing surprising about this, as these elections totally cleansed the parliament from all opposition. But I have since wondered about one person, Gennady Davydko, the man with which the regime chose to replace Vladimir.
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I knew that Davydko had a past as a professional actor and head of the national Yanka Kupala Theatre, supposedly the best ensemble in the country and also a partner in several Swedish-Belarusian theatre co-operation projects. Having seen a play there, The Black Lady from Nesvizh, I felt inclined to agree that this was a good ensemble. Still, I did not expect this Davydko person to do much good in parliament. This past year has proven that I was right.
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The first time I noticed Davydko in his new role was a few months after the elections, when he supported an idea to forcibly sterilise asocial elements, and said he was sorry he had not come up with the initiative himself. I usually have no problems with a certain amount of the moral conservatism that one often meets in Eastern Europe. On the contrary, often I sort of appreciate it. But this was too much.
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And this week I laid eyes on an interview with Davydko made by one of the regime newspapers. In it, he tells the journalist that he feels "comfortable" being in the parliament, but that he is "disappointed" with his voters and their "ignorance in legal matters." Surely, only a parliamentarian who knows that he does not depend on voters for his re-election could say such a thing. I wonder if those voters ever compare their current representative with Vladimir, who spent much of his energy trying to look after their interests and whom I never heard say anything negative about the people that had elected him.
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In any case, Davydko has now done his part to insure himself from Vladimir's return, or from any other similar threat. The legal amendments stipulating prison sentences for much of what the opposition does, presented by Lukashenko the other week, have now been passed by both chambers of parliament almost without even cosmetic resistance. According to Gennady Davydko, these changes will ensure that next years presidential elections are "maximally democratic, maximally tranquil."
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PS. Thank you for reading this blog. I would like to take this opportunity to recommend my new personal web
archive
. DS.
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