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This past Monday was the 16th, the monthly day of Belarusian solidarity. I am not sure what to think about this event. Two months ago, after the second solidarity day in November, I was a bit disappointed. All those within Belarus I had spoken with, and all whom they had spoken with, were also a bit disappointed. Even though they themselves had lit a candle in their windows, they had not seen others do the same, and so the mirror that was supposed to show that there were many of them showed instead that they were few.
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The initiators of this action, on the other hand, announced that they had monitored it and concluded that at least 300 000 people had taken part. Since Belarus has a population of about ten million, this should mean that one in thirty homes would have had a candle burning in its window. I found this hard to believe. But then, recently, I laid eyes upon the latest report from the independent polling research institute NISEPI, which I usually trust, and which confirmed that 3,3 percent of the population had participated in November's candle-lighting.
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So now I am not sure anymore. Perhaps the spirit of solidarity is alive in Belarus, perhaps not. Also, I have little idea of how many people have participated after that, in December and January. Figures are not reported, so I assume there is no monitoring going on any longer.
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In Sweden, solidarity day was mentioned in a televised speech by our foreign minister, talking at the annual conference on security policy. She spoke mostly about Africa, about development, and about other issues that do not really have much to do with our own national security, since the Swedish government seems blissfully unaware of any threats to this. But she did mention Belarus, and the fact that a manifestation would take place later the same day on Norrmalmstorg square in central Stockholm, for which I felt somewhat grateful.
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A few hours later, I was on the square, microphone in my hand, trying to pronounce my pre-written speech as clear as I could although a bitter cold was starting to get hold of me. As I was about to read out the fifth paragraph I quickly glanced to my left where another member of the government, the minister of development aid, was standing. I wanted her to hear this, because, in the televised speech, her colleague had repeated the credo that Sweden's solidarity with Belarus is best shown by maintaining broad contacts, and by persuading Europe to do the same. Broad contacts, in this context, means working with the country's so called vertical of power.
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"...Sweden should also stop co-operating with Lukashenko's state apparatus," I said into the microphone. "Because the dictator's henchmen are everywhere in the administration. On his orders they rig elections, make sure that undesirable people are sacked from their jobs, and generally behave like swine. Lukashenko's bureaucrats are among the worst bribe-takers in Europe, this was shown by the organisation Transparency International in their latest corruption survey. Why should Sweden co-operate with such people? No, ban them from coming here instead, I say..."
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The minister was busy talking to someone, and not listening. I doubt she would have been impressed, though. Our social-democratic government seems unaware of any other means than constructive dialogue to handle problems, sometimes leaving no room whatsoever for moral principle. For instance, this weekend a platoon from the Russian 138 mechanised rifle brigade, known to have committed war crimes in Chechnya, is conducting a joint exercise with my old regiment in the north of Sweden as part of a "democracy project."
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I do not know if such things happen out of cynicism or naivety. They make me as uncertain about Swedish solidarity that I am about solidarity in Belarus.
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PS. The picture above is from Warsaw, where 300 people gathered in a solidarity day manifestation.
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