You have to choose your words carefully when speaking with Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya. The Belarusian politician is not in power in her country, held with an iron fist by Alexander Lukashenko for 30 years, but she rejects the label of “leader of the opposition” that many give her, including the Prime Minister of Canada.
“In the democratic world, being part of the opposition is normal. However, this does not reflect the reality of a dictatorship like that of Belarus. We call ourselves the democratic movement because our adversary has nothing democratic about it,” M. told me from the outset.me Tsikhanovskaya during an interview which took place on the sidelines of her visit to Ottawa this week.
His favorite titles? Leader of the democratic forces. Or even president-elect. A status recognized in particular by Lithuania, a neighboring country of Belarus where she has taken up residence.
I will opt for “democratic leader”. A role that she has carried on her shoulders since the elections of August 9, 2020. That day, Alexander Lukashenko declared having received 80% of the votes, but a good part of Belarusians did not believe a word of it. By the thousands, they took to the streets to denounce the stranglehold on power. By the thousands, they were arrested, imprisoned, and according to several reports from human rights organizations, many of them were tortured. The candidate behind whom the main alternative political parties rallied, Svetlana Tsikhanovskaïa was squarely kicked out of her country. In her absence, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
“If we rely on the alternative count of the (2020) elections, I won them,” says the 41-year-old Belarusian. In 2020, we were sure that we were going to put an end to this regime, but when we saw that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin supported Lukashenko, politically and economically, we understood that it would take another form and that’s when we have established an alternative form of power. » A government in exile that she called the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus.
President Lukashenko does not bat an eyelid. Last month, the country held show legislative elections. The strong man, who decimated all opposition and muzzled the media, has already announced that he will run again in 2025.
The story of Mme Tsikhanovskaya is not ordinary. Nothing predisposed this trained teacher to becoming the “Joan of Arc” of Belarus, as some of her supporters call her.
In fact, it was her husband, Sergei Tsikhanovski, who was passionate about politics. To denounce the corruption of the regime in place since the independence of the former Soviet republic, he became a star of YouTube and social networks, beginnings reminiscent of those of Alexeï Navalny in Russia. And like Vladimir Putin’s rival, he was arrested and put in prison.
His wife has decided to take up the torch, as Yulia Navalnaïa has just done after the death of her husband in a Siberian prison. But the comparison ends there: Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya found herself on the ballot and was active in politics in her own country, promising to resign from the presidency as soon as she reestablished a democratic system. “Ten years ago, I was an ordinary Belarusian. I wasn’t interested in politics. I felt responsible for my family, but not for my country. My first steps in politics were not taken for my country either, but out of love for my husband. The dictator let me run because he thought no one was going to vote for a woman in the house. He wanted to make fun of me,” she remembers.
Alexander Lukashenko was instead treated to a tough opponent who, even today, carries the cause of Belarus and political prisoners to the four corners of the world, picking up awards, accolades and political promises along the way.
After its visit to Ottawa this week, the Canadian government notably announced the expansion of sanctions against Belarusian officials who participated in the all-out repression of post-election demonstrations.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week.
Mme Tsikhanovskaya also strives to rally Belarusian democratic forces both outside and inside the Eastern European country. “We must prepare our democratic institutions. In a dictatorship, changes can come in truly unexpected ways. We saw this with the fall of the Soviet Union. But we don’t wait with our arms crossed. We are doing everything we can to weaken the regime. We knock on all doors,” she says.
She says she has access to an entire intelligence network inside the country. A small shadow army which also opposes with all its might the war in Ukraine and the presence of Russian troops on its territory, going so far as to sabotage railway tracks to prevent the invader from move forward.
Even from outside the country, this fight is not without sacrifice. For a year, Svetlana Tsikhanovskaïa has had no news from her husband, sentenced to 18 years in prison and liable to two additional years. “I learned a new word: incommunicado. I don’t know if he’s alive, where he is,” she laments.
Her rage and pain, she says, are transformed into energy that allows her to move forward. Two powerful fuels that the Democratic leader would like to do without one day.
reference: www.lapresse.ca