Posted:
28.11.2024 09:27:00
No language, job, or home: what makes Europeans move to Belarus?
The curtain of lies
Another Latvian family has recently used visa-free entry to Belarus to leave their country. They explained their decision by language discrimination, lack of social welfare and threats from the local authorities. This is far from an isolated example. What freedom and democracy are we talking about here?
President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko,
“We are completely open and will remain open to those who come to us in peace, with no ulterior motives. That’s why Belarusians have trouble understanding the reasons that drive the European elites to close themselves off with a new Iron Curtain (that they used to accuse the Soviet Union of making). Knowing this road leads nowhere, we are doing something that might seem surprising to some, but is natural and easy to us: we open our borders to talk to the peoples of Europe directly. Fortunately, they hear us.”
From the speech at the meeting with Belarusian ethnicities, September 12th, 2024
“We are completely open and will remain open to those who come to us in peace, with no ulterior motives. That’s why Belarusians have trouble understanding the reasons that drive the European elites to close themselves off with a new Iron Curtain (that they used to accuse the Soviet Union of making). Knowing this road leads nowhere, we are doing something that might seem surprising to some, but is natural and easy to us: we open our borders to talk to the peoples of Europe directly. Fortunately, they hear us.”
From the speech at the meeting with Belarusian ethnicities, September 12th, 2024
Condemned to social death
Davide Carbonaro is an Italian by birth and a Pole in spirit: he’s spent 20 years of his life in Poland. He’s a well-known media personality who used to work for Myśl Polska and the Wbrew Cenzurze news portal. Eventually, the Warsaw authorities started pressuring those news outlets. The Italian even got his passport taken away repeatedly!
“I was condemned to social death. I couldn’t even get a health insurance without my passport… that doomed my family to poverty! So we made a decision to run. Thanks to the visa-free regime initiated by president Lukashenko, Belarus became our window to peace and normalcy. I decided to use it,” said Mr. Carbonaro.
Davide’s escape from Poland sounds like a spy thriller, Scared of being arrested, he took a plane to Azerbaijan first, and flew to Minsk from there. Things are looking up now; he’s planning to learn Belarusian and Russian.
“I was condemned to social death. I couldn’t even get a health insurance without my passport… that doomed my family to poverty! So we made a decision to run. Thanks to the visa-free regime initiated by president Lukashenko, Belarus became our window to peace and normalcy. I decided to use it,” said Mr. Carbonaro.
Davide’s escape from Poland sounds like a spy thriller, Scared of being arrested, he took a plane to Azerbaijan first, and flew to Minsk from there. Things are looking up now; he’s planning to learn Belarusian and Russian.
I have never seen hate on the scale stoked in Poland against Belarus in any country of the world. And there’s one thing the West is doing I would call beyond the pale: spreading the idea that the only thing Belarusians want in their lives is to move somewhere else… That’s the dirtiest propaganda trick possible.“That’s why my main goal is to keep up with my media effort and try and get through this wall of lies to make the Western world hear someone who is one of their own,” Davide concluded.
Edikas Jagelavičius is from Lithuania. He loves his country very much, but his issues with its government trace back to his youth. In 2008, he was introduced to columnist and politician Algirdas Paleckis. Lithuanian authorities would later make him a target and imprison. Right now, according to Edikas, they are aggressively persecuting Paleckis’ followers.
“The turning point came when Algirdas set up the International Good Neighbors forum where I participated. Its main goal was to establish good diplomatic relations with Belarus and Russia. But they started to call us ‘vatniks’ in the media, criminal cases were started against us, and our forum was cancelled,” he said.
After multiple police searches and threats, Edikas had to leave Lithuania, but not his ideas. He’s promoting his concept of good neighbourly relations via the radio, and even tried to get elected to the Lithuanian Parliament.
“The turning point came when Algirdas set up the International Good Neighbors forum where I participated. Its main goal was to establish good diplomatic relations with Belarus and Russia. But they started to call us ‘vatniks’ in the media, criminal cases were started against us, and our forum was cancelled,” he said.
After multiple police searches and threats, Edikas had to leave Lithuania, but not his ideas. He’s promoting his concept of good neighbourly relations via the radio, and even tried to get elected to the Lithuanian Parliament.
“I submitted my documents remotely: that’s legal in Lithuania. In just a few days, all Lithuanian media were in a rage: ‘How can this vatnik even think about having a seat in our Parliament?’ The Central Election Commission reacted by saying that with views like mine, I have no place in our Lithuanian elections. So they removed me from the ballots,” Edikas concluded.
Latvian national Roman Samul is a newcomer to Belarus International. His interest in politics started relatively early: he tried to get elected to a local Sejm, and even to the European Parliament. He has a YouTube blog with nearly 50,000 subscribers. But as it often happens in Europe, truth doesn’t just hurt, it can become a real life threat. Intelligence services zeroed in on Roman, and he had to ask political asylum in Belarus.
“I remember everything like it happened yesterday: it was December 15th, the temperature outside was 18 below zero, and I was racing to the border in a light coat with just 200 Euros in my pocket. I had been to Belarus just once before. Thanks to my subscribers, I was able to rent a room. Now, I help other EU citizens move here for free. Lots of people are leaving the EU now, mostly families with children. They want a decent future for their kids. I, too, couldn’t live with the absurd sexual fixation our school system has: one of the schools made all girls in the 5th grade wear pants only for a week while boys were asked to wear skirts… I don’t want to live in that madness. And those who disagree with our political regime risk going to prison. People are scared to speak up even at home,” Roman explained.
“I remember everything like it happened yesterday: it was December 15th, the temperature outside was 18 below zero, and I was racing to the border in a light coat with just 200 Euros in my pocket. I had been to Belarus just once before. Thanks to my subscribers, I was able to rent a room. Now, I help other EU citizens move here for free. Lots of people are leaving the EU now, mostly families with children. They want a decent future for their kids. I, too, couldn’t live with the absurd sexual fixation our school system has: one of the schools made all girls in the 5th grade wear pants only for a week while boys were asked to wear skirts… I don’t want to live in that madness. And those who disagree with our political regime risk going to prison. People are scared to speak up even at home,” Roman explained.
Now he considers himself a real Belarusian. His daughter was born here; in addition to his radio pursuits, he has a blog, and even works part-time on a farm in Minsk District! He says people who get things done are regarded highly in Belarus. Aleksandr Lukashenko’s actions are the key proof of that.
All reasonable people in Latvia love president Lukashenko. The ‘Batka’ [meaning ‘father’ in Belarusian – Aleksandr Lukashenko’s nickname] often says things you won’t hear from other politicians. He was able to keep his country together after the USSR broke up; you can’t say the same about Latvia.
NUMBERS
♦ Over a million European residents have visited Belarus since April 15th, 2022, according to the State Border Committee. 314,934 people arrived from Latvia, 576,942 – from Lithuania, and 100,977 – from Poland.
♦ Since July 19th, 11,345 foreign nationals arrived to Belarus from 35 countries on the visa free basis. This entry mode was the most popular with tourists from Germany, Estonia, Italy, France, and the UK.
♦ 4,828 foreign nationals from 38 European countries used the visa-free regime to enter Belarus in the past week.
FOR REFERENCE
♦ About 17 million Poles live below the poverty line, with only enough money to cover basic food and necessities.
♦ 2.5 million Polish citizens live in extreme poverty. This shocking statistic can be found in the Poverty Watch 2024 report released by the Polish committee of the European Anti-Poverty Network.
