On this past December 19, 2011, the foreign affairs ministers of four of the member states of the European Union (Carl Bildt from Sweden, Radoslaw Sikorski from Poland, William Hague from Great Britain and Guido Westerwelle from Germany) published a joint statement containing severe criticisms of the Belarusian government and its president Alexander Lukashenko. They accuse the Belarusian authorities of having violently suppressed an opposition demonstration on the evening of the presidential elections last year, and denounce the ongoing legal process against some of the people responsible for the demonstration. Because of this they ask the “international community,” and in particular the EU, to strengthen existing sanctions against the country and to reinforce aid to opposition organizations.
Their presentation of the facts appears to us to be biased. The text speaks about a demonstration which was indeed ended by the police, but the statement omits to mention the fact that the behavior of a large number of the participants was neither peaceful nor moderate. This is why a major French daily newspaper, Le Figaro – which cannot be accused of harboring sympathy with the Minsk government – thus entitled its article the day after the events “Belarus: Government Under Siege” and wrote, on the basis of the dispatches of its correspondents: “This evening, opposition demonstrators have attempted to seize control of the Belarusian government building.” (1) In addition, the four Western European ministers omit to say that the aforementioned “suppression” caused no fatalities or serious injuries.
Moreover, these “humanitarian” sentiments seem to be exclusively reserved for Belarus. In fact, at the very moment when these dignitaries were writing and publishing their text, many young Egyptian demonstrators – these ones truly peaceful – were continuing to die by the dozens in the squares of Cairo without benefiting from any of their distinguished attention.
Finally, there is an element in this statement which is quite revealing, and which seems ultimately to constitute its true objective, for the text ends by demanding something unprecedented, to our knowledge, since it so blatantly interferes in the affairs of another country. It demands that the Belarusian officials adopt “a sensible privatization policy and encourag[e] private enterprise,” and protests against the fact that “about 70 per cent of Belarusians work for the state.” Four foreign ministers thus shamelessly and surrealistically dictate the “privatization” of the public domain of human rights.
At the same time that this call is being launched, US President Obama has just signed the "Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act" into law, strengthening and renewing US sanctions against Belarus. This law not only reinforces the existing harsh sanctions, but betrays a clear and indecent coordination between Western powers in their simultaneous attacks against the country.
Each of these facts provide sufficient reason for all those committed to democracy to publicly express solidarity with the Belarusian people and their pursuit of independence.
Paris, January 2012
(1) Le Figaro 19/12/2010
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- Enrique Muñoz Gamarra, International Analyst, Peru.
- Ken Jones, Canada
- Jean Bricmont, Physicist, Belgium
- Gerald Sussman, Professor, United States
- Doug McGowan, Canada
- Dražen Ević, Republic of Croatia
- Nile R. Bowie, United States
- Kingsley Smith, United States
- Steve Wojcyk
- Matija Mikac, Croatia
- Barry Adams, Retired, Canada
- Klaus Madersbacher, Austria
- Walid Sadaoui, France
- Djamal Benmerad, Journalist, Belgium
- Badia Benjelloun, France
- Alain Nierveze, France
- Bruno Drweski, Historian, Politologist, France
- Michele Brand, Independent Journalist and Researcher, France
- Gearoid O Colmain, Independent Journalist and researcher, France
- Vladimir Caller, Political Analyst and Researcher, Belgium
- Eric Pottenger, Author and Editor, United States
- Jacques Kmieciak, Journalist, France
- Mohammad Zahedi, Engineer, Belgium
