In a recent interview for the Swiss newspaper La Temps, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former presidential candidate in Belarus, said that the Belarusian opposition “lost the streets”
“I should admit that we have lost the streets, we don’t have the ability to fight the regime’s violence against the protesters”, says Tikhanovskaya.
“They have the weapons, they have the power, so at the moment – yes, it seems that we have lost”, she added.
However, the opposition hopes that the actions will resume in the spring: “Our strategy is to organize better to ensure constant pressure on the regime until people are ready to take to the streets again, perhaps in the spring”
Svetlana also commented on the rallies taking place in Russia. As Tikhanovskaya said, the actions are similar only in that people take to the streets, and after that they are detained and arrested in a rough form. The goals are completely different. Belarusians strive for fair elections, and Russians fight against corruption.
“Unlike Belarus, Russia has not yet reached the point of no return, nothing extraordinary has happened yet, there is still room for the maturation and development of the movement. There are demonstrations in Russia, and a revolution in Belarus. Although I do not like the violent connotation of this word — in our case, it is a peaceful revolution”, said Tikhanovskaya.
In an interview with Dmitry Gordon, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya confidently said that Belarusians have not given up, people are fighting and will continue to fight.
“Protests in Belarus were not bad, changed the picture, changed the form of protest, but the protest movement, the protest mood – will not leave”
She also added that people simply do not have time to get away from the Riot, but even so, they still go. Svetlana says that it is worth waiting for the next mass exits, because “People organize themselves to come out, but a little later, again in a huge mass and make it clear that we are still here”.
