Dissatisfied prefer emigration to protests

Mahilyou workers have given their signatures in support of the fired leader of the indent trade union, Alyaksei Paulouski. If the administration dares to dismiss all the signees, they will leave for Moscow.

It is no secret that a lot of Belarusians are leaving for Russia to work there. Many people have acquaintances working in Moscow. The wages of the same specialists here and there differ by 3 or 4 times after the devaluation of the rouble. Their departure prevents the public from expressing a protest, thinks political scientist Yury Chavusau.
"The Belarusian political system gives very few opportunities to protest. The sanctions are huge. However, it allows people to leave the political area. You can compare it to Cuba where all the dissatisfied had a chance to leave at the beginning. The same is happening in Belarus – the dissatisfied who can adapt to the situation stay here”.

In his opinion, Belarus will share the destiny of Moldova that has huge plants and whose financial intake depends on the way its citizens work abroad.

"The most active people able to express a protest will keep leaving the country while they can because there is no percentage in protesting taking the size of the security agencies into account, - says ex-Minister of Labour Alyaksandr Sasnou. – If people did not leave, what they would do here? They would be dying of hunger; they would be imprisoned and beaten. Their arms, legs and fates would be broken. I do not think that it would be good for them, so they should better leave”.
Political scientist Yury Shautsou thinks that builders from border regions leave for Russia most often. They are not inclined to protest. That is why such labour migration does not affect the political situation.

"Workers are rarely inclined to protest. It is mostly the intelligentsia protesting against the anti-intellectual policy of the authorities and they live their own lives. The critical mood intensified a lot last year but it won’t turn into a protest”.