Pulling the blanket: Milinkevich slams opposition for lack of unity
“The leaders of the major political parties said that the coalition did not need a single leader at the current stage. They said that every party would spin off their leaders and develop their own structures.
They have a right for this point of view, but I think this is a totally harmful stance for democracy in Belarus. You can win with one fist only,” he wrote.
Milinkevich has refused to take part in the Congress of Pro-Democracy Forces, scheduled for March 2007, because it “will lead to the separation of democratic forces.” His move has received a variety of judgments, ranging from “a mistake” to “the first decisive act since after elections.”
But, one cannot but agree with Milinkevich in one thing. The movement, created by democrats before the elections, requires a structural conversion in order to be able to work in the “time of peace”. However, major players seem to be willing to direct their political currents towards themselves.
Politician Aliaksaj Karol pushes for de-centralization: they stop pulling the blanket, cut it into pieces and take them to their hole in the absence of the single leader.
“Fighting the official vertical face-to-face is hardly reasonable. In principle, it is not the means and a motivation for struggle.
Experience shows that the model aimed at the decentralization and based on a platform is more efficient and moral,” he said.
The democrats planned to run the united movement on the rotation principle. The summer option: while one is covered with blanket, the rest are freezing.
Aliaksaej Karol continues: “Initially, it was proposed to rotate the chairman of the political council. Besides, Milinkevich was also offered a principle of co-chairmanship, with the function of international representation – a somewhat Javier Solana of the Belarusian opposition – reserved for him. But, he did not accept it.”
This option would resemble the appointment of Piotr Kraucanka as the Belarus ambassador in Japan or sending Siargej Ling to represent Belarus at the United Nations. No doubt, “a pleasant exile” of Aliaksandr Milinkevich abroad would eventually lead to his political death back at home.
No wonder he has refused this sop, choosing instead to remain a leader here and now yet without his own political movement. However, Milinkevich is confident that he has a lot of followers, and all of them will find a place under the blanket.
“An absolute majority of the people in the regions, regardless of the party, does not share the position of their leaders. They maintain that we all should work together. Only this way, we represent ourselves as a serious force.
The communists, the members of Kazulin’s party, UCP and the party of the Belarusian Popular Front told me: “What are you doing up there? Why are you breaking what has been achieved – the unity?”
It is a matter of principle. I believe that we need a single headquarters, a leader and a program. If other [party] leaders do not want it this way, I will be uniting the forces that want to work together,” Milinkevich said.
Non-partisan Aliaksandr Milinkievich wishes to lead party activists into one direction, while the leaders of political parties want to move into their own. Sorry for the people in the field. They are having a difficult struggle anyway. Besides, they are faced with this political schizophrenia…
However, not all of those who will follow Milinkevich are to risk a split personality in political sense. The parties of Mikalaj Statkevich and Uladzimir Navasjad and the Malady Front activists have backed Milinkevich’s move.
It is pointless to guess what this blanket pulling – the biggest in the history of the Belarusian pro-democracy forces – is going to end up with.
Photo by photo.bymedia.net
