Together we will win! (Photo, video)
- 19.11.2010, 17:01
Belarus really stands on the verge of the changes. It is seen by the people who have come to the meeting with Andrei Sannikov today.
Despite the rain, several hundreds of Minks dwellers have taken part in re meeting with Andrei Sannikov near Kamarouski market in Minsk. All of them had a great number of questions, painful problems, and what is most important – the hope that all that would be possible to resolve with the new president.
People of different ages and of varied employment have come to the meeting. Among those was Lidziya Krauchuk, Candidate of Science (chemistry), a leading researcher of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
“Sannikov’s grandfather, Kanstantsin Sannikov, is my compatriot from Rahachou. His cousin Vera Skacheuskaya was my first teacher. I called to Rahachou and agitated all my family to support Sannikov. There is even a street named after his grandfather in Rahachou, Sannikov Street. I want the candidate to come to our town!” the woman said.
And a businessman Syarhei, who has come to express support to Andrei Sannikov and to give practical advice how to carry out the campaign in a better way, is here too.
“I will definitely vote for Sannikov. I am a politically active person, I do not need to be agitated, I made my choice long ago. All my family and closest friends are for him. We want real renewal, we want to be proud of our president, we want to live in the country feeling free, having no fear, not hiding in our kitchens, speaking openly, not covertly. We want the economy of our country to boost thanks to development of enterprise which is suffocated now,” the man said.
An elderly woman did not ask a question, but expressed words of support in an agitated manner:
“I see you for the first time, but I was standing and listening to your words. Your words are wonderful! They are intelligent. And it seems to me that you are a person like this in your soul. It means that everything is going to be alright.”
“We want so much something to change!” women say almost imploringly.
“Our dearest one, we need a system of control over the ballot papers, we must defend our votes in some way, as everything is orchestrated, rigged,” two respectable ladies say, who had been listening to the words of the candidate attentively.
Young people ask actively, what they should do when they are forced to take part in the early vote by their universities. “Do not take part in the early voting. It is the most effective way to steal our votes!” Sannikov says to everyone.
Everyone agrees that the right for free election should be defended in the streets. “We’ll meet on the square on December 19!” people were repeating.
We address a young man who was listening to Sannikov silently: why had he come to the picket?
“I want changes. I do not agree to the charges that our young people are indifferent and politically inert. Our young people are often forced to take part in the early voting, that’s true. But in general I think that young people and the middle class are the most active ones, and they can change the situation,” said a 29-year-old Vyachaslau who works as a programmer.
A dignified powerfully built man makes a phone call to his friends and invites them to come as soon as possible and meet candidate Sannikov.
“He is my candidate. I am for him completely. Let us be optimists. We want to hope that he will win. It will be very difficult, we have propaganda in all channels, a certain stratum of society has grown under the dictatorship. That is why we all must fight,” he explains, presenting himself as a businessman Vadzim.
The meeting lasted for more than an hour. People were ready to stand in the rain for an hour more… It was clear that the candidate enjoys great interest and trust of people.
The enthusiasm of people obviously feared the authorities. In an hour in a dozen of metres from Sannikov’s picket a picket for Lukashenka appeared. Activists of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union and “Belaya Rus” rushed there and unfurled red-green flags. They shouted “Hurrah!” three times. And then they left. “Was it a picket in support of Sannikov?” passers-by asked perplexedly.
“I am delighted. I see the reaction of people. My expectations have been met: the period of active participation of people continues, as we witnessed during the pickets for collection of signatures. No information was disseminated anywhere beforehand, and so many people have come. And everyone was keenly interested in concrete questions, there are many unresolved questions. But we will resolve all of them,” Andrei Sannikov said.