Courageous people risking their lives for freedom and democracy in Belarus and Ukraine need allies in the West if they are to prevail over tyranny, Tsikhanouskaya said in a speech in Washington.
“Tyranny is contagious. If not contained, it spills over,” she said. “We must reject the very thought that tyrants can be appeased or can be re-educated. Dictators will not stop until we stop them.”
Fresh from meetings at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Tsikhanouskaya said she had heard a lot of talk about the “fatigue” of war, of Russian President Vladimir Putin and of Lukashenka. Complaining about “fatigue” is a luxury unavailable to those on the frontlines, she said.
The tiredness of the conflict in the West is nothing compared to the experience of Ukrainian soldiers in cold trenches, parents whose children have been killed by Russian missiles, Belarusian political prisoners dying in jail, or a 77-year-old woman in Belarus who takes to the streets every day to protest Lukashenka’s regime, she said.
“I heard it so often that, at the end, I felt fatigue of fatigue,” she said. “This fatigue comes from the fact that we don’t know when it will end, when Ukraine wins, when the Lukashenka regime collapses. But sometimes, we can’t know when, and all we should do is bring this moment closer. We must do it because it is right.”
What unites true and dedicated campaigners for freedom is “immunity to fatigue” and “intolerance to dictatorship and injustice,” Tsikhanouskaya, who leads the Belarusian government in exile, told a September 26 awards dinner hosted by the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA.)
“When you fight against tyranny, you have no rights for time outs or personal comfort. The struggle requires sacrifice, consistency, and bravery because any doubts, any hesitations, are seen by dictators as weakness,” she said. “We must continue to exert pressure on dictators, on Lukashenka and Putin, for each crime, for each broken fate, they must pay the price.”
Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, Sergei, was jailed for announcing his intention to stand against Lukashenko in 2020 and was one of 1,323 political prisoners currently being held in Belarus, according to Viasna, a human rights organization.
Those under fire and in jail as they fight for democracy and freedom in Belarus, Ukraine, and around the world need allies more than ever, she said, and appealed directly to the US for support.
“No war, no fight, can be won without allies,” she said. “It needs allies like the United States of America, you are a beacon of hope for many nations. Don’t stop standing for what is right.”
Tsikhanouskaya emphasized that the outcome of the struggle will have ramifications around the world.
“Supporting Ukraine and supporting Belarus is not charity, it’s an investment into peace and security globally,” she said. “The path for freedom might be very long and difficult, but it’s the only path worth walking, so let’s walk this path together.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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