Fiaduta: My respect for Zmitser Dashkevich has increased three times. And now — again

I listened to Nasta Roŭda's conversation with Zmitser Dashkevich.

Once again, I received confirmation of my thoughts about this person. Intelligent, calm, strong, confident in his convictions. Not a single extremist word. Not a single threat. And not a single word of lies.

My respect for Dashkevich has increased several times in my life.

The first time was after I learned that he was the first to shout "Shame!" on the square when Lukashenka, on the day of mourning after the Beslan tragedy, demonstratively announced a referendum that effectively granted him lifetime rule.

The second time was when, returning after another stint in prison, Zmitser, already a father, began to work instead of asking for grants and aid. How many so-called "professional politicians" do we know who go to work to feed their families?

The third time was after he, in his free time, began collecting signatures for the flag and organizing a vigil in Kurapaty. Not for grants, but in his free time.

And now – again.

And somehow it coincided that at just this time I finished reading an interesting and not entirely ordinary book. "Freedom as Biography: The Voice of the Generation of Freedom." Eighteen interviews with people who crystallized as artists and public figures (not politicians!) on the eve and during Gorbachev's perestroika. I know many of them personally. But we never talked about those times.

This is when you, as a scholar, begin to understand that "oral history" is truly history. The history of people begins to transform into the history of that time and a page in the history of your country. A similar book was made about the older generation – "Dissidents," which was even awarded the State Prize of Belarus at one time. Later there was a book about the Malady Front. Now Ales Smalianchuk has started collecting interviews with Belarusian historians. Ruslan Kulevich has written three books with people whose childhood passed in interwar Hrodna.

Incredibly valuable texts.

Now, masters of their craft like Yury Drakakhrust, the late Mikita Melkazyoraŭ, whom I, unfortunately, did not know, and Nasta Roŭda are doing the same work. Work for future historians and biographers.

Such things must be done.

It's a pity that I was not allowed to continue the almanac "Person and Time." Because there would have been a section dedicated to "Conversations with a Person and Time."

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