Do not perceive gradualism as weakness. This is the only real chance for Belarus

Belarusian strength has always been in diplomacy, shrewdness, and wisdom. And Pazniak himself is an excellent example here. Achieving independence on August 25, 1991, became possible not thanks to "hanging communists," but to the shrewdness of the Belarusian Popular Front. Communists were not beaten in the Oval Hall, but persuaded and asked, taking advantage of their fear and confusion.

In Pazniak's memoirs, there is an episode when BPF deputy Holubeu insulted communist deputy Kachan. Pazniak immediately sent Holubeu to apologize to Kachan, because he knew that without the votes of the communists, no Belarus was possible in the Supreme Soviet, where they were the majority.

Aliaksandr Milinkevich was in power for only 6 years, from 1990 to 1996. He has many merits: both Belarusian schools, and architectural monuments, street names, the Catholic theological seminary, and much more. This could only be done thanks to compromises, gradualism, and soft power.

Everything sensible that happened in Belarus in recent decades was done by such people within the system or by passionate Belarusians to whom such people gave a green light. They were and will be, despite any purges. And for such people, we must keep our fingers crossed. Because it is thanks to them that Belarus breathes, even if it is thanks to artificial lung ventilation.

In Soviet Belarus, there were few such people, but many in Ukraine. And it was precisely they who contributed to a greater national consciousness of the people there. Was this path contradictory? Of course. At the same time, Ukrainian dissidents were sent to Siberian camps. But was there an alternative? No.

Life is more complex than a black and white scale.

If there had been more national communists in Belarus, Zianon Pazniak would not have had to excavate the Dominican church in the 1980s and preserve its remains or defend Niamiha from destruction. They would have stood in their places. This was the case in the Lithuanian SSR, which is why the castle in Trakai was being restored already in the 1960s, when Masherau ordered the destruction of old Minsk.

Belarusians are not about seizing buildings and armed resistance. They are about logic and cold calculation. Gradualism is always closer to cautious people.

When the Third Constituent Charter of the BNR was adopted, people argued until morning. Lutskievich made compromises because he knew that nothing would work without them. Pazniak in 1991 and subsequent years in the Supreme Soviet was also a realist, which is why he achieved so much.

Aliaksandr Milinkevich would have achieved nothing without soft power. Do not perceive gradualism as weakness. It seems that this is the only real chance for Belarus.

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