Ground Support Of Charter Serves Interests Of All Belarusian Media

Information or political resistance in a non-free country has its leaders.

Belarusian National Congress leader Mikalai Statkevich stated that, commenting on the blocking of Charter97.org in Belarus.

– Information or political resistance in a non-free country has its leaders, who determine its upper limit and bear the main weight of the regime's attack. The rest of the democratic media or politicians can be much less critical in words or actions and still look decent, risking much less at the same time.

In order to attract the temporarily lost part of Charter97.org readers, a publication, when criticizing the authorities, must be as tough and consistent as Charter. And this is too dangerous for resources located in the "by" domain zone – under the direct jurisdiction of the Belarusian "courts". It is also difficult for formally foreign media outlets that have offices or employees in the Belarusian territory and these media can also be effectively put pressure on.

If the leaders are phased out, then those who have so far felt themselves relatively safe behind the leaders, get in the limelight of attention of the repressive bodies of the regime. This makes the media and politicians of the "second line" to further reduce critical activity, increase self-censorship and become more manageable by the regime. The result of this – the drop in popularity among disappointed supporters.

It will be difficult for the Belarusian democratic mass media resources to maintain even today's level of popularity, since the degree of their opposition and critical perception of the authorities will now only fall. We have already seen this in the light of preparations for the 100th anniversary of Freedom Day.

The popularity of the Charter is beneficial not only to the society, but to all other democratic media. Therefore, I urge them to show more solidarity with the blocked resource.

I urge democratic mass media and users of social networks to constantly publish instructions on bypassing the blocking of the Charter website on their pages. This will not only help the Charter keep its audience, but will also prepare those reading the still available democratic resources to the blockage of them. No one in our country is immune to this.