Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

BELARUS

Belarus is a country right on the edge of the EU, a fully European country with 10 million people living in it. It is surrounded by countries that, like it, Poland, Lithuania and the Ukraine, used to be part of the old Soviet Union bloc. Unlike its neighbours which now have either proper democratically elected governments or are part of the EU or moving towards it, Belarus has remained trapped in a time warp.
It has had the same president since 1994, one Alexander Lukashenka; an old style Soviet leader who remains in office by the traditional art of rigging elections, oppressing all forces of freedom and democracy, closing down critical media outlets and appearing on state run TV several times a week telling the people how wonderful things are in their country compared to their unstable neighbours. He has just won the last election with a staggering 82.6% of the vote, and has ordered his storm troopers to crush the street protests that followed this obviously rigged result. Their centrally planned economy is being kept afloat by subsidised Russian gas and oil.

I was in its capital, Minsk, just before the election, to meet with the brave opposition leaders and support their courageous attempts to campaign for freedom.
This is not the other side of the world; this is Europe, on our doorstep. Does it matter?

If you think that our government should only be concerned with our own narrow self interest and have nothing to do with the rest of the world, you may think it is nothing to do with us. But you would be wrong. It is hugely in our own interest to see democratic principles spread throughout the world: the rule of law, freedom of speech, the ability to elect and reject a government and acceptance of basic human rights. Unstable nations cause conflict, expense and misery for their own citizens and for all of us. But, with the right help, they can become stable and free as many have done in recent years. Global stability is in our national interest.

Also, if we can do something to help fellow human beings enjoy the same freedoms as we possess, we should. So this week in the Commons I have called for our government to do all we can, and the EU, to put pressure on the Belarus dictator and his Russian bankers to usher in the basic freedoms that we take for granted.

posted by Nigel on Saturday, April 29, 2006