Current speaker is Olga Karach, also a member of War Refusal International, and a feminist who started the “No means no” movement in Belarus, women and men refusing the draft to fight in Lukashenkos wars.
She talks about the fact that she expected to receive repercussions from the Lukashenko regime, but never expected such backlash from the European Union. The immigration centers claimed it was too complicated to accept fleeing the draft as a reason to immigrate.
“In Belarus, we have the death penalty for desertation. We have a five year prison sentence for human rights activists who help deserters. At the same time, every year about 300 Belarusians are imprisoned for conscientious objection.
So many European nations have people asking for political asylum from Belarus in order to not have to fight in this war. Yet in countries like Lithuania, such an application from Belarus deserters is seen as a threat to national security. This official accusation is very absurd: Belarusian conscientious objectors can be recruited by Russia in the future? How is it possible that someone in the European Union can be punished for a potential future? Is this a new kind of law? A passport or a nationality can not be evidence for any threat.
It cannot be possible that we now bear the responsibility for the men who have started this war. As Belarusian women, we are responsible for our men! We are already responsible for their health, wellbeing, clothes, cooking. Now, I am hearing, we are responsible for Lukashenkos doing? That's a patriarchal approach by the European Union.”
“Peace will not start with negotiations, but humans refusing to kill each other, forcing leaders to start negotiations.”
