Tell the Truth! (, Havary Praŭdu) is a campaign in Belarus that was started on 25 February 2010 by educational and research institution "Movement Forward" and is supported by a number of public figures.
Belarusian poet Uladzimir Niaklajeu is the founder and former leader of the campaign. For a long time, the campaign's stated goal was to collect and disseminate factual information about the state of affairs in society and the state. Six months after its founding, Niaklajeu announce that the campaign's true goal is victory in the 2010 Belarusian presidential election.Уладзімір Някляеў. Праўда. Накіды на закіды намесніка старшыні «Маладога фронту» Івана Шылы
In May 2010, dozens of activists of the campaign were subjected to persecution by Belarusian authorities.
The campaign has become a basis for nominating Uladzimir Niaklajeu as a candidate on presidential elections of 2010 and it continued after the end of the elections.
Founding
The concept of the campaign was first announced on 24 February 2010 at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Belarusian national poet Ryhor Baradulin. Niaklajeu said:Info in Facebook
On 25 February, Niaklajeu published an appeal to the citizens of Belarus titled, "Let's Tell the Truth Together". This address was supported by historian and human rights activist , founder of the Children of Chernobyl Foundation Professor Gennady Grushevoy, Chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Zhanna Litvina, academic , People's Artist of Belarus , international chess grandmaster Viktor Kupreichik, poets Hienadz Buraukin and Rygor Borodulin, and political scientist Alyaksandr Feduta.
A press conference of the campaign organizers was held at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Minsk. Niaklajeu stated:
History of the campaign
"Tell the Truth!" postcard The first campaign was the mass distribution of postcards bearing the campaign logo, inviting citizens to write about local issues to the Belarusian Presidential Administration. On 19 April Neklaijev made an attempt to deliver several postcards personally, but they refused to accept them in the Presidential Administration because he wasn't an official representative of their authors.
At the same time, Niaklajeu and other campaign activists organized a series of trips around the country, holding meetings with the public to discuss issues of concern. In some cases, raising awareness and public discussion helped resolve local issues or at least lead to their resolution.
Monitoring of local elections Before a meeting of the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums in the Republic of Belarus dedicated to the results of local elections in the country, the leadership of Tell the Truth submitted an analytical report to the Commission. In the report Uladzimir Niaklajeu states that "You can call this anything but elections. People were treated scornfully on these elections. People had no choice on these elections. Elections were held according to most oppressive scheme possible".
Sergey Vozniak, a member of the Minsk City Electoral Commission and an author of the monitoring, said:
The report notes, in particular, that 93% of the members submitted by pro-presidential parties were included in the precinct election commissions, compared with only 14% from opposition parties. Authors of monitoring assume that the reason for that lies in the fact that highest degree of falsification takes place in the precinct electoral committees. It also noted unprecedented pressure from the authorities on candidates and activists to force them to withdraw from the elections. It is mentioned in the report that as a result of these actions around 30% of population, which is in opposition with the policies of authorities, is practically not represented in the system of local councils.Add-on information about repressions:
"I'm for Bykaŭ Street!" campaign
On the eve of the 65th anniversary of the USSR's victory in the Great Patriotic War, Tell the Truth launched a campaign to commemorate the renowned Belarusian writer and veteran Vasil Bykaŭ. A signature collection was launched to name a newly constructed metro station in Minsk, as well as streets in Minsk and Grodno, after Bykaŭ.
Signature collection in Minsk began on 9 May 2010. One of the proposals was to rename Uljanovskaja Street in Minsk, which is located near Lenin Street (both of these streets are named after Vladimir Lenin, with the former named after his birth surname, Ulyanov) to Bykaŭ Street. Signature collection in Grodno, where Bykaŭ lived for 25 years, began on 11 May. According to the organizers, by 19 June, 65,000 signatures had been collected in Minsk and other cities, and 5,000 signatures in Grodno.
A number of prominent Belarusian figures signed the petition, including writer Hienadz Buraukin, first Prime Minister of Belarus Vyachaslau Kebich, trade unionist Alexander Buhvostov, academician Alexander Vojtovich, and many others.
On 30 June 2010, the Grodno City Commission on Toponymy recommended naming a new street under construction after Bykaŭ. On 12 July, 105,000 signatures were submitted to the Minsk City Executive Committee requesting the renaming of one of the city's streets in Bykaŭ's honor.
On 16 July, campaign activists in Grodno submitted to the City Executive Committee proposals to name a street or square in the city after Bykaŭ and to install a memorial plaque on the house where he lived. These proposals received 7,414 signatures.
On 21 July, at a meeting of the Grodno City Executive Committee, the issue of expanding the existing Bykaŭ Museum was disussed, with a decision reached to allocate an additional room. The street naming issue was not considered.Рашэнне аб вуліцы Быкава ў Гродне адкладваецца
One Hundred Faces of Unemployment
On 2 June, at the Zaslavl Reservoir near Minsk, campaign leaders presented a book titled One Hundred Faces of Unemployment, dedicated to unemployment in Belarus. The book features the stories of a hundred people who had been unable to find work for a long time. Among them were both prominent figures and ordinary Belarusian citizens.Состоялась презентация сборника «100 лиц безработицы», выпущенного кампанией «Говори правду!» Niaklajeu stated that the founders of Tell the Truth supported the program of Jaroslav Romanchuk, presidential candidate from the United Civic Party, "A Million New Jobs for Belarus".Кампанія «Гавары праўду» падпісваецца пад эканамічнай праграмай Раманчука
Regional campaigns In addition to nationwide campaigns, campaign activists also initiated a number of local campaigns. For example, in Mogilev, signature collection began o n 2 June for the reconstruction of a local road, and on 10 June, a petition was launched to publish a schedule of local council member receptions in local media.У Магілёве актывісты кампаніі «Кажы Праўду!» ініцыявалі збор подпісаў Several campaigns also took place in June in Brest, Horki, Orsha, and other towns.
On 28 June, campaign activists held an environmental campaign, cleaning up trash from Lake Svetilovskoje in the Baranavichy district of Brest region.Зеленкова А. Активисты кампании «Говори правду» провели экологическую акцию Солидарность, 29.06.2010 A similar campaign was held on 10 July in Orsha: with the help of the city executive committee, campaign activists cleaned up the Kuteenka River. On 28 July, a forest park in Grodno was cleared of trash. Several campaigns to clean up trash from the banks of local bodies of water were also held in the Brest region.
Beginning of political activity In 2010, several observers have speculated that the campaign was linked to the then-upcoming presidential elections and could serve as a platform for nominating a presidential candidate. Until 2 September, Niaklajeu denied any that he would run for president, and stated that he would not make a decision until the elections were officially announced.
On 19 July on the meeting with Belarusian businessmen Niaklajeu announced that he is planning to become a delegate of 4th All-Belarusian National Assembly, which was supposed to take place in fall 2010. He assumed that it will be enough to collect 20 thousand signatures of citizens. In his interview for newspaper Belarusians and Market Niaklajeu agreed that this step means that the campaign is moving from the field of social activity into political field.
On 27 August, the sub-total of the activity of the campaign was made. On the press conference, the organisers informed the reporters that 80 actions in 33 cities and towns were organised for a period since the campaign was started. As a result, 55 thousand signatures were collected under demands to solve a series of local problems. Uladzimir Niaklajeu declared that the activists managed to attract the attention of citizens of Belarus with their initiatives and social emphasis of the campaign helped people to better understand that it is necessary to solve problems on global level, in the country scale. He stated that many local bureaucrats are sympathizing with the campaign "Tell the Truth!"
On 2 September 2010, Niaklajeu announced his intention to run for president of Belarus in the elections on the Echo of Moscow radio station. On 23 September, he filed an application to register an initiative group to nominate him as a presidential candidate. The group was headed Andrej Dmitriev, one of Niaklajeu's closest associates in Tell the Truth. The initiative group consisted of 3,275 members, and 193,829 signatures were collected in support of Niaklajeu's nomination. According to official data, which Niaklajeu and his supporters dispute as falsified, 1.78% of those who came to the polls voted for Niaklajeu.
Persecution and controversy On the 6th in Minsk, 9 thousand of postcards with campaign logo were confiscated from activists of the campaign without any legal reasons. According to the activists, their car was stopped by road police officers who checked their documents and ordered to carry over the postcards from their car in the police car and follow them to Regional Office of Internal Affairs of Central district of Minsk for interrogation. On 11 March, Niaklajeu arrived to the office of newspaper Borisov News for a pre-announced press conference, but the announced phone number appeared to be unavailable. On 25 April, the police searched a private house in Mozyr looking for drugs during the meeting of city dwellers with Niaklajeu. On 1 May in Minsk, 10 activists of the campaign, who were distributing air balloons on the Victory Square, were arrested by the police, sent to Regional Office of Internal Affairs of Central district and later released without official explanation.
Mass searches, seizures and arrests on 18 May On 18 May agents of law enforcement agencies came simultaneously to offices of series of social organisations and apartments of activists throughout the country.
Around 1:00 pm reporters started to receive multiple calls from different cities that the police is arresting activists of campaign and attempts to enter apartments for conducting searches. Several men in civilian clothes came to the office of campaign in Minsk and ordered everyone to stay inside. According to different sources of information from 10 to 20 people were arrested only in Minsk. They were transported to Regional Office of Internal Affairs of Lenin district where they were informed that they will be witnessing in criminal case commenced according to part 1 of article 250 of Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus "Distribution of deliberately misleading information about goods or services". Searches and arrests were also present in Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev, Brest, Bobrujsk, Soligorsk, Slonim, Volkovysk, Borisov, Belynichi and several other towns. In most of the cases all computer equipment, information carriers and printed materials were seized.