Let sleeping dogs lie...

On Friday and Saturday, meetings of citizens protesting against Decree No. 3 were held in Minsk and some other cities. These "protests" themselves, even with the best will in the world, cannot be called large-scale, as only about a tenth of a percent of all citizens of the country participated in them. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the events took place, and it is foolish and pointless to keep silent about them.

But it is necessary to reflect on the causes and consequences.

First of all, it is difficult to share the joy that the opposition press has poured out. All the moth-eaten tools of propaganda and agitation have been used. Both "enlightened happy faces of demonstrators," and "five thousand participants," and "millions of views on YouTube," and deaf threats against the authorities, as well as calls to make the "protest" endless, up to...

Anyone who has eyes and ears and is not brainwashed by propaganda will figure out the bias and falsity of all this chatter on their own, without prompting.

The question is different: if the "marches" are indeed protests against the decree, then the energy of the organizers and participants is wasted. It is perfectly clear that the decree, which established the need to pay a fee by those who cannot confirm and/or justify the reasons for late tax payments, is a correct measure. Otherwise, how can one understand the tens of thousands of collisions that everyone knows about, including opposition journalists, but prefer to remain silent? For example, a person is officially unemployed, therefore does not pay taxes, because... he is engaged in repair and finishing work daily in those very notorious luxury cottages that surround our city in a ring.

He is a good craftsman – a tiler, a plumber, an electrician, his services are in high demand, and he earns an order of magnitude more than a MTZ worker, a teacher, and even a policeman disliked by some citizens. And in hard currency. But both the tractor factory worker, the doctor, and the policeman pay taxes every month, while the "clever" tiler brings the dollars received in an envelope exclusively for home, for the family.

And why, one might ask, is he better than a fitter-adjuster?MAZ, why does he have such a privilege – to live in a state but be considered a free foreigner?

A clear answer to this simple question is, in fact, the answer to why Decree No. 3 was issued. In short, it is to preserve social justice! No country can exist and develop normally if it has two parallel economies: one is legal, where all citizens and entities duly pay taxes and enjoy social opportunities, and the other is semi-underground, where all sorts of "repairmen," petty smugglers living off proximity to the border, various "guest workers" who also receive "grey" envelopes somewhere and thus evade taxes, as well as many other swindlers and tricksters, feel at ease. If you, dear reader, agree that every fellow citizen who is in good physical shape earns money but does not consider it necessary to participate in the formation of the state budget, pension fund, and other crucial state institutions, then the primary task of both state bodies and any conscious person is to identify such an "underground Koreiko" and make him settle accounts with society. Otherwise, we risk getting a new class of secret rich people and a complete degradation of medicine, education, pension payments, and other benefits for the disabled, infirm, elderly, and children due to their cynicism.

Then why "protest"? Did they take the President's conversation with Seredich for a "capitulation," for "weakness"? Come on, don't have illusions, don't confuse politeness with weakness...

Believe me, the state simply has no right to give in to the "protests" of noisy groups that take to the squares under the calls of opposition politicians who saw an opportunity in this conflict to try their luck and fish in troubled waters. Because retreating on a fundamental, fateful issue on which the well-being of millions of Belarusians depends would be an act of betrayal by the authorities towards those who work honestly and pay taxes honestly. Isn't it clear?

It is understandable that no one wants to pay theirmoney, indeed, what's pleasant about it? But, forgive the banality, a civilized state is distinguished from an unorganized crowd living on emotions by the fact that it must create conditions for work, business, and increased well-being, but also has the right and must unequivocally demand from everyone without exception that the country's laws be strictly observed, including laws in the tax sphere.

Unfortunately, we cannot ignore such an objective circumstance as the certain "inflexibility" of government structures, as well as the lack of awareness of some citizens, which led to Decree No. 3 being interpreted by some "commentators" as "an attack on the poor" and a desire, as they say, to tear a piece from the throat of those who are objectively in difficult life circumstances today. Of course, no law can take into account all life circumstances. Such, for example, as the impossibility of employment for some citizens due to age, health, or lack of work in their area... And many people in the provinces simply "live off their gardens" and find it really difficult to pay the fee! There are many other individual stories. The displeasure of people who have received notifications from the tax inspectorate can be understood from a human point of view. After all, they have not built villas in the Moorish style on mysteriously acquired incomes, they do not have "Bentleys," let alone enough money for an old "Mazda," and most often they ride an "Aist" bicycle. And, of course, the tax authorities' frequent sieve should not get stuck on these people. Each case must be examined. Objectively and fairly.

But what was revealed during the landing of the head of administration in the regions? Hundreds of people came to personal meetings with N. Kochanova, M. Ryzhenkov, N. Snopkov, V. Mitskevich, and other leaders, who learned from them that local authorities have been granted the right by the President to decide themselves whether people in difficult life situations can be exempted from paying the fee. That's the whole conflict: if you are incapacitated, if the family situation is such that one of the family members requirespermanent care, if there are simply no jobs anywhere, then the issue of collection is resolved in favor of the citizen. In all other cases, you will have to pay, because this is fair and fateful for the country.

The passions around this problem have sharpened one more moment – despite the difficult economic situation, both central and local authorities, and businesses must make every effort to ensure that the able-bodied population always has the opportunity to find employment, retrain, and generally participate in the labor process. And this task must be solved, it is a priority, because before taking, you must also give something. This is common knowledge.

Returning to the "protests," any person "interested in politics" asks a simple question: what is all this for? Is it only to test the government's strength and stability, to try, as political scientists like to say, to rock the boat? Well, let's assume they "rocked it," and then what? To understand this "then," let's recall the grim story of the arrested correspondents of the "Regnum" agency, who actually called for weakening the state, which would lead to the liquidation of such a country as Belarus. Let's not forget the sinister phrases of Zhirinovsky, one of the heads of the State Duma, which should be understood as: Belarus is destined to become one of the regions of Russia. Let's read the "fresh" text of the practically official ideologist Suzdaltsev, in which he directly states that the war in Donbas, the annexation of Crimea, etc. – all this happened "because of Lukashenko's policy." But this is not the delirium of some drunkard, it is a link in the formation of a new image of the "enemy" for public opinion, susceptible to such sensations. This is reprinted in the largest newspapers in Russia! And it is done for far-reaching goals... And Western winds bring grim news – in Poland, the processing of young citizens of our country for obtaining the notorious "Karta Polaka" is intensifying, and issues of their mass emigration to Poland are being raised. And this is stated at the official level.

We can give many different examples that show that completely different political forces are dreaming of howto arrange some kind of mass turmoil in Belarus — the specific reasons are not so important! The main goal is to get us by the throat. Only a clinically idiotic person would think that the newspaper is exaggerating, that everyone in Belarus loves it tenderly and is tirelessly concerned about the well-being of its citizens.

Of course, in such delicate matters as strengthening independence and developing comprehensive friendly relations with neighbors, one must be extremely correct and polite, but only unprincipled local swindlers, for whom lust for power and the desire to ignite a fire prevail in any process, can ignore obvious facts, let alone trends. It is already indecent to refer to the Ukrainian situation, which also began with seemingly harmless "protests" and ended with the dismemberment of the country... So, will we learn from the mistakes of others or create problems with our own hands, only to then bravely and painfully overcome them?

In conclusion. Every citizen has the right to express their opinion in any form, as long as it does not harm society and the state. Therefore, everyone is free to decide what they are pursuing when they go out into the street, taking an aluminum pot and ladle with them to create noise and clamor! To weaken the authorities, to put pressure on the state, to achieve justice, to offer something that will contribute to general well-being? Or just to make noise, to "let off steam", to pose for the camera of Radio Liberty? And every journalist must think three times about what his word will lead to. To the unity of Belarusians or to conflict?

By the way, this year marks two global dates — the February and October revolutions, when, among other things, the emotional intelligentsia, and above all the ardent publicists of those years, made titanic efforts to persuade their compatriots to take to the streets and protest. What came of it? The number of repentances that Bunin, Doroshevich, Guchkov-Milyukov, as well as other heroes of "public opinion" of those years — "leaders and heralds," as Mayakovsky called them — later brought to the Russian people is countless. The leaders of the uprising — Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev — did not have time

repent — the bloodthirsty demons they irresponsibly awakened simply killed them...

Václav KUDELKO, "Sovetskaya Belorussiya".