Tell the Truth (Belarus)

Tell the Truth! (Belarusian: Гавары праўду, Havary Praŭdu) is a campaign in Belarus, which was started on 25 February 2010 by educational and research institution "Movement Forward" and is supported by some social public figures.

Belarusian poet Uladzimir Niaklajeu is the founder and leader of the campaign. For a long time the objective of the campaign was to collect and distribute true information about the situation in the society and state and only 6 month after Niaklajeu declared about the true objective of the campaign – victory in the coming presidential elections.

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.

The idea of the campaign was first mentioned on 24 February 2010 on the celebration of 75-year jubilee of the national poet of Belarus Rygor Baradulin. This is when Niaklajeu said:

On 25 February Uladzimir Niaklajeu manifested an address "Let's tell the truth together" to the citizens of the Republic of Belarus. This address was supported by a historian and human rights activist Tatiana Protko, organizer of foundation "Children of Chernobyl" professor Genadij Grushevoj, chairman of Belarusian Association of Journalists Zhanna Litvina, academician Radim Goretskij, people's artist of Belarus Zinaida Bondarenko, grand chess master Viktor Kupreichik, poets Hienadz Buraukin and Rygor Borodulin, political scientist Alexander Feduta.

Press conference of the founders of campaign was held in the hotel Crowne Plaza in Minsk. This is when Niaklajeu said:

The first action was the distribution of postcards with the logo of campaign, in which people were asked to write about local problems and send it to the Presidential Administration of Belarus. 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 Uladzimir Niaklajeu and other activists of campaign organized a series of trips around the country. These trips included meetings with local population and discussions of issues, which the people were most concerned about. In some bringing attention and public discussion helped to solve some local issues, or at least make their resolution stage more active.

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Wikipedia