The 400,000th article published on Nasha Niva's website. And what were the 300,000th, 200,000th, 100,000th about?

Nadzeya and Uladzimir from Irdorath announced the birth of their son. This message about the best possible news — the firstborn of the folk band Irdorath's creators, former political prisoners Nadzeya and Uladzimir Kalačoŭ — became the 400,000th on the website of "the first Belarusian newspaper with drawings".

The 300,000th article appeared in 2022. It was an informational report: «Tsikhanouskaya met with the leadership of Google, Meta, and representatives of Microsoft».

It was about the democratic leader of Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, meeting with Google President Sundar Pichai and Vice President Karan Bhatia, as well as with Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) President for Global Affairs Nick Clegg, in New York during the UN General Assembly.

It took us less than four years to publish the latest hundred thousand articles. The previous hundred thousand were created in almost five years. The 200,000th article was released in 2017. It was an announcement: «Deep Purple to come to Belarus with a farewell tour».

The 100,000th article on the website is an archival piece from 2005 — a complex reflection: «Frozen Country, or The War of Generations in Belarusian Style». Let's present it here. How do you evaluate it from today's perspective? Write in the comments. And by the way, do you recognize the author? It was published a decade and a half before the memorable year 2020.

«The generation of those who are in their fifth decade today has not fulfilled its historical mission.

We Belarusians are people of the swamp,
Children of stagnant water,
We Belarusians are quiet people,
Children of unseen misfortune.

Yan Kapalla. «Children and Devils»

«Time has stopped here,» say those who have been absent from Belarus for 15 years. «We are very satisfied with life, and especially with the president,» pensioners assert. «Where can I escape from such madness?» — most young people think and look for ways to stay abroad. Some don't just think, they act. A 19-year-old girl went to borrow money from her elderly neighbor-pensioner and, failing to get it, struck the old woman on the head, causing her death. Two young thugs who broke into the house of fellow villagers coveted two pensions (almost half a million!), and after taking the money, killed the hostesses and set the house on fire. Coincidence? But such «coincidences» are becoming more frequent in the «quiet swamp» of our villages and small towns.

The young are rebelling against the old. There's no work, parents are unemployed themselves or barely make ends meet, there's no money to leave the country or simply move out of the town, and right next door live old, infirm «rich folk»: pensions of 200,000 — that's 100 bottles of «ink»! Here it is, the temptation for new-Raskolnikovs...

Today's Belarusian society can be divided into three large strata. The first comprises irrevocably Soviet people: the older generation and representatives of the current government (regardless of age) led by Lukashenka. The second comprises «spoiled» Soviet people: primarily the middle generation, who grew up and formed during Soviet times but thoroughly experienced perestroika, nationalism, and other free-thinking in the early 1990s. And the third comprises the young, who know about the Soviets from the stories of older comrades and school textbooks.

The main problem, however, is that the first — the «irrevocable» ones — have monopolized not only power but also the system of public communication over the past ten years, which has blocked the development potential of other social groups.

Moreover, the biggest conflict, if not complete misunderstanding, exists between the generation forged in the industrial womb of the Soviet empire and the very young Belarusians, «spoiled» by computers and the sweet dreams of consumer society. They were only shown a «candy» but not given the opportunity to take it, and instead of a «liberal race highway,» they were driven into a collective farm stall. Of course, sooner or later this will lead to an explosion. There is, however, a way to postpone this moment — to constantly squeeze the most thoughtful and active people out of the country, and for those «normal» ones who cannot contain their anger and envy towards the old «rich folk,» there is the criminal code and prison bunks. Apparently, this path is also not the best, and ultimately just a dead end, as it performs «natural selection in reverse».

In 10-15 years, today's youth will become the country's support, but it may happen that there will be no one to rely on. Careerist hangers-on from BRSM, murderers of pensioners released from the «zone,» and former failed students-oligophrenics from alcoholic families — a wonderful company for a «breakthrough into the 21st century» through «Silicon» Valley! Apparently, this is already reaching the authorities, for how else to understand the measures to complicate the departure of young and minor Belarusians abroad?

Nevertheless, the main vector of social policy is aimed at ensuring that pensioners continue to sponsor their children and grandchildren, who are healthy but unemployed or earn almost like the unemployed. This directly leads not only to an ideological but also to a material confrontation between generations, which sometimes takes criminal forms. The young ones want to but cannot, the old ones do not want to but can still influence power and the situation.

True, the lives of the old are another 5-10 years, after which a complete rupture of eras and the destruction of the ideological, economic, and political foundations of today's system may occur. The fact that this will be inevitable is guaranteed by the example of our neighbors and the logic of pan-European development.

And what about the middle generation, you ask? The whole trouble is that my generation, those in their fifth decade today, has not fulfilled its historical mission. We never became that bridge between the Soviet era, where the first half of our lives passed, and democratic, or more precisely, post-industrial society, in which Europe and other world leaders live today. First, we were very busy with total criticism, then with «excavating» the Soviet past, to think about the present or the near future. Just as the older generation remained forever «shell-shocked» by war, ours was by communism. In fact, most of our energy went into destroying the communist legacy, into trying to cleanse ourselves of its «pink spots».

Sometimes it was a futile exercise, but there was also a certain pleasure in it. Belarusians suffered and endured for a very long time, and perhaps because of that, became a bit of a masochist, who loves to delve into their inner workings and feel pain once more. At least, the masochistic moods of the early last century are present today not only in poetry or journalism but even in politics.

It would be unfair not to mention the nation-building process, to which many of my peers dedicated considerable effort. The result, truly, is ambiguous and certainly leaves much to be desired.

A weak justification is that in the field of economic and especially political transformations, the shifts are even smaller. Apparently, these processes are strongly interconnected, but the primary among them (here I will agree with the Marxists) is economics. An empty stomach and an empty pocket are the best agitators and teachers. As long as one half of our fellow citizens receives enough money not to starve, and the other — enough not to go to the square — there will be no revolution. There will be a quiet war and growing hatred of the «young-hotheads» towards the «old farts» «who don't let them live normally», as well as official suppression of real social conflicts. Instead, they will again push TV debates on the topic «Who needs Belarusian cinema?».

In such a situation, it is very important not to succumb to the system, not to sink to its level, not to degrade with it either morally or intellectually. If, for example, a monster were to collapse the day after tomorrow, would we have enough interesting ideas and people ready to rise above the level of BT, «SB», or Lukashenka's plan for «reviving the collective farm village»? The main task, in my opinion, is intellectual self-development, as well as professional and personnel training for the post-authoritarian era.

It probably makes sense to create a bank of ideas and projects in various fields of activity — not only economics, but also the pension system, education, healthcare, ecology, and information technologies. Otherwise, today's eloquent «commentators» will be replaced by equally miserable, but «our people,» and the result of such a revival and democratization will be no better than the previous one.

History, literature, and art are good and will always be in demand, but this is no longer enough. Belarusian independent thought must take other areas as its object.

Unfortunately, there are no favorable conditions for this, nor will there be others. We must use what we have. Work through the third sector, through local authorities (where possible on socially relevant issues), and through informal contacts. The 12 years that many believe we lost were in fact a reprieve that history gave us before the start of a new era. And let everyone look back — what did they lose, and what did they gain during this period, who were they, and who have they become today? Are we ready to start over again, or is it better to leave this mission to younger generations? Will we, the «lost generation of the 1990s,» be able to say our piece in contemporary Belarusian history and finally accomplish what we were destined for?

The era of false starts and «distance learning» has passed...»

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