Martin Hähnel

My Belarussian Neighbor

Interesting discussion with the Belarusian neighbor. We walked the dogs together in the morning today. We talked about their way to Finland, fleeing oppression - though not under direct threat, he hastens to add. "We just couldn't - and also didn't want to - stay anymore." How they went to Hungary, because that's where they could go. How they went to Berlin to get a visa, how they went to Finland because his wife could study here. They'll move from Oulu to Helsinki next, where she got a place at a university. They have almost nothing. Everything fits in the car. They dream of living in Slovenia, as they can read the language and it is culturally similar and - "why not live in the most successful Slavic country?". Indeed.

They didn't vote in the local elections - even though we non-Finns are allowed to - because: "Why would we? We never voted. It's just all so confusing. All these parties and what to do. But we got a sausage for free in the city center from one of the parties once. That was nice." I talk about my strong political opinions that democracy and liberty and equality are important and taking those seriously can turn a life based on pragmatism and survival into one of ideals and freedom. Getting to vote feels good.

From his perspective, accepting the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko is the lesser of two evils, because it seems likely that his home country would just befall the same fate as Ukraine. He still has family there. Russia brought torture, people got deported. But as long as you are not talking too loudly, they can live in Belarus relatively safely, he says. And my liking democracy - like so many Europeans he has spoken to since - isn't that just a result of my upbringing anyway?

Of course, I agree, you're influenced by your surroundings and your political opinions are formed by what media you consume (and what is available to you), what other political beliefs you see and hear people hold. But. There is more to liking democracy than that, as rational discourse about these topics is possible and encouraged and can show that you're freer to do things in e.g. a democratic country like Finland as opposed to what you can do or say in Belarus. I can see that he is so hungry to just be allowed to live, to be free of duty. To be free of having to justify simply wanting to be. I bring up degenerated democracies like the one in the USA and why it is so important to defend democratic institutions and values. In our own ways, we talk past each other and I think we both realize it, too.

He is an entrepreneur. And he loves how easy it is to set things up here. We joke that he should never move to Germany in that case because German bureaucracy might just eat him alive. We wave at each other - he lives on the ground floor, and I live on the fifth - as I enter the elevator with my dog.