Decalogue for a Democratic Activist

In his last days, Vital Silicki asked his friends to continue to promote the ideas that he lived by. Not his theories, but the way he lived. So I came up with ten principles that Vital stood for, and embodied. Remembering them is not only one way to honor Vital – they also remain important prescriptions for both those inside Belarus and those of us on outside trying to help them:

1) Work inside

Vital was passionate about his country. He left a promising international academic career to move back home and try to change things there. He repeatedly called for more assistance to civil society inside Belarus to “build pressure from inside the country.”

Regarding the current debate over whether to shift support to an exile government or movement, his views were clear: “spend money inside the country rather than on émigré groups.”

2) Unite

Vital understood that unity among the opposition was crucial for promoting democratic change in authoritarian states.

“When egos are swallowed and divisions overcome, victory becomes feasible,” he said.

He warned that “a weak and disunited opposition is much easier to be taken down by repression than one that is professionally organized and politically efficient.”

Vital highlighted the positive results of the united Belarusian opposition in 2006 and mourned its break up a year later.

He was often critical of “an opposition [that] wasted time on internal fights instead of consolidation.”

3) Think broadly

Although a political scientist, Vital believed in more than parties and governments.

After returning to Belarus, he founded and became the head of the country’s leading think tank. Vital highlighted the important activities being carried out by the independent media, cultural NGOs, youth groups and other civil society actors in Belarus.

4) Be political

In Belarus, there have been endless debates about the right role of civil society, whether it should provide social services and assist citizens in other nonpolitical, technical ways; seek to engage with officials from the regime; or be a part of the democratic opposition. Vital came down solidly on the later view.

He declared, “In societies [such as Belarus] nongovernmental organizations must be primarily political:

But he understood that this political role must be a positive one.

“When NGOs lobbied for unity among the democratic opposition rather than taking sides in partisan divides, they provided the best service they could have to connect the opposition to society,” Vital noticed.

5) Work with the people

Vital understood well that democratic civil society in Belarus is cut off from the rest of the population, often in a self-imposed internal exile.

6) Engage

Vital believed in a dialogue by the West with Belarus.

He understood that the country and its people needed to be drawn back into the Western orbit, and that the policy of isolation bore no fruit. But he wasn’t naïve about dialogue and stressed that it had to be applied with conditionality.

“It has to be clear to Lukashenka that any help from Europe is conditioned by a complete and irreversible cessation of political repression. Economic assistance has to be conditioned by real market reforms…”

With parliamentary elections in Belarus now scheduled for September 23rd, it should be stressed that Vital believed in taking part in elections, even when they were obviously not free or fair.

Those now advocating for a boycott should take heed of what Vital wrote regarding the opposition’s decision not to take part in the 2000 parliamentary elections. He believed that the boycott weakened the opposition, demoralized the pro-democratic electorate, and left the undecided part of society without an alternative. The 2000 boycott ended up splitting the opposition further.

7) Yet, have values

Vital spoke, wrote and acted with a refreshing lack of political science relativism.

Vital was critical of political forces in the last election that campaigned on a “a value-free basis.” He abhorred their use of political technologies, PR and people, calling this “politics a la Russe” and not much different than the politics of the regime.

He related to me how, after many years of membership, he resigned from his political party due to its lack of backbone and compromises with the regime after the December 2010 crackdown.

8) Be skeptical of Russia

Vital’s patriotic convictions, belief in values, and academic work led him to profoundly distrust the ‘Big Brother’ in the East.

Unlike many in his country who continue to believe that democracy can best come to Belarus from Russia, he wrote frequently about how and why the Kremlin kept Lukashenka at power.

9) Europeanization is the key

Despite the shocking and brutal ending to Belarus’ dalliance with the West after the flawed presidential election of December, 2010, Vital believed that the two-year Dialogue Period was worth it.

10) Promoting democracy is a noble cause

Finally, as all this makes clear, Vital’s focus on democratic revolutions was more than a passing academic interest.

He lived this struggle and defended those who were his comrades in arms.

11) Use the Internet

I promised only ten points, but couldn’t resist adding one more. Vital wasn’t unique in his focus on the Internet, though he was among the first to realize its importance in Belarus, where the regime controls traditional mass media.

He was an avid Internet user, and a part of him lives on today in cyberspace.

We can still find him in his Tweets and on his Facebook page, in emails and Skype converstations, and through his Amazon reviews of movies, books, clothes and other products. His wisdom and zeal in these informal communications matched that of his academic and analytical work. They are but another reminder that Vital and his ideas will always remain with us.

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