Salihorsk: ideological work of vertical intensified
The ideological
activities of the Salihorsk authorities have become far more intense during the
last weeks.
For instance, the ideological department of the Salihorsk District Executive Committee
held a series of the so-called ‘counsels on the ideological provision of the
preparation and holding of the election of President’ with the officers of
enterprises and organizations of the Salihorsk district who are responsible for
ideology. The Salihorsk TV channel states that one of such events was held by
lecturers of the Academy of Management of President of the Republic of Belarus,
who ‘passed to ideologists the knowledge about their skills, discussing the
peculiarities of the upcoming event’.
We should also point at the increasing number of meetings of the local
officials with different groups of the population. For instance, on 29 November
they held a parents’ meeting for about 700 people where the attention of the
audience was turned to the ‘achievements in the sphere of education’. On 30
November the Chairperson of the Salihorsk District Executive Committee met with
dwellers of a Salihorsk suburb and told them about the great perspectives of
the development of Salihorsk and its housing. All meetings are inevitably
accompanied with appraisal of the achievements of the present government for
the last five years and talks about the ambitious plans for the next five ones.
These events are actively covered by the local state-owned media. They also
tend to publish considerably more articles about the achievements of the people’s
economy for the last five years. ‘Many things have been done, but there’s still
much left to do’, is the main cliché of the latest weeks in the state media. At
the same time, all negative events are commended from the ‘ideologically
correct’ point of view.
That’s why representatives of the electoral teams of democratic candidates
state the strong use of the administrative resources and hidden canvassing for
Lukashenka in the Salihorsk district.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections