A teddy bear invasion by a Swedish advertising company demanding free speech in Belarus caused a stir in the country - the authorities wanted to keep it a secret. DW spoke to one of the pilots about the stunt.
DW: Back in July, you and a colleague flew a light plane over Belarus and dropped 1,000 teddy bears onto the country. Now they were all wearing signs calling for freedom and human rights. First of all, how on earth did you come up with this idea?
Tomas Mazetti: The idea with teddy bears was actually a response to a campaign carried out by opposition groups in Belarus fighting for free speech. They had been arrested so many times when protesting for the rights of freedom of speech that they put out teddy bears with signs saying 'We demand freedom of speech in Belarus' and those teddy bears were gathered by the police. And a lot of people found that very funny in a sad sort of way. And our campaign was a support for that: we flew in teddy bears and airdropped them to support those arrested teddy bears.
And for how long were you planning this trip?
It was crazy, for almost over one and a half years. We needed to know everything about Belarus and airports and we had to learn how to fly an airplane. We had to finalize the idea and get the 1,000 teddy bears dressed in little hats. There are many details to a campaign like this.
Mazetti flew the plane to Minsk where they dropped the bears
So you actually learned to fly so you could airdrop these teddy bears into Belarus?
Yes, it sounds crazy. But we tried to put everything into our campaign.
So where did you actually drop these teddy bears?
We dropped them mainly over two places: a small village to the south-west of Minsk called Ivyanets and then we dropped them over Minsk.
Now this was quite a dangerous stunt. I mean weren't you worried about the risks of getting caught or crashing or even shot down?
Two days before, we heard about some American pilots in a hot air balloon that drifted over the border and were shot down. That [certaintly] didn't make us calmer. Yes, we were aware of the risks, but at the same time we thought that was necessary for the campaign. I mean people risk their lives everyday doing - I don't know - white water rafting or something. It's actually not more dangerous than that.
Where did you get the money from to fund the trip?
We are an advertising company - we charge ludicrous amounts of money for helping global brands to get attention. We used the money we earned from that.
Did you have any sponsors for the trip?
No. I think our profit for last year - we are only four people, but our profit was like 200,000 euros ($245,000). We took that money and used it for our campaign.
The teddy bears were airdropped in July, but the Belarus' authorities wanted to keep the incident a secret
Now the Belarusian authorities initially tried to keep the whole incident a secret. But news did get out about it. And now President Lukashenko has sacked two of his top generals because of a lapse of security. Has that given you a sense of achievement?
Of course, it's very important that they recognize it. And second of all, it's very good that the action did sort of panic, attack the military bosses which are actually quite innocent in this. It was Lukashenko himself who ordered the defense.
Have you managed to find out how ordinary Belarusians have reacted to the teddy bear mission?
There are hundreds of videos on youtube with people doing things with teddy bears like [having] them at their weddings, and singing for them. Appearently you can buy these teddy bears in Belarus.
And we've received thousands of emails and messages in various forms from people saying that they thank us basically and they are very happy that we support them. But on the other hand, we did not just support them, it was them who inspired us. So yes, we are happy about that.
On a less positive note, two Belarusian students were arrested after the airdrop on suspicion of having been involved with the stunt. How concerned are you about what will happen to them?
It was one journalist who was also a student. The other one was a guy who was to rent an apartment to us. And of course it's extremely sad. In the first case, the journalist, did nothing but to publish pictures of one of the bears that we dropped. We had had no contact with him whatsoever. So I expect him to be released in the next few days. It's really a sad story which only goes to show how the situation is in Belarus. The other guy had absolutely nothing to do with us either, except that he was to rent us an apartment.
I think that the KGB - that is the state security police of Belarus - was acting out in panic. They had no idea what to do so they have struck on those two innocent people.
Studio Total wanted to draw attention to Belarus' poor human rights record
There's no doubt it was an incredibly original and daring stunt, but are you really hopeful it will lead to any real changes in Belarus?
Yes, we hope this can be a part of the long struggle for free speech. Our campaign is one of many many many small parts in the campaign for free speech. We are building on what the first protesters with the plush rebellion did. We can inspire other people to continue what we did and then we can help again to do new things. And altogether, I think actually the tide is turning. Lukashenko is obviously in panic, arresting innocent students. And so many people are protesting, more and more every day. I think he's in real trouble.
Any news what happened to all these teddy bears?
They are buying them in Belarus for $300! But the rumors are that from the beginning it was the KGB who wanted them to get them off the streets to make sure that the incident never happened. But I hope that some children do have them in Belarus.
So most of them have obviously been imprisoned as well?
That is the sad truth. There was a small police station in a village which an old woman had been called to as she said she saw a big heap of hundreds of teddy bears that must have been gathered by the police in the early morning.
Tomas Mazetti is the co-founder of the Swedish company Studio Total, an advertising company responsible for the airdrop of teddy bears in Belarus.
熊麻吉惹風波！ 白俄羅斯撤駐瑞典使館人員
2012年8月9日 11:20 國際中心／綜合報導
電影「熊麻吉」（Ted）在全球熱映，不過白俄羅斯官員看到可愛的泰迪熊恐怕一點都高興不起來。白俄羅斯因為對瑞典方面空投泰迪熊，宣傳民主的手法不滿，宣布撤離駐瑞典大使館的剩餘人員。
為了抗議白俄總統魯卡申柯（Alexander Lukashenko）打壓民主，上月4日，2名瑞典人駕駛一架輕型民用飛機，未經許可飛越立陶宛邊界進入白俄羅斯，在抵達白俄羅斯首都明斯克（Minsk）上空時，空投了876個戴著降落傘的泰迪熊，每個降落傘上都印有要求言論自由的口號。
然而，這項舉動卻激怒了白俄羅斯政府。白俄羅斯要求瑞典所有外交官離境，瑞典外交部長畢爾德(Carl Bildt)8日證實了這項消息；畢爾德在推特上表示，魯卡申柯正把所有的瑞典外交官員丟到白俄羅斯境外，他對人權的恐懼已經上升到新高點。
白俄羅斯政府員表示正撤出駐瑞典大使館的剩餘人員，並要求瑞典在本月底前，撤出所有派駐白俄首都明斯克的外交官。不過，白俄羅斯外交部發表聲明稱，「不會與瑞典斷交」。
DIpLOMACY
Belarus withdraws embassy staff from Sweden in bear spat
Date 08.08.2012
Belarus says it is pulling its remaining embassy staff from Sweden amid a row over a pro-democracy stunt involving teddy bears. Sweden has been given until the end of the month to withdraw its diplomats from Minsk.
The dispute between Belarus and Sweden over an air drop of teddy bears carrying pro-democracy slogans from a plane chartered by a Swedish public relations firm has escalated.
The Belarusian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Minsk was bringing home its remaining staff from its embassy in Stockholm because Sweden had expelled two more diplomats and had refused to allow a new Belarusian ambassador to take up his post.
In a statement, the ministry said: "In this connection, the Belarusian side has been forced to take the decision to withdraw its embassy in Sweden and bring back all its (embassy) staff to Belarus."
"At the same time... the Swedish side is asked to withdraw its embassy from the Republic of Belarus before Aug. 30," the statement said.
In a Twitter comment, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said: "(President Alexander) Lukashenko is now throwing all Swedish diplomats out of Belarus. His fear of human rights reaching hew heights."
Diplomats sent home
Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador on August 3 over the incident, in which about 800 toy bears were dropped on parachutes near the Belarusian town of Ivenets and the capital, Minsk, on July 4. Each bear carried a message urging the Belarusian government to improve its human rights record.
Sweden reacted to the expulsion of its ambassador, saying it would not welcome a new ambassador named by Minsk to replace an envoy who left the post several weeks ago. It also withdrew residency permits for two Belarusian diplomats.
Belarus took more than three weeks to confirm the teddy-bear incident had taken place. Lukashenko subsequently sacked his air defense chief and reprimanded the state security agency for lapses in vigilance.
He also told the incoming border guards chief not to hesitate to use weapons to stop any future air intrusions from over the border.
Lukashenko has come under frequent Western criticism for his harsh treatment of the political opposition in his country.
tj/slk (Reuters, AFP)
POLITICS
Belarus foreign minister bears brunt of teddy tale
Date 20.08.2012
President Alexander Lukashenko has sacked his foreign minister in the aftermath of a Swedish free speech stunt involving teddy bears. Sergei Martynov will be replaced by Vladimir Makey, already a top official.
A statement from Lukashenko's office in Minsk said that Martynov was removed from his foreign minister post so he could be "transferred to other work." He took up the foreign minister's job in 2003.
The dismissal follows a dispute between Sweden and Belarus after a marketing company parachuted teddy bears bearing messages endorsing free speech and human rights into the eastern European country. The Studio Total company later said that it had received a summons from the government in Belarus, alleging that it threatened them with "two years correctional work" unless they attended within 10 days. The company also said it had no intention of going and accused Lukashenko's administration of "bad manners."
The government in Minsk made no mention of this incident on Monday, although Lukashenko sacked two generals - including the officer in charge of air defense - in the aftermath of the teddy bears' parachute drop. The authoritarian leader, whose government was once labeled "Europe's last dictatorship" by President George W. Bush's administration, also expelled Swedish diplomats in the aftermath.
Sweden responded by refusing to welcome a replacement ambassador who was set to arrive in Stockholm. The Swedish government revoked the residency permits of a pair of other diplomats from Belarus and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter Monday it was "interesting" that Martynov had been sacked.
Martynov's replacement, Vladimir Makey, is five years his junior at 54. Makey was formerly Lukashenko's chief of staff, a powerful position owing to Lukashenko's rather direct control of foreign and domestic policy.
Lukashenko has been in office since 1994. He won re-election to a fourth term in December 2010 with a landslide majority, but faced subsequent public protests and allegations of vote rigging. The election and its aftermath prompted further sanctions from Western countries, with the European Union most recently broadening the scope of its sanctions in March this year.
msh/pfd (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
