In its Statement of Government Policy of October 2006, the
current Swedish government declared:
The Swedish Presidency of
the European Union in 2009 can provide a great opportunity to bring to light the
crimes of Communism and the need for a reunification of European history.
Sweden, traditionally an international champion for freedom, democracy, human
rights and the right to self-determination for small countries, can play an
leading role in the process of establishing a more objective view of European
history, free from totalitarian propaganda and politically motivated
distortions. Attention must finally be paid to the untold suffering caused by
Communist ideology, until very recently, in so many European countries.
An international conference was held in the Lithuanian Parliament
on June 5 and 6, with participants from all over Europe and the United States
joining to to discuss the legacy of Communism and to celebrate the 20 year
anniversary of the liberation movements of the Baltic States and Eastern
Europe.
Historians, politicians, dissidents, Human Rights organisations and
journalists from the United States, Western Europe, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe,
Russia, the Baltic States and the Caucasus participated in the well attended and
publicized conference, which was broadcast live.
The IICC/UOK
(Information Institute on the Crimes of Communism) represented by founders CEO
Camilla Andersson and Anders Hjemdahl participated in the conference on the
invitation of President Valdus Adamkus and the Lithuanian
Parliament.
IICC/UOK CEO Camilla Andersson with President Adamkus and former
President Landsbergis of Lithuania
Welcome address
by
Valdas Adamkus, President of the
Republic of Lithuania
Honorary guests of the Conference:
Prof. Vytautas Landsbergis MEP
(Lithuania)
Dr. Arnold Ruutel
(Estonia)
Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson
(Iceland)
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
(Denmark)
Round table discussion:
Liberation from
totalitarianism: significance and consequences to Europe and the
world.
David Satter (USA)
Jonathan Steele (United Kingdom)
Anders Hjemdahl (Sweden)
Dr. Nodar Natadze (Georgia)
Prof. Aleksandras Dobryninas (Lithuania)
Dr. Antanas Kulakauskas (Lithuania)
Prof. Dr. Anatoli Mikhailov (Belarus)
Dr. Vytautas Radzvilas (Lithuania)
Dr. Francoise Thom
(France). Moderators where Romas Sakadolskis (Lithuania) and RNDr.
Jaroslav Suchanek (Czechia).
Watch Live TV broadcast
Here.
http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter/konferencija?p_r=5607&p_k=2
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Program and Participants
Liberation of the nations in the
totalitarian crisis and “perestroika” period between 1980 and 1991
Moderators: Zigmas Vaisvila (Lithuania), Mart Tarmak
(Estonia)
Speakers:
Christopher Beazley MEP (United Kingdom) "European Parliament
initiatives 1979-1991 and public support in Western Europe for resistance
against the totalitarian regimes of Central and Eastern Europe.
Romualdas Ozolas (Lithuania) “Roots and
Appearance of Sajudis”
Mati Hint (Estonia)
“Moral Rise and Decline of Estonian (Baltic) Nationalism”
Virgilijus Cepaitis (Lithuania) “Sajudis and
Other Movements for Democracy”
Dr. Romualds
Razuks (Latvia) “The Role of Popular Front in the Crucial Period of
Regaining Independence by the Republic of Latvia in 1990-1991”
Sen. Zbigniew Romaszewski (Poland) "Fight for
Independence of Poland in 1944 - 1989"
Markus Meckel MP (Germany) “European History of Freedom and
Democracy 'beyond the Iron Curtain' - a Topic for European Politics of
Memory”
Amb. Algirdas Saudargas
(Lithuania) “Had Sajudis its Foreign Policy?”
Armed resistance to the
enforcement of the totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and the
Baltic States reoccupied by the USSR in 1944 to 1953
Moderators: Sandra Kalniete MP (Latvia) Dr. Laima L.Andrikiene MEP
(Lithuania),
Speakers:
Dalia
Kuodyte (Lithuania) “Search for Different Forms of Resistance: Where
There Alternatives to Armed Resistance in 1944-1953”
Prof. Alfred Erich Senn (USA/Switzerland) “American
Sovietology and the Baltic States”
Dr.
Arvydas Anusauskas (Lithuania) “Establishment of Soviet Totalitarianism
in Occupied Lithuania. Application and Final Deletion of Independence Period
Symbols”
Prof. Dr. Egbert Jahn (Germany)
“Comparison of National Socialist and Communist Mass
Extermination”
Dr. Marek Kornat
(Poland) “Poland as a Factor of the Cold War (1947-1989)”
Algimantas Vidugiris (Kyrgyzstan) “Imperialism
Twenty Centuries ago, Yesterday and Today. Cultural-Journalistic
Review”
Ingvald Godal (Norway) “Small
States and the Great Powers 1939-1991”
Algimantas Rastauskas (Argentina) “Reflection of Central and
Eastern European Liberation from the Communist Totalitarian Process in South
America”
Political processes of the
post-Stalin period and fight against the regime in the USSR-dominated part of
Europe in 1953 to 1980. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring
of 1968
Moderators: Prof. Egidijus Aleksandravicius (Lithuania), Iurie Rosca
MP (Moldova)
Speakers:
Sergei A.Kovalev (Russia) “Significance of the
independent social movements in the years of Soviet totalitarianism
Prof. Bronislovas Genzelis “Repercussions of
the Hungarian Revolution, Prague Spring and Polish Solidarnosc in
Lithuania”
Boris Zala MP (Slovakia)
“Civilization Value of the Czecho-Slovak Renascence Process in the 60´s
of 20th Century”
Prof. Vanda Zaborskaite
(Lithuania) “Unsubjugated Soviet Culture”
Prof. Tomas Venclova (Lithuania/USA) “Lithuanian Dissent in the
Context of Central and Eastern Europe 1953 – 1980”
Dr. Tamas Kiss (Hungary) “Several Characteristic Features of the
1956 Revolution and Fight for Freedom in Hungary”
Dr. Algirdas Jakubcionis (Lithuania) “Lithuania in the Context of
Anti-soviet Resistance of East European Nations”
Dr. Jaroslav Suchanek (Czech Republic) “Laboratory of Political
Processes in the Middle of Europe”
Amb.
Ginte Damusyte (Lithuania) “Support for Resistance from across the
Atlantic”
Abp. Sigitas Tamkevicius SJ
(Lithuania) “Fight of the Catholic Church against the Totalitarian Regime
in Lithuania (1953-1988)”
Liberation of the nations in the totalitarian
crisis and “perestroika” period between 1980 and 1991 (from the appearance of
Solidarnosc in 1980 to the collapse of the Soviet Union)
Moderators: Zigmas Vaisvila (Lithuania), Amb. Mart Tarmak
(Estonia)
Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Shushkevich
(Belarus) Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Shushkevich (Belarus) "Berlin Wall shifted
– where?"
Kazimieras Motieka (Lithuania)
“The Road to Freedom that the Sajudis Chose”
Adam Michnik (Poland) “Road to Freedom”
Ivan Drach (Ukraine) “Influence of Sajudis in establishing
Ukrainian Popular Rukh”
Alexander Vinnikov /
Ella Polyakova (Russia) “Fight for Freedom, Ours and Yours. History of
Interactions between Democrat Movements of Leningrad and Lithuania”
Prof. Dr. Manfred Wilke (Germany) “The Fall of
the Wall and the Unification of Germany”
Dr.
Marius Oprea (Romania) “When Statues Are Burning / Communism in Romania,
from Murder to Suicide”
Prof. Liudas Truska
(Lithuania) “Lithuanian Communist Party and Sajudis”
The
parliament of Lithuania has passed the toughest restrictions anywhere in the
former Soviet Union on the public display of Soviet and Nazi symbols.
(BBC)
It will now be an
offence in the Baltic state to display the images of Soviet and Nazi leaders.
This includes flags, emblems and badges carrying insignia, such as the hammer
and sickle or swastika.Correspondents say equating Soviet and Nazi symbols in
this way is certain to infuriate Russia.
Estonia's decision to put the swastika
and hammer and sickle on an equally prohibited footing was described by Russia
as "blasphemous", and an attempt to rewrite history. Moscow's official
interpretation of history is that Lithuania, Latvi a and Estonia were liberated
from Nazi Germany by, then voluntarily joined, the Soviet Union.
Read more on BBC here:
The first Memorial Day of the
victims of Communism: August 23, 2008.
The IICC/UOK are proud to follow the spirit of the Prague declaration and
suggest August 23 as a memorial day of the victims of Communism . August 23rd
was
the day of the signing of the Nazi-
Communist Pact between Hitler and Stalin (known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact),
which divided Eastern Europe and the Baltic States between the two totalitarian
regimes.
IICC/UOK encourages everyone in
Europe to arrange or participate in memorial ceremonies, large or small, on
August 23 to commemorate the victims of Communism and to demand that respect is
paid to the untold millions of people who suffered, and still suffer, under
Communist rule.
Read about the IICC/UOK
initiative in the Swedish magazine - Populär HIstoria (in Swedish)
here
Approaching the Olympic Games in China — a hearing in
the Swedish Parliament
The summer Olympics can only become a means
to increased freedom if we have the knowledge about the actual situation, and
use Chinas newfound openness towards the west as a tool for demanding respect
for fundamental rights. Get the facts so you too can act! An open hearing
where eyewitnesses and representatives of various vulnerable groups in China
gave their accounts of persecution, abuse and violence against
dissidents.
The following organizations and persons
participated:
Norsang Drikung,
Chairman of Tibetan Community in Sweden.
Wilgot Frtizon, minister of Light For The Peoples
www.ljusioster.se
Anonymous Christian
Chinese witness who has served time in a Chinese prison.
Man Yan Ng, shared chair holder of the
European Falun Dafa Association.
Benjamin
Kong, Physician and Falun Gong practitioner who served time in a Chinese
forced labour camp.
Xiao Rundcrantz,
Chinese prosecutor who defected, author of the book "Röd åklagare" ("Red
Prosecutor") Chen Maiping, Chinese in exile since 1986. Founder of the
Independent Chinese Pen Center (ICPC) www.penchinese.net
Abdushukr Muhamed, chairman of the Swedish Uigur
Committee. www.uygurie.com
Abduletip,
Uigur
witness who spent four years in chinese prison.
Shinjilt Kherid of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information
Center
www.smhric.org
Petra
Lindberg, chairman of SHRIC, Supporting Human Rights in
China.
Arrangers: Lennart Sacredeus, MP (kd) Göran Lindblad, MP (m) and
chairman of the Swedish delegation of the European Council and the political
Read more (in Swedish) SVD Brännpunkt here:
Supporting Human Rights in China: www.shric.org
IICC/UOK seminar "Darkess at Noon " with Dr. Paul Hollander a great
successOn April 8, 2008 the IICC/UOK, in
cooperation with the Embassy of the United States in Stockholm, arranged a lunch
seminar for specially invited guests with Dr. Paul Hollander, legendary author
of many influential books concerning Communism, at Stockholm's Berns Restaurants
Red Room. The seminar was fully booked and was reported in Swedish national
media.
See the broadcast from the seminar
here
"Why have noted Western intellectuals-from George
Bernard Shaw to Jean-Paul Sartre to Susan Sontag-embraced the vision of various
"revolutionary" societies, often in their most repressive historical phase,
while downgrading (and yet enjoying) the benefits of Western liberal pluralistic
political cultures? How have the delusions and dreams of many Western observers
of the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and other socialist states contributed to a
moral and political double standard?" (From Amazon's description of Hollander's
book "Political Pilgrims").
Read about Dr. Hollander's latest book "From The GULAG
to the Killing Fields -Personal Accounts of Political Violence and Repression in
Communist States ": here
90th
ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA
"Estonia remembers, Estonian exists"
The independent republic of Estonia was
proclaimed on February 28, 1918. During the following 90 years, Estonia has been
affected by the turbulent, dramatic and often tragic European history. Estonia,
like other formerly Communist-controlled countries, has had to reclaim its
history and analyze its past.
Participants: Alar Streimann -
Estonian Ambassador to Sweden, Dag Hartelius
- Swedish Ambassador to Estonia, Heidi Hautala - MP Finland, Hans
Lepp - Cultural Attache, Swedish Institute, Imbi Paju - author and film producer, Carita Pettersson - CEO Nordic Council of Ministers, Hain Rebas - prof. History, University of
Kiel, Elhonen Saks - Journalist, author
researching the Jewish culture, Tallinn, Maarja
Talgre - author and Swedish National Public Radio journalist.
Please read more about the seminar here
Organizers: The Estonian Institute, IICC/UOK -
Information institute of Crimes of Communism, Estonian Embassy of Sweden,
Swedish Embassy of Estonia. The Nordic Minister Council in Estonia,
Atlantis
