Lech Walesa: We need global solidarity today

2.10.2009, 13:36

Leaders of the Belarusian opposition were invited to Gdansk for a ceremony of giving Lech Walesa Prize, named after the former president of Poland and leader of Solidarity trade union.

Famous human rights activists from Iran Shadi Sadr along with Ladan and Roya Boroumand received the Lech Walesa Prize for their promotion of human rights, freedom of expression and democracy in Iran.

Sadr is a lawyer, journalist and an activist for women's rights in Muslim countries, a leading figure in the campaign against stoning as a punishment. She was arrested during the wave of arrests following the disputed presidential election.

Ladan and Roya Boroumand founded the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation that works towards human rights and democracy in Iran. The Boroumands have made great contributions in monitoring human rights violations in Iran, and also campaign against racism. Their father was killed by secret services in Paris.

Lech Walesa created the prize in honour of the 25th anniversary of Walesa's own receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1983 for contribution to struggling against communism. Besides Walesa, the prize committee includes former Czech President Vaclav Havel, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, former Polish foreign minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Lech Walesa Foundation president Piotr Gulczynski, and former head of the Supreme Council of Belarus, leader of the Social Democratic Hramada Stanislau Shushkevich.

Politicians, diplomats, businessmen, human rights defenders, experts and journalist from all over the world took part in the awarding ceremony in Arthur's Court in Gdansk.

Belarus was represented by Stanislau Shushkevich, a member of the prize committee, coordinators of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikov and Zmitser Bandarenka.

The Belarusian democrats had a number of important meetings. Andrei Sannikov, Stanislau Shushkevich, and Zmitser Bandarenka met with the legendary leader of Polish Solidarity movement Lech Walesa and head of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz.

“Lech Walesa invited us to his foundation office. We spoke about the situation in Belarus for an hour. The former Polish president said he supported those struggling for freedom in our country with his heart and soul. He noted it was his duty to promote democracy in Belarus.

We have a long and very interesting conversation with speaker of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz. I can’t disclose all issues we touched, but we talked about the situation in Belarus, way of democratization of the country, what should be done to make Europe understand the problems of Belarus,” former chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich told www.charter97.org.

The leader of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikov told www.charter97.org about meetings with Lech Walesa and Bogdan Borusewicz.

“Words of Lech Walesa, who said the situation in Belarus was his own pain, surprised us. The Solidarity leader admitted he could have made more for Belarus if he had been president of Poland, so he tried to attract attention to Belarus, the last dictatorship of Europe, in every possible place. Walesa is not only a symbol of people’s victory over totalitarianism, but also an active human rights defender in the world. Giving Lech Walesa Prize to Irani journalists and public figures is a bright example of this.

Polish ex-president says we need global solidarity today as never before, because a problem of one country becomes a problem of the whole world quickly. Walesa thinks we shouldn’t calm until lawlessness, injustice, and human rights violations are stopped in the world. The Solidarity leader emphasized that Belarus is a part of Europe and expressed an unexpected thought that Poland felt uncomfortable in the European Union without Belarus and Ukraine,” Andrei Sannikov said.

The leader of “European Belarus” said the last events in Belarus and new EU’s policy towards the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka had been discussed at the meetings with the former Polish president and head of the Senate.

“Lukashenka chose the best way to support our arguments. He offered the territory of Belarus for military manoeuvres with Russia and stated it would be a permanent event. I think serious politicians shouldn’t draw attention to vain promises of the Belarusian dictator after such actions,” Sannikov said.

The Belarusian democrats also had a meeting with well-known Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi in Gdansk.

“We were surprised to learn that the famous film director takes our problems to heart. It turned out that Krzysztof Zanussi helps many creative people from Belarus, especially the youth. Zanussi expressed a hope for early normalization of the situation in our country,” Andrei Sannikov stated.