DV KV Valdes Sēde
DV CV Sēde, DV Globālās Dienas, DV Vanadžu Salidojums, DVJ Zaļās Dienas
Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
Member of the European Parliament (EPP- ED) and
Martin Mejstřík, Senator, Parliament of the Czech Republic (indep.)
PRAGUE DECLARATION on European Conscience and Communism
Prague, June 9, 2008
On Friday June 6, Senator Martin Mejstřík and Jana Hybášková, Member of the European Parliament, presented the English and Czech versions of the Prague Declaration adopted by the international conference „European Conscience and Communism" held on June 2-3, 2008 in the Senate, Parliament of the Czech Republic. The conference was hosted by the Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions of the Senate, under the auspices of Mr Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic for European Affairs.
The Conference received letters of support from President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, from Lady Margaret Thatcher, from Jason Kenney, Canadian Secretary of State and from Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor to former US- President Jimmy Carter (enclosed).
In its preamble, the Prague declaration states the urgent need to come to terms with the communist ideology and with past and present communist regimes on a European and international scale. It stipulates i.a. that the Communist ideology is directly responsible for crimes against humanity, that there are substantial similarities between Nazism and Communism, that many perpetrators of Communist crimes have not been brought to justice yet, that many Communist parties have not apologized for Communist crimes and that millions of victims of Communism are entitled to the same recognition enjoyed by the victims of Nazism. It also stresses that one fifth of mankind still suffers under hard living conditions imposed by different Communist dictatorships.
The Prague Declaration, which is addressed to all nations of Europe, all European political institutions including national governments, parliaments, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and other relevant international bodies, formulates nineteen demands.
Ranking among the most important are:
- a call for the acceptance of pan-European responsibility for crimes committed by Communism,
- a call for a legislative recognition of Communist crimes as crimes against humanity, on national level and on a European level
- a call for the establishment of 23rd August, the day of signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, as a day of remembrance of the victims of both Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes, in the same way Europe remembers the victims of the Holocaust on January 27th,
- a call for an effective public debate about the commercial and political misuse of Communist symbols,
- a call for continuation of the European Commission hearings regarding victims of totalitarian regimes,
- a call for organising of an international conference on the crimes committed by totalitarian Communist regimes with the participation of representatives of governments and other key stakeholders
- a call for the establishment of an Institute of European Memory and Conscience a pan-European museum/memorial of victims of all totalitarian regimes,
- a call for an overhaul of European history textbooks so that children can learn about Communism and its crimes in the same way as about the Nazi crimes
- a call for a joint commemoration of next year's 20th anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the massacre in Tiananmen Square,
The PRAGUE DECLARATION was signed by:
Václav Havel, Joachim Gauck, Lee Edwards, Vytautas Landsbergis, Göran Lindblad, Tunne Kelam, Christopher Beazley, Emanuelis Zingeris, Ivonka Survilla, Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa, Jana Hybášková, Jiří Liška, Martin Mejstřík, Jaromír Štětina, Pavel Žáček, Eduard Stehlík and others.
Gorbachev calls for purge museum
Mr Gorbachev said the special museum should be set up inside what was one of the most notorious Soviet detention centres, the Butyrka prison in Moscow.
The petition's organisers, Memorial, said Russians today were in danger of forgetting the brutality of the past.
They also criticised the glorification of former leader Josef Stalin by some.
In 1937, Stalin launched his Great Purge, intensifying his campaign against anyone he saw as a threat to his regime. Those included political opponents, but also the army, the intelligentsia, members of the clergy and peasants.
DV PAZIŅOJUMS
Preses ziņojums - Daugavas Vanagu Centrālās Valdes
prezidija paziņojums
Lai izskaidrotu pārpratumus, kuri pēdējā mēneša laikā
radušies, Latvijā dažādos rakstos un vēstulēs
izmantojot Daugavas Vanagu nosaukumu, un lai
saglabātu Daugavas Vanagu organizācijas vārda labo
slavu sabiedrībā, Daugavas Vanagu organizācija
vēlreiz atgādina un paziņo:
1. Daugavas Vanagi ir sabiedriska organizācija, kas
dibināta 1945.gadā Cedelgemā, Beļģijā. Tās
pamatuzdevums ir aprūpes darbs. Viens no mērķiem ir –
stiprināt ticību Latvijas atdzimšanai, cilvēku
tiesībām un brīvībai. Tāpēc Daugavas Vanagi vienmēr
ir strikti noraidījuši cilvēku nevienlīdzības
sludinājumus. Daugavas Vanagi vienmēr ir atbalstījuši
Latvijas valsts dalību NATO un ES. Daugavas Vanagi
nesadarbojas ar radikāli-ekstrēmistiskām
organizācijām, kuŗas pauž citus viedokļus kā minētos.
2. Daugavas Vanagi nav politiska partija. Daugavas
Vanagi pilnībā noraida dažādu politisku partiju
spekulācijas, izmantojot Daugavas Vanagu vārdu.
3. Daugavas Vanagu priekšnieks vada organizācijas
darbību, pārstāv Daugavas Vanagu organizāciju.
Daugavas Vanagu organizācijas oficiālo viedokli pauž
Daugavas Vanagu priekšnieks. To var uzzināt,
sazinoties ar Daugavas Vanagu pārstāvniecību Latvijā,
Rīgā.
4. Daugavas Vanagu amatpersonas viedoklis tiek
uzskatīts par attiecīgās zemes valdes viedokli tikai
tad, kad šo viedokli ir pieņēmusi attiecīgā valde.
Citos gadījumos tas ir konkrētās personas
privātviedoklis un to paužot nevar tikt izmantots
Daugavas Vanagu vārds.
Juris Augusts - Daugavas Vanagu priekšnieks
Padomju stāsts - The Soviet Story
Note: "The Soviet Story" is available from the LCCC or from Alīde Forstmanis.
Kritušo karavīru piemiņas akts Saulainē
Tālis Forstmanis nolika ziedus no DV Kitchener-Waterloo kopas.
The Soviet Story
Click link for more information.
Alīde Forstmane ievēlēta par LNAK Priekšsēde
Letters from Stalin's Russia
Remarkably, the world knows little of these catastrophic events. Yet 463 letters, written from the prisons of the Gulag and from home villages arrived in a tiny town in the Canadian prairies. These letters verify a subversive network of mail delivery during one of the most horrific eras in human history. Written by Russian Mennonites, the letters confirm the strength of the human spirit in the bleakest circumstances. http://www.gulagletters.com/
Jaunajā aukstajā karā Rietumi Bulgārijā, Latvijā un Moldovā jau zaudē
History Shows Joe McCarthy's Reputation is Undeserved
"Stanton Evans, journalism professor and board member of the American Conservative Union, has performed a similar transformation for the most reviled American in modern U.S. history, Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
Evans' 663-page work, "Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies" (Crown Forum, $29.95), is the result of six years of reading primary sources. Evans proves that almost everything about McCarthy in current history books is a lie and will have to be revised".
"The truth never caresses, it always stings!" H.L. Mencken