LAST TOTALITARIAN STATE IN EUROPE

19.08.2005.

This is the name of the appeal signed by the world known people who condemn the totalitarian policies conducted by Aliaxandr Lukashenka and call on the European Union to promote democratization in Belarus. Below is the complete text of the appeal.
LAST TOTALITARIAN STATE IN EUROPE

When we may believe today that there are no important things of which we know nothing, a whole number of serious facts remains unknown or is known only to a limited circle. Over an extended period of time, Belarus, a country on the eastern border of Europe, has been one of such information "black holes"

This country with a population of 10 million people has been ruled by Aliaxandr Lukashenka, whose normal method of government involves day-to-day violation of basic human rights and freedoms, liquidation and imprisonment of opponents and journalists, and deception of people through the dependent media.
In the autumn last year he used a falsified constitutional referendum to cancel the presidential term restriction, which was the first step on staying on in power after 2006, the year he is supposed to resign as the president.
For several months now without any major attention from the media and politicians of the democratic countries the authorities have been systematically and intensively eliminating what is left of NGOs, independent newspapers and political parties, which could pose any threat to the plans of the Belarusian autocrat to stay in power indefinitely. The information blockade of the country is becoming stronger, new laws on restricting education possibilities of the young people abroad are underway, the last daily newspaper Narodnaia volia may well be closed down. Aliaxandr Lukashenka can allow all of these things not only due to the completely destroyed social and public structures, a legacy of the Soviet times, but also due to the lack of awareness or interest of the democratic countries in what is happening in Belarus.
We believe that every possibility has to be used to break through this wall of indifference and incapability of the world community to rebuff the Post-Soviet autocrat and his intentions of stifling the remaining independent initiatives in Belarus At the same time, contacts and cooperation with the Belarusian independent initiatives should be continued. The European Union that has so far been unable to support the forces that have been struggling for Belarus constructed on democratic values should have found relevant instruments. The European Union also must make maximally transparent its programs for education and exchange for democratically oriented youth of Belarus. The European Union together with Ukraine should promptly react to the recall of the Polish European parliamentarians Janusz Anyszkievicz and Bogdan Klich, allow the Belarusian citizens to have access to the uncensored and independent information through radio and TV programs broadcast from the neighboring countries. We call upon EU, USA and all democratic states that should be interested in the democratization of Belarus to take joint action.
Vaclav Haval Andre Gluxman, Vartan Gregorian
Frederic Vilem de Klerk Mike Moore (the former Prime-Minister of New Zealand)
Mary Robinson Iogei Sasakava Karel Schwarzenberg
Desmond Tutu Richard von Veitzacker George Soros
Michael Novak Prince El Hassan bin Talal