Y. E.
President of the Republic of Lithuania,
Y. E.
Prime Minister,
Excellencies
Ambassadors and Bishops,
Dear
Colleagues, members of Seimas and Government,
Dear
initiators of the Sąjūdis movement and its former leaders,
Signatories
to the Act on the Restoration of the Independent State of Lithuania,
Dear
guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today this hall hosts the people
who are most closely related to the March 11 events and who are like relatives
to each other. They could all be termed descendants of the 11th of March. They
have assembled in this hall to recall the way they were joined by unanimity of
opinion, driven by a unifying belief that made them make unanimous decisions.
They enjoyed equal esteem and love of our nation. They made a unanimous effort
for the benefit of Lithuanias past and they have by now entered our history
books.
Today, they have assembled here
to look back at the road they once took and which becomes more distant each
year. They will also take a look ahead. Is the road ahead of us straight
enough? Are we not going to be driven into old byways? Moreover, they have
assembled to rethink and discuss the speed of the journey, and the dangers
ahead, either posed by others or created by us.
May I extend
my sincere congratulations to the entire audience and our foreign guests on the
occasion of the anniversary of Lithuanias regained independence.
Unfortunately, not everyone was able to join us at this meeting. We miss, as we
will always do: Povilas Aksomaitis,
Kazimieras Antanavičius, Juozas Bulavas, Julius Juzeliūnas, Česlovas Kudaba,
Jokūbas Minkevičius, Birutė Nedzinskienė, Vytautas Paliūnas, Petras Poškus,
Raimondas Rajeckas, Gintaras Ramonas, Valerijonas Šadreika, and Alfonsas Žalys.
Let us observe a minute of silence in their memory.
Tonight we will celebrate the
17th anniversary after the SĄJŪDIS movement
transferred legal powers to Lithuania in this hall. It transferred the
power it had already possessed. Nonetheless, some of our countrymen lost in
between the goals of the past and present were still trying to hinder the
process. Moscow was trying to threaten and instil fear. Even Mikhail Gorbachev,
two months before March 11, visited Lithuania giving out two signals. Bringing
his wife he mean good intentions of the humane family visit, whereas bringing
along the heads of the fleet and the land forces was a hint to the imperial
power which was to resort to its own methods of making agreements, in case the
more humane ones failed. However, neither of the two signals could change
anything. Lithuania already was sensing the spirit, power and the proximity of independence;
therefore, the nation did not intend to retreat. Neither Mr. Gorbachevs mealy-mouthed rhetoric nor the shining
epaulettes of his generals could change this. The retreat was impossible; there was freedom in the air.
Most of the major imperial tools present in Lithuania,
including heads and staff of the Soviet institutions, were already influenced
by the Sąjūdis movement, some had joined the movement, others felt either
happiness or anxiety and sorrow. Not to mention Burokevičius and other dissenters,
the KGB, the Soviet army and individual servicemen of the empire. But most
importantly, the nation was standing up
for the Sąjūdis movement. The nation was the Sąjūdis. Lithuania will
always be thankful to the Sąjūdis
for nations revival. Consequently, we will always be grateful to the
generation of those who were privileged to join and be with the Sąjūdis
movement in the late 20th century.
At the time, thousands of
fellow-countrymen assembled in the squares of Lithuanias towns and villages to support freedom. They knew the 11th
of March was coming, but they did not know the exact date when the independence
would be regained.
Do we remember the grand public
rally in the Vingis Park with a quater
of a million of participants? Several weeks later, the Central TV in
Moscow had to either accept or reject the documentary film created by the
Lithuanian Film Studios commissioned by Moscow entitled Whose Our Land Is.
The film included coverage from the rally and the following comment in
Russian (I quote):
Look at a quarter of a million of people. This
is approximately the same number of Lithuanians, who were taken to Siberia in
animal carriages 50 years ago, simply because they loved our land and were good
landowners. Look at a quarter of a million of people, alive. (End of quote)
Moscow could have never accepted
such a film and particularly during the Sąjūdis decade. However, it did accept
it. Moscow had no comments. Probably they were afraid of the quarter of a
million of people ousted eastwards in animal carriages to die there. Or
perhaps, they were afraid of the freedom they saw living in a quarter of a
million of human hearts in Vingis Park in Vilnius. Then, the central TV of the
USSR capitulated against the two quarters of a million. The whole USSR capitulated
against the 3 million later.
This was our victory. We all took
pride in it, and that was the best feeling ever, a feeling that unified the
nation. As time went by, some felt more worthy of honour than others. Some even
have started claiming damages from Lithuania
Though we believed then that the
independence was the victory of the whole nation. Freedom, independence, and
Sąjūdis movement belonged to us all. Let us acknowledge that the question How much does Lithuania owe me? is
impressive. This is an appalling question. Somehow I have never heard the
question: How much do I owe TO
Lithuania? How much do I owe to Freedom and Independence? Has not this
egoism become the reason for political and civic reluctance of our
society?
This year, we celebrate the day
of Independence against the background of local elections. The turnout rates
clearly show that the backdrop is poor. So many people turned a deaf ear on
their state. Its even trendy to say: I
am not interested in politics. Even the ones who are interested in
politics say they are not. This is our tragedy.
We, politicians, who often discredit politics, are also to blame. There will
always be such politicians, because politicians are merely human beings. Unless
we have higher turnouts during elections, we will be unable to diminish the
number of such politicians and replace them by more credible ones. THE LESS
ACTIVE OUR CITIZENS BECOME, THE LESS CLEAN POLITICS WILL REMAIN. I believe that
the people who are related to the March 11 events could take a more active part
in the process of civic education.
You know how to do this. You have
already done this and succeeded. Did we ever see a society of a greater
political and civic maturity than at the time you raised it for revival? People can be motivated to pull their
act together not only against empires and their tanks, though. They can be
motivated to fight domestic corruption, populism, estrangement, and
indifference to Lithuania, as well as greed at the public expense and betrayal of Lithuania or the question:
How much does Lithuania owe me?
Ladies and gentlemen, dear
citizens of Lithuania, let us be closer to each other just as at the time of
the Sąjūdis movement. The closer we are to each other, the closer we are to Lithuania.
