Speech of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek on the Occassion of the Meeting with the Dissidents in Washington D.C. 26. 2. 2008
Salute to Dissidents
It is really a unique opportunity for me to be here with you. I consider myself very lucky that I can be here as a representative of a democratic country. I spent most of my life under a regime similar to those which unfortunately still govern your countries. My country spent a half of the last century in non-freedom and oppression. It lived through a Nazi occupation and a totalitarian Communist system. Therefore we consider it our moral obligation to support the fight for freedom, human rights and democracy. This December we will remember the 60th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was sadly ironic that this happened in the same year that my country lost its freedom for four decades. It is a shame of the entire Planet that most countries which are represented in the United Nations suppress human rights. Tyrannical governments punish not only expressions of political opposition, but also different opinions or even just differences as such. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, are the opening words of the Declaration. We must strive to fulfill it. We must endeavor together to achieve freedom for all. Whereas freedom is the basic value from which all other values are derived. It is not easy. There is not, and probably never will be, an authority which could enforce the observance of human rights from the outside. A direct military intervention is possible only in very exceptional cases. Sanctions are not completely effective. A decisive turning point can come only from the inside. It took us those forty years. Somewhere, like in Cuba, the waiting for freedom is taking even longer. The international community has relatively limited possibilities to positively influence development in individual countries. It is not, however, a reason to be resigned. On the contrary. We must use the tools we have even more consistently.
By a combination of economic and political pressures, financial and moral support of dissidents, effective work of international institutions and the dissemination of truthful information to the world's public, we can gradually achieve the erosion and the subsequent fall of despotic governments. I will not boast of the Czech Republic's activities by which we support the fight for freedom in your countries. The government is far from being behind them all. And that is correct. The power of a civil society lies in the free activity of individuals and organizations. The same also holds for the representatives of the National Endowment for Democracy present here. I would rather wish you from the bottom of my heart that you live to see the victory. Because it will be your victory in the first place. And you yourselves know best how difficult the path to it shall be.
Saluteto Dissidents, to:
Orlando Gutierrez:
I wish Cuba, a beautiful country which is the pearl of the Caribbean, that its citizens can again travel to the Czech Republic for friendly visits. This time as free visitors in a free country.
Tatiana Hulko: I wish Belarus, a country which has shared with us a similar fate for a long time, to follow the other post-communist societies and rid itself of the last of the Europeans dictators.
Aung Maw Zin: I wish Burma, a country with a long and proud tradition, to live to see a full-value civil administration.
Ali Afshari: I wish Iran, a country where the history of civilization has treaded, to rid itself of the dictate of those who drive it into cultural and political isolation.
Carl Gershman, Barbara Haig: I thank the National Endowment for Democracy for the good work which you have carried out for the last quarter of a century to support democratic institutions. I wish you much success into the future. You are doing a great job.
Thank you for your attention.
