Ukrainians are a successful nationI

I would like to start with some personal words. The idea to create the Center for Freedom and Democracy in Lviv was born in Gdansk, at the European Solidarity Center. A few years ago, I spoke at one of the conferences organized by the Center. I was very impressed with both the place and the team led by my friend Basil Kerski.

We talked a lot about the Center's experience and similar centers in Europe, whose activities are united by the promotion of freedom, democracy and European values. We jointly noted that there is a gap in this European network because Ukraine is missing. This is despite the fact that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it was my country that became not only the "gateway to Europe" - as Professor Serhii Plokhii called his synthesis of Ukrainian history - but also a real "battlefield" where the present and future of Europe is being decided.

The heroes of the Heavenly Hundred who died during the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014 were the first Europeans to give their lives for the chance to be citizens of the European Union. The Ukrainian soldiers who have been defending their homeland since 2014 have also become the first soldiers of the EU and NATO.

The destruction of the European community is Putin's undisguised goal. So is the elimination of NATO as a defense alliance of democratic states in Europe and North America. The ultimatum that the Kremlin sent to the United States and the Alliance in December 2021 is a convincing confirmation of this.

The heroic resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the entire Ukrainian people in the confrontation with the Russian fascist state largely thwarted these plans, putting the deadly threat that hung over Europe at a distance.

We have no right to rest on our laurels, because the aggressor is waiting for us to relax and slow down. However, we all see the future as belonging to Ukraine, Europe and the entire community of democratic countries, and not authoritarian regimes.

We were united with Basel by our love for Lviv, the city in which I was born and raised, and with which my political, social, and media activities are connected. A city whose past, traditions, and spirit are thoroughly European to the extent that when planning today's war, Putin was ready to give it to Poland. Because for the "Russian world" - an imperial and genocidal ideology - Lviv is a foreign body whose very existence destroys the plans of the invader.           

A real discovery for me was Philippe Sands' book East West Street. Return to Lviv". He tells about the discovery of his family ties with our city, as well as the activities of two leading lawyers of the first half of the twentieth century: Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin. The terms "crimes against humanity" and "genocide" proposed by them were included in the judicial practice during the Nuremberg trials. They became a significant foundation of the global legal system of the postwar period.

The way of thinking and scientific activity of the two lawyers were based on the condemnation of Nazi ideology and the inevitability of punishment for those responsible for the criminal practices of the Third Reich, including the Holocaust.  Lemkin was also referring to the crimes of the totalitarian USSR, in particular the Holodomor of 1932-1933.

Thus, by restoring Lviv's place on the ideological map of contemporary Europe, we are consolidating the value foundation of the modern Ukrainian state. We start with the condemnation of the two totalitarianisms of the twentieth century, as well as the new totalitarianism of Putin's Russia. And we are trying to demonstrate the origins of our modern European identity with a projection to the European future.   

Lviv is a tradition of the city at the crossroads of civilizations, cultures, religions, and peoples. After 1945, the city became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Moscow's colonial policy, playing the role of the "Ukrainian Piedmont." Lviv is rooted in national tradition and at the same time open to others in their national, cultural, and religious diversity.

It was from Lviv that the processes of our revival began, which emerged with the proclamation of independence and the struggle against the revanchism of the Russian neo-empire. Lviv played an important role during the Ukrainian revolutions of the early twenty-first century. Our city has become a benchmark of our country's European character and the natural character of our integration with the EU and NATO.

Here, the words "freedom," "democracy," "dignity," and "justice" sound especially natural. 

These personal reflections helped me to present the answers to the problems raised by the organizers of our panel discussion and the conference in general. I have identified four blocks related to four basic challenges facing Ukraine, its partners and allies.  

First, in order to remain itself and play a positive role in the world, Europe must continue its own development trajectory. The basic values that laid the foundations for the creation of the European Union must remain here. European integration should be deepened, not weakened. The EU should expand, not narrow to the Western European core.  

Second. In the past, European empires were colonial and therefore did a lot of evil in the world. America's policy of imposing democracy by force was equally controversial (to put it mildly). But this era ended in 2021-2022 with the withdrawal of the United States and its allies from Afghanistan, and before that from Syria.

President Joe Biden has firmly stated that America will no longer send its soldiers to install a democratic system in any country. The United States will help those who are ready to fight for democracy. And this is exactly the approach they are implementing in relation to Ukraine, helping us with weapons, money and humanitarian projects. Washington's leadership in creating a pro-Ukrainian coalition is particularly noteworthy.

It is this approach that will determine the role of America as a leading democratic power in world politics in the near future. The other day, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that Russia's war against Ukraine is an example for Taiwan on how to withstand a larger army. Obviously, these words reflect the United States' solidarity with democratic Taiwan in its confrontation with authoritarian China.

The third set of questions. Russia's war against Ukraine is an open attempt to reincarnate the Russian Empire and colonial rule over our country. Using the ancient tools of imperialism and colonialism: the complete destruction of any form of Ukrainian statehood and the genocide of the Ukrainian nation. With the direct threat of transferring these methods to other regions, where neo-imperial Moscow sets its eyes.        

In the 15 months of the "great war," this should have become obvious to all states of the world, especially those in the Global South. But many of them do not support Ukraine or stand aside. Probably, trying to maximize the benefits of cheap Russian energy and neglecting anti-Russian sanctions, which aim to prevent Russia from continuing the war.

Russia's aggression against Ukraine has already affected the energy situation in the world and the food markets of the Middle East and North Africa. As a result, tens of millions of people are at risk of starvation.

The risk of a planetary dimension also remains. U.S. and British officials have openly warned that Putin has planned to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine several times.

At the same time, however, there are cries from the Global South about Western colonialism and the traumas it has caused. From the Global South, we hear statements about the "legacy of European colonialism" and the "threat of American imperialism."

In fact, these are the voices of those who do not want to see the obvious: Ukraine's defeat on the battlefield or freezing of the war due to a disadvantageous truce and various "peace initiatives" will be a victory for imperialism and colonialism. The activity of the Wagner Group killers in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Mali, or Sudan is more than a telling confirmation of this.    

Fourth. Values and ideas are crucial. That is why we must defend freedom, democracy and human rights. At one time, Western elites were fascinated by the thesis of the victory of freedom over communism and the success of liberal democracy, on the "end of the story." However, in reality, communism is doing very well in the People's Republic of China and a number of Asian states. In Russia, communism has become a hybrid of the imperial messianism of the "Russian world" with the bloody totalitarianism of the Stalin era.   

Xi Jinping and Putin's joint declaration of February 4, 2022, on "friendship without limits" set a large-scale goal: to end the dominance of the United States and the entire West. It was intended to set their own hegemony with the establishment of a new world order.

I am amazed by the genocide of the Uyghur nation in China, which gained enormous proportions in 2017, almost simultaneously with Russia's aggression against our country. I am also shocked by the use of modern technologies in China to fully control society. We discuss the threat of artificial intelligence, but the Chinese have no such hesitation. 

Nuri Turkel, a Uyghur exile and American official, wrote that modern China combines two warnings about a new kind of totalitarianism from George Orwell and Aldous Huxley.

Quote. "Chinese citizens can upload endless entertainment and dance videos, as well as cat videos to TikTok, they can start their own businesses and become extremely wealthy, but all this is subject to the main principle of the new social contract: never question the actions of the Communist Party. Because then the Orwellian option is instantly activated."

After a recent visit to China, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock admitted that she was shocked by the country's offensiveness and aggressiveness. And this is a reality that we will have to live with for a long time.

The entire experience of history, both ancient and modern, shows that the point of authoritarianism and dictatorship is always directed against the individual and society. Against their natural desire to live and develop freely. History saw examples when the suppression of this desire by bloody dictators turned into a terrible tragedy for entire nations.

Today, on May 18, in Ukraine, we commemorate the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people. The tyrant Stalin forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars from their historic homeland. Tens of thousands died in the "death trains" and from inhumane living conditions.

Stalin's follower Putin is committing genocide on a much larger scale, seeking to exterminate the entire Ukrainian people. The world must recognize that genocidal practices continue in the twenty-first century.

In 2015, when Russia's war against Ukraine was already underway and the first wave of repressions against Crimean Tatars was taking place in the occupied Crimea, I authored a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada recognizing the deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide and establishing a day of remembrance for its victims. We, the citizens of the free world, cannot forget this terrible crime, nor do we have the right to ignore the outrages committed by new despots.           

Polish Solidarity was inspired by the idea of "Nie ma wolności bez solidarności" ("There is no freedom without solidarity"). This idea, after the introduction of martial law on December 13, 1981, conveyed the truth that freedom in the country was possible only after the resumption of legal trade union activity. As we know, in fact it was much more than that - a national liberation and democratic movement.

However, this slogan concealed a much deeper idea: freedom is possible only when the foundation of individual states, societies, and the world as a whole is solidarity. That is, a just social order, with the distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor, equal chances for everyone, including the younger generation.

These ideas were crucial for the "founding fathers" of United Europe. Solidarity was one of the key definitions used by Pope John Paul II, an ardent supporter of European integration, during his visits to Poland. He quoted the Apostle Paul from the Letter to the Galatians: "Bear one another's burdens".

As we celebrate the EU's impressive success in improving the lives of hundreds of millions of its citizens, we must remember solidarity as a dimension of the European integration process. Since February 24, 2022, Poland and other European and non-European countries have shown impressive assistance to Ukrainian women, children and the elderly fleeing the war.

You have shown that Europe is strong, open and firm in its values. That is why Europe has a great future ahead of it. It is important that Europe is not alone, because the war in Ukraine has renewed the strength of the Euro-Atlantic community. President Biden reiterates that the decisions and actions over the next 4-5 years will outline the future framework of the world in which we, our children and grandchildren will live.

Speaking in November 1989 before the American Congress, Lech Walesa noted that the United States is associated in Poland with freedom and democracy, with generosity and sacrifice, with human friendliness and friendly humanity. Although he realizes that this is not the way the world thinks about America. He added that Americans are idealistic but also practical people. And that they especially value success.

The Solidarity movement has proved to be successful. Solidarity has shown that it is successful, just as Poland has shown over the past 34 years that it is a successful state and nation. 

Russia's war against Ukraine has been going on for ten years, i.e. a third of our independence. We were not given a chance in the confrontation with Russia, but we survived and defended our independence, national identity, freedom and democracy. We have every chance to liberate the occupied territories and win.

Thus, we have demonstrated that Ukrainians are a successful nation. And we want to make the Lviv Center for Freedom and Democracy one of the signs of our success.