The People of Belarus Protest for Their Freedom
When I translated Lithuanian resistance leader Juozas Lukša’s memoir of the resistance against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944, he described overcrowded cells where inmates are forced to stand, brutal beatings, total lack of regard for human rights, an unimaginable, sick-minded cruelty. Here we are, in 2020, nearly a century later, and the world through its silence is still tolerating Russian/Belorussian methods of brutally silencing the people’s normal wish to live in a fair and just system of democratic governance and to have the opportunity to develop themselves as individuals who are not repressed by autocrats. This is no longer an issue the world can shut out and ignore. On Friday Lukashenko ordered the unsafe nuclear power plant, Astravets, fueled and operational. In the midst of this violence against the people of Belarus, this nuclear nightmare is being unleashed on the region. Oh, and let’s not forget flagrant disregard for any cautionary measures to halt the spread of Covid-19 in the region.
Together with two archbishops of Lithuanian, Archbishop Kevalas and Archbishop Grušas on August 23, 2020, after Lithuanians linked hands from Vilnius to the border with Belarus to show support for the protesters of Belarus.
“The nations who had lost their freedom cherish it the most. That is why Lithuania did not hesitate to declare its full support to the Belorussian people who seek to shed the shackles of captivity.” President Gitanas Nausėda