Dear friends!
I am glad to welcome you to Wrocław – the city of free people. It was here that unprecedented protests began 55 years ago. They started with the fact that the authorities removed Adam Mickiewicz’s “Dziady” from the local theater repertoire because they considered this work to be anti-Soviet. Rallies against censorship turned into rallies for freedom, and thousands of police and security officers could not do anything about them.
Later, in 1989, there was a wave of protests against the communist government, and soon that government was gone.
This city never put up with tyranny and injustice and has become a city of hope and solidarity. Those Poles who rallied against communist tyranny here, in Wrocław, had no weapons. They didn't know when their nightmare would end. But they took to rallies because they knew it was right.
We must follow their example and not put up with tyranny. We go to solidarity rallies – with Ukraine and democratic Belarus – because it is right. Solidarity is something that cannot be taken away from us. Solidarity is what dictators, Lukashenka and Putin, are so afraid of.
Unfortunately, we do not have a magic wand to stop the war in Ukraine. We do not have the keys to release people from prisons in Belarus. And we do not know when this nightmare will end. But we will do our best to bring that day closer. To return peace, law, and freedom to our countries.
What is happening in Belarus and Ukraine is an attempt by tyranny to take revenge. Russia is trying to restore its empire – the big prison of nations. To drive our nations into slavery and poverty again. But it will fail.
Belarusians and Ukrainians have made their choice – we all want to be part of a great free Europe, not an aggressive and barbaric “Russian world”. The people of Poland have already gone this way – and we can do it too.
To win, we must not let apathy take over our minds. We need to support each other in our struggles. We must not let the world forget about political prisoners in Belarus. We must support Ukraine on the battlefield, as volunteer fighters from the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment do.
To win, we must strengthen our Belarusian community and unite. As Vitold Ashurak said: Belarusians are there for each other, wherever we are. Every Belarusian is your friend because you are also Belarusian.
To win, we must remain ourselves. Strengthen our national identity. And I am glad that Belarusians of Wroclaw are achieving success in this: both on the political and cultural front.
Today here in Wroclaw, the eleventh festival of Independent Belarusian Culture is taking place. This festival strengthens friendly relations between Belarusians and Poles, which the regime is trying to destroy.
I am sincerely grateful to the voivodship, and in particular Mr. Tytus Czartoryski, as well as the administration of Wrocław for supporting the festival. Thanks also to its organizers: the Community of Belarusians in Wroclaw, Tatsiana Ivanova, Yan Markau, Frants ,Aslauski and others. It is an honor for me to contribute to this wonderful initiative.
Dear friends,
One of our Belarusian heroines has been behind bars for a thousand days – a brave woman, mother of two children, and activist Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk. Neither torture, nor imprisonment, nor an attempt to put her in a mental ward have broken her.
Today we are holding a flashmob in her support. I would like to ask everyone here to join it. We need to say “I am Palina” together.
Let's do it now together!
(People in the crowd chant: “I am Palina!”)
Let Palina know that we remember her. The whole world remembers her. And we will do everything so that Polina and all political prisoners come back home as soon as possible!
Thank you for your solidarity!
Zhyvie Belarus! Slava Ukraini!
