Otevřený dopis západním lídrům

v němž přes stovka českých a slovenských osobností veřejného života apeluje na to, aby se neopakoval nový Mnichov.
There is War in Europe: Let’s not Repeat the Munich Betrayal of 1938

Dear Mr. David Cameron – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Dear Mr. Barack H. Obama – President of the United States of America

Dear Mrs. Angela Merkel – Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

Dear Mr. François Hollande – President of the French Republic

Dear Mr. Donald Tusk – President of the European Council

Dear Mr. Jean – Claude Juncker – President of the European Commission

1938

Dear Madame, Dear Sirs,

It has been a year since the citizens of Ukraine rose up and overturned a corrupted regime.  More than one hundred citizens of Ukraine perished under their national flag and the flag of the European Union, so that they could open for their country a path toward dignity and freedom.

It is also a year since the Russian army, without military insignias and armed as “green men”, occupied Crimea and, thus, violated the principle of the sanctity of borders upon which peace in Europe stood after the Second World War. Immediately following this, agents linked to Russia attempted to create unrest in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine and break up the country. In the Donbas, Russia unleashed a bloody war, which, with the help of massive shipments of Russian tanks, rocket launchers and other armaments, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers and Russian citizens, continues today. Today the bloody footprints of Russian agents, soldiers and arms are as evident in Ukraine as the poisonous traces of polonium were in the streets of London.

It troubles us that, although according to various sources anywhere from six to fifty thousand citizens of Ukraine and Russia have died in Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, the democratically elected leaders of the West actually continue to engage in a policy of appeasement.  They refer to this aggression of a foreign state on the territory of another sovereign state as a “conflict” or a “situation” and to their clear deferral to the aggressor as a “diplomatic solution”.

In 1938 in Munich, while other democracies silently looked on, Great Britain and France – allies of Czechoslovakia – betrayed Czechoslovakia and, under the pretense of protecting the German minority, allowed Adolf Hitler to occupy an extensive piece of the territory of our country, eventually breaking it up and occupying it completely.  Then British Prime Minister Chamberlain celebrated this act of betrayal in London by waving a piece of paper and talking about “peace for our time”.  History has shown in all its nakedness the naïveté of such an approach.  But the industrial potential and human resources of (until then) democratic Czechoslovakia were already fully serving Hitler’s war machine.

It troubles us that almost 80 years after Munich the situation is repeating itself.  In 1994, Ukraine gave up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and, with the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, the United States of America and Great Britain became the guarantors of its territorial integrity and independence.  The insufficient military support from the USA and UK to an embattled Ukraine is a sad reminder of the failure of western democracies to defend Europe against Hitler and casts a shadow of doubt on the credibility of other international guarantees and agreements, including the security guarantees, which membership in NATO theoretically provides to the countries of Europe.

We understand the efforts of European leaders to strive for a peaceful solution via negotiations in the tradition of the values of European humanism and post-war development in Europe.  It troubles us, however, that these efforts are misused in service of a continuation and prolongation of aggression.  It was time to provide effective and extensive military and economic help to embattled Ukraine long ago: embattled because its citizens decided to strive for freedom, human dignity and membership in the European Union.

The citizens of Ukraine are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as well as a democratically elected political future.

No one has the right to hinder them in their efforts to achieve this.  The Russian war against Ukraine is an attempt to stop the spread of freedom and human rights with tanks, cannons and rocket launchers.

As a warning, let us remind parties on both sides of the Atlantic of the words spoken by the British leader Winston Churchill about the behavior of democratic powers in the year 1938: “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor.  They will have war.”

We already have war in Europe. Donations of bandages and blankets to the ravaged people of Ukraine and continual concessions to a ruthless and cynical aggressor will not stop it.

Whether or not the democratic world leaves Ukraine to bleed to death and enables the aggressor to expand further rests in your hands – but history will be your judge.

List of signatories:

Vladimír Bartovic, political scientist

Jiří Bárta, nonprofit manager

Marie Benetkova, poet, signatory of Charter 77

Ivan Binar, writer

Fedor Blaščák, philosopher

Radim Boháček, economist

John Bok, civic activist, signatory of Charter 77

Radovan Bránik, crisis manager

Irena Brežná, writer and publicist

Jan Bubeník, businessman and former student leader

Ľubomír Burgr, actor and musician

Pavol Demeš, civic activist and foreign policy analyst

Bohumil Doležal, political scientist, signatory of Charter 77

Vít Dostál, political scientist

Přemysl Fialka, photographer and cameraman, signatory of Charter 77

Jefim Fištejn, publicist and signatory of Charter 77

Karel Freund, clerk and signatory of Charter 77

Jaroslav Erik Frič, poet and publisher

Pavol Frič, sociologist

Egon Gál, philosopher

Fedor Gál, publicist

Libor Grubhoffer, parasitologist

Olga Gyárfášová, sociologist

Jozef Hašto, psychiatrist

Michal Havran, theologian and writer

Anton Heretik, psychologist

Gyula Hodossy, poet

Radko Hokovský, political scientist

Mario Homolka, documentarist

Michal Horáček, lyricist and cultural anthropologist

Monika Horsáková, publicist and documentarist

Vavřinec Hradílek, slalom skier, world champion and Olympic medalist

Jana Hradílková, woman of action and writer

Štefan Hríb, journalist

Jan Hřebejk, film director

Péter Hunčík, psychiatrist

Ján Husár, filmmaker and photographer

Michal Hvorecký, writer

Rudolf Chmel, literary scientist and former ambassador

Ivan Chvatík, philosopher

Jakub Janda, political analyst

Tomáš Janovic, writer

Roman Joch, political scientist

Peter Juščák, writer

Ivan Kamenec, historian

Robert Kirchhoff, film director

Michael Kocáb, musician

Miroslav Kocúr, theologian

Tibor Kočík, poet and special education expert

Petr Kolář, former ambassador

Eugen Korda, journalist

Jiří Kostúr, poet and signatory of Charter 77

Jan Kroupa, consultant and analyst

Robert Krumphanzl, publisher

Vladimír Kučera, publicist

Miroslav Kusý, political scientist

Juraj Kušnierik, journalist

Jan Květ, biologist – ecologist

Silvester Lavrík, writer

Jana Ledvinová, trainer and advisor

Monika Le Fay, writer and director

Janet Livingstone, translator and nonprofit expert

Jozef Lupták, musician

Martin Mahdal, screenwriter and director

Tomáš Machula, philosopher and theologian

Štefan Markuš, scientist and former ambassador

Daniel Matej, composer

Michal Matzenauer, poet and painter

Françoise Mayer, historian

Jiří Menzel, film director

Grigorij Mesežnikov, political scientist

Juraj Mesík, environmentalist

Martin Mojžiš, physicist and publicist

Pavel Nováček, environmentalist

Štefan Olejník, physicist

Daniela Olejníková, book illustrator

László Öllös, political scientist

Dušan Ondrušek, psychologist

Luboš Palata, journalist

Martin Palouš, university lecturer and signatory of Charter 77

Petr Pánek, civic activist

Viktor Parkán, bureaucrat and signatory of Charter 77

Daniel Pastirčák, poet and minister

Kálmán Petőcz, political scientist and former ambassador

Zdeněk Pinc, philosopher and signatory of Charter 77

Petr Pithart, former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and signatory of Charter 77

Lucia Piussi, singer and writer

Jana Plichtová, social psychologist

Ondrej Prostredník, theologian

Šarlota Pufflerová, human rights activist

Martin C. Putna, literary historian

Toňa Revajová, writer

Jaro Rihák, film director

Robert Roth, actor

Věra Roubalová Kostlánová, psychotherapist and signatory of Charter 77

Jan Ruml, dissident and former Minister of the Interior

Tomáš Schilla, musician

Rudolf Sikora, visual artist

Anton Srholec, priest and political prisoner

Zuzana Stanislavová, literary scientist

Jakub Steiner, economist

Juraj Stern, economist

Zuzana Sternová, university teacher

Boris Strečanský, development specialist

Ljuba Svobodová, program coordinator

Zuzana Szatmáry, Woman of Europe 1993

László Szigeti, writer

Soňa Szomolányi, political scientist

Jiří Šesták, senator

Marta Šimečková, publicist

Petr Šimíček, editor of an educational portal

Pavel Šremer, environmentalist and signatory of Charter 77

Pavel Štefan, graphic designer

Kvido Štěpánek, businessman and philanthropist

Ján Štrasser, poet and lyricist

Ivan Štrpka, writer

Petruška Šustrová, publicist and translator

Herta Tkadlečková, historian

Dušan Trančík, director

Ľubica Trubíniová, civic activist

Jan Urban, journalist, signatory of Charter 77

Martin Vadas, director and documentarist

Ľudmila Verbitska, civic activist

Jan Vít, publicist and signatory of Charter 77

Jozef Vozár, lawyer

Peter Zajac, literary scientist

Jiří Zaťovič, writer

Katarína Zavacká, legal historian

Viktor Žárský, biologist

Více na http://www.support-ukraine.org/