Lithuanian Intellectual: Belarusians Love Freedom Not Only in Words, But Also in Deeds

"In early January this year, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office announced that it was moving from Lithuania to Poland. True, rumors about this circulated last year, shortly after the decision to reduce the security level of Tsikhanouskaya's office, which was motivated by economic considerations, but which was most likely a response to the negative attitude of a good portion of Lithuanians towards this institution. This concludes Lithuania's period of active role in providing refuge to democratic forces of Belarus, and the slogan of the 19th-century uprisings "For our and your freedom" loses its power. Thus, we distance ourselves even further from the legacy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), around the defense of which so many spears have been broken in recent years," writes Audrius Sabūnas.

According to the author, exaggerated fear of "ghosts of Litvinism" pushes Lithuanian society towards provincialism and populism, forcing it to see a threat where there is none, and to forget about the real threat - Lukashenka's regime. The author believes that the ghost of Litvinism is used by those politicians who actually have self-serving motives.

"It seems the ghost of Litvinism has so inflamed our imagination that we haven't noticed how we ourselves have started fighting propaganda with propaganda methods — be it xenophobic graffiti, or activists calling themselves opponents of Litvinism and fighting against Belarusian national symbols, or even members of the Seimas organizing pickets against Belarusians in Lithuania, while the most brazen of them proposed to restore relations with Alexander Lukashenka for the sake of potash business."

Павялічыць

Audrius Sabūnas sees in such rhetoric a departure from the spirit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

"The desire of a large part of Lithuanians to succumb to provincialism and populism, which have usurped the Western political and media space, to avoid complex questions and give in to the temptation of ethnocentrism, indicates that first and foremost, we are thus ourselves rejecting our connection with the GDL."

The author believes that Lithuania's strength has always been in its courage to be a refuge for oppressed peoples. Refusal to support Belarusian democratic forces and closing off from neighbors means transforming Lithuania into a "single-issue state," which will lead to the loss of its moral authority and historical continuity.

Павялічыць

"...authoritarian interpretation of historical truth — even if unconsciously, similar to how it is done in Russia. And if the goal is a maximally closed society. This is precisely a departure from the identity of the GDL. In this case, more rights to the historical legacy of the GDL, it seems to me, belong to Belarusians who love freedom in words and in deeds — those who took to the streets in 2020 despite harsh repressions; those who filled the old city of Vilnius with national symbols during the reburial of the 1863 insurgents; those who regularly gather for protests in support of Ukraine in Vilnius, New York, Tokyo, and other cities, not to mention those who go to defend Ukraine with weapons. If we are no longer capable of remaining faithful to the continuity of the GDL idea, then perhaps we should not even trace our lineage from the GDL?" — Sabūnas appeals to his compatriots.

Павялічыць

The author calls not to be afraid of "post-imperial ambitions" in the good sense of the word — as a duty to support freedom fighters — because the true strength and future of sovereign Lithuania lies precisely in fidelity to the ideals of the GDL, and not in narrow ethnic nationalism.

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