Lech Walesa's Petition in Support of Cuban Dissidents.

Go here to find out what Poland is doing in support of Cuban dissidents and political prisoners. And then go here to sign the petition.

Tags: Poland Cuba dissidents Lech Walesa Hector Palacios

Dissidents in Prague: Aznar, Havel, Sharansky and Bush.

President Bush addresses the dissidents.

Spent a very busy week in magical Prague, attending 2 events.

The first one, the Democracy and Security Conference in Prague was historically monumental. Did anyone report the standing ovation that President Bush got at the beginning of his speech as well as at the end of it?

No... but, fortunately, some of us were there to witness this event. Most prolific writing about the conference is Gateway Pundit.

There's an excellent description of all that happened at the conference, which was really a forum to allow dissidents from around the world to be heard, and behind the scenes.

Read it all at Gateway Pundit:

Prague Blogging- 2007 Democracy & Security Conference
Blogging From the Communist Parliament Building
Bush Rocks the Czernin Palace At Prague Democracy Conference
Democracy & Security: Day 2- Dissident Row

The only thing I found a bit odd in this meeting of giants is that there was only one Pole who attended the conference and participated as a panelist. It was, therefore, great to have President Bush specifically mention in his speech the visionaries Lech Walesa and John Paul II:

Behind these astonishing achievements was the triumph of freedom in the battle of ideas. The communists had an imperial ideology that claimed to know the directions of history. But in the end, it was overpowered by ordinary people who wanted to live their lives, and worship their God, and speak the truth to their children. The communists had the harsh rule of Brezhnev, and Honecker, and Ceausescu. But in the end, it was no match for the vision of Walesa and Havel, the defiance of Sakharov and Sharansky, the resolve of Reagan and Thatcher, and fearless witness of John Paul. From this experience, a clear lesson has emerged: Freedom can be resisted, and freedom can be delayed, but freedom cannot be denied.

[Prague] [dissidents] [democracy] [security] [Human Rights] [Sharansky] [Aznar] [Havel] [Bush]

Dissidents, democracy and security.

Am attending all this week the democracy and security conference in Prague. This conference is hosted by former dissident Natan Sharansky, and former Presidents Havel and Aznar. President Bush will deliver remarks.

Read more about it here.

[Prague] [democracy][dissident][Havel] [Sharansky][Bush] [Aznar]

Dissidents, human rights and security.

Natan Sharansky, once a dissident who spent 9 years in the Soviet gulag, is co-hosting a conference on democracy and security in Prague next month, together with former president of the Czech Republic Václav Havel and former prime minister of Spain José María Aznar, where he hopes to give dissidents around the globe a forum to be heard.

President Bush will be the keynote speaker.

Organized under the auspices of The Prague Security Studies Institute, the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at The Shalem Center and the Foundation for Social Analysis and Studies in Madrid , this is the "first-ever event to bring dissidents together with leading politicians in democratic countries to discuss the importance and relevance of democracy and to explore ways to promote democracy in totalitarian regimes, and the empowerment of dissidents in that process."

Mr. Sharansky finds that President Bush is a dissident like him: a lone voice in the West. He told Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post:

"It's not that the democracy policy was adopted and applied and turned out not to work," Sharansky said. "There was never a strategy for applying it. There was no unity of purpose. Hardly any political leaders besides Bush believed in the concept. Even here in America there was terrible resistance. It's not enough that the president believes in the policy and wants to act. He has to be able to carry the country and the bureaucracy with him."

Mr. Sharansky is a fervent believer that dissidents of tyranny must be supported by the free world. He knows that dictatorships are week from the inside because they must control the vast number of "double thinkers" who, unlike the small numbers of dissidents, are afraid to revolt because they have no support from the outside world.

He draws an analogy between what is going on in Iran right now with the Solidarity movement in Poland under communism. Mr. Sharansky says that there is a comparable movement in Iran, but unfortunately, unlike Solidarity, it has no support from the outside.

As to his views about the debate on linking democracy and security:

First, when you are sitting with other dissidents in a Soviet prison, it becomes so clear that if we have anything in common it is this cause of human rights and democracy. It is not about left or right; nor is it about this or that religion. Human rights and freedom is a cause for everybody.

Second, for many years I was in solitary confinement, where I could talk only to myself. When you speak about the linkage between democracy and security in the free world, very often you find you are speaking only to yourself. Nobody really wants to listen; nobody really wants to believe in it."

It will be interesting to hear what the outcome of this debate will be during the conference, and whether the lonely dissidents of today will garner any more support...

There is more on Mr. Sharansky, his cause and the up coming conference at The Weekly Standard.

Sharansky dissident President Bush Czech Republic democracy and security Human Rights Havel Aznar Solidarity Poland