They came to Prague from around the world to share a vision of
democracy and freedom. In this city of so much history and
inspiration, an unprecedented conference was organized by Jose
Maria Aznar, Vaclav Havel and Natan Sharansky entitled “Democracy
and Security.” But its principal purpose, notwithstanding the
stated title, was uniting dissidents who have committed themselves
to a defense of freedom without the slightest regard for their
personal safety.
In most instances these were ordinary people driven by
historical events into extraordinary circumstances. Trapped by
indifference and fear, they spoke out until the world finally
listened.
Mudawi Ibrahim Adam is the founder and chairman of the Sudan
Social Development Organization. For exposing the Sudanese
government’s role in violations of human rights in Darfur, Dr.
Mudawi was detained for seven months in 2004 and again in January
2005. During imprisonment, he went on a hunger strike to protest
being held in solitary confinement without being charged or
provided access to a lawyer, his family or medical attention.
Amir Abbas Fakhravar is an Iranian writer and student leader. He
was arrested at 17 during a student demonstration against the
Islamic dictatorship and suffered years of torture in jail,
including the torture described by Amnesty International as “white
torture.”
Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a professor of sociology at the American
University in Cairo. In 2000 he was arrested after speaking out
against autocratic government actions and sentenced to seven years
imprisonment. In 2003 Egypt’s highest appeals court declared his
trial improper and cleared him of all charges. Mr. Ibrahim has been
one of the Arab world’s most vociferous defenders of democracy and
human rights.
Garry Kasparov was the youngest world chess champion in history
at the age of 22. Since 1989 he has been prominent in the nascent
democratic opposition to the post Soviet autocracy. His
organization, the United Civil Front, has staged marches of dissent
against the policies of President Putin. Despite threats, he has
remained firmly committed to genuine democratic reform in
Russia.
Eli Khory, an advertising executive in Beirut, put his life on
the line by planning and promoting the Cedar Revolution which drove
Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Irina Krasovskaya is a Beloruisan political activist. In 1999
she lost her husband — who is still missing — after he opposed
the brutal totalitarian practices of President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka. Mrs. Krasovskaya has lobbied governments relentlessly
in order to have her husband’s case investigated.
Mohsen Sazegara is a teacher, writer and leading reformer
against the current Iranian theocracy. In 2003 he was arrested by
officers in the Ministry of Intelligence for his campaign against
the ruling mullahs. During his imprisonment he endured two hunger
strikes that totaled 79 days. In 2004, due to the deterioration of
his health, he was released.
Natan Sharansky, the foremost proponent of democracy and
arguably the most important human rights proponent on the globe,
wrote a memoir Fear No Evil that serves as the bible for
human rights advocates everywhere. Mr. Sharansky was born in the
Ukraine, was arrested for Zionistic and human rights activities,
and served nine years in a Soviet prison.
Vaclav Havel, the father of the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and
the first president of the Czech Republic, was arrested and sent to
prison by Communist officials because of his opposition to the
totalitarian practices of Soviet invaders.
Eugeniusz Smolar is president of the Center for International
Relations in Warsaw. In 1968 he was arrested for organizing
pro-democracy protests and opposing the invasion of Warsaw Pact
armies in Czechoslovakia. He was released from prison in 1970.
These are merely a few of the dissidents who came together to
assert and, in most instances reassert, the power of human rights
and freedom. They speak from experience. Moreover, their passion
and desire to destroy totalitarian architectures was on display at
every meeting.
On June 5th President Bush addressed this group. Powerfully and
eloquently, he spoke of freedom’s march, recognizing as well that
dictatorships are also on the march. Afterward, he met separately
with dissidents, offering encouragement and a helping hand. After
all, the Bush Doctrine to spread democracy as a force for freedom
is dependent on the role of freedom fighters in dictatorial and
theocratic regimes.
At the end of this moving and exultant conference each of us
signed the Prague Document, which among other things recognizes the
profound moral difference between free societies and fear societies
and calls on governments to release non-violent political prisoners
and on all democratic states to isolate and ostracize governments
that threaten people with genocide and annihilation.
In a world that I sometimes believe is in a state of entropy,
this conference restored my faith in human nature. Solzhenitsyn
once said that even if the totalitarians covered the globe in
cement a crack would emerge and from it a plant would grow. That
plant has emerged full-blown as a Prague forest, offering the path
to a free and democratic future.
Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and
professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of
Decade of Denial (Lexington Books, 2001).
