Dear friends,

 

Unfortunately I am not in a position to take part in this very important World Movement for Democracy Assembly in Indonesia. You know the reasons why I am not with you, and I will not put too much attention to that. I think that this meeting is very important, especially keeping in mind what is going on in the world. First of all, we should talk about the problems in development of democracy and democracy itself, human rights concepts, rule of law is experiencing and suffering in the modern world. There are four enemies to democracy, human rights, and rule of law. These are: gas, oil, war against terror, and geopolitical considerations. Unfortunately, during the last couple of years, these enemies are winning the battles on many fields. We should take into account that if we cannot unite and if we are not able to maintain basic human rights values, which were described and prescribed very clearly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will not be able to win – to win the battle against lack of freedom, lack of human rights, lack of justice, inequality, and many other diseases which the modern world is suffering from. 

 

I am from the Soviet Union, and in our country, many years ago, during the Soviet regime, we were obliged to say that two plus two is twenty-nine. This was the middle of the system, as Mr. Orwell in his famous novel, 1984, explained. After the Perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Gorbachev, we were asked to say that two plus two is nine, and we should applaud our bosses that we are not obliged to say that two plus two is twenty-nine. After another 15 years in my country and many countries of the former Soviet Union, we have to say that two plus two is five, until some moment when we will be able to say something else. And even in the Western world, sometimes the leadership is talking about that two plus two is 4.15. But two plus two is four, and black is black, and white is white. And the hopes of mankind, the belief which was very clearly, I will repeat it again, which was very clearly prescribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is still key value for everybody all around the world. And my position is clear, we have to go forward, and have to any time, any moment, use any possibility to say two plus two is four, this is black, and this is white. And if there will be no freedom, there will be no truth, and if there will be no justice, the future of mankind will be, from my point of view, not so bright, if to say, it will be dark. I hope that your assembly will succeed, and I hope that all of you will be able to go on to maintain these basic human rights values, the values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.