On June 1, 1990, thousands of Lithuanian Americans protested on the Capitol steps in an attempt to pressure on President Bush to recognize Lithuania as an independent state. These demonstrators also had the support of two Senators, Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). At the time, the Soviet Union occupied and oppressed Lithuania under the leadership of Mikhail S. Gorbachev. This communistic regime limited the rights of Lithuanians and fiercely repressed any protests within the country. Lithuania declared its independence on March 11, 1990, but no states recognized their decree. After continued violent responses by the Soviet Union, Lithuanians demanded that the United States recognize their independence.
Lithuania was constantly annexed and occupied by both Germany and the USSR throughout World War II. After the war was over, the Red Army invaded Lithuania and established its Soviet rule. Officials from Moscow were sent to establish local governance, who enforced sovietisation. The citizens of Lithuania were forced to adapt a Soviet way of life through Soviet-like institutions, laws, customs, and tradition, which were promoted primarily through propaganda. However, this process was also instilled through fear and eradication of all Lithuanian symbols, art pieces, writings, etc. The country’s history was rewritten, its achievements were belittled, and Stalin was to be venerated. Its citizens were encouraged to join the Communist Party and any speech or expression against communism was censored. In an attempt to spread secularization, any religious association was prohibited, and the communist state promoted atheism. All of this encouragement, persecution, prohibition, and promotion had underlying connotations of brutal consequences. Citizens who were openly against communism could be jailed, tortured, or even killed. More often than not, those who resisted were deported to Siberia by the hundreds of thousands and left to die.
Even from the beginning of the occupation, Lithuanians organized armed resistance to reestablish capitalism and regain their sovereignty. They also coordinated various protests, including the Baltic Way and the TV Tower protest. Those who were able, escaped from the Soviet Union’s rule as Displaced Persons, many of whom ended up in America. Lithuanian-Americans gathered together often to keep their language, culture, and traditions alive. Because they knew that the United States was one of the greatest superpowers of its time, many would rally Representatives to recognize the Baltic states. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union, becoming the first nation in the USSR to do so.
The Baltic Freedom Rally on Capitol Hill urged President Bush to recognize Lithuania’s sovereignty and allow democracy to spread to the Baltics. Representative D’Amato, inLithuanian, declared that Lithuania will be free. Protesters traveled from all over America to listen to these Senators and display a unifying voice against the Soviet Union. This demonstration became the first major public outcry in America against Soviet occupation. Many claimed that President Bush had some type of agreement with Gorbachev to ignore the atrocities that were occurring within the USSR.
The individuals on Capitol Hill were advocating for their people abroad. Many protestors were immigrants themselves, who recently escaped to America. To place this demonstration in a larger context, it signifies the unity among people to fight for freedom and the beginning of the fall of the Soviet Union. These people were fighting for the common good of all the Baltic states, regarding all occupied states as separate from the Soviet Union. The Catholic encyclical, Gaudium et Spes, clearly advocates for protests that benefit the entirety of human citizens. This Baltic Rally promoted the recognition of independent nations as well as the human rights violations by the Soviet Union.
Lithuania’s history is a mystery to most people, so, if you would like to learn more about this small country against the Baltic Sea, True Lithuania offers a comprehensive overview. The time period referenced in this blog post, the late 20th century, is described at the bottom of the page.
Because of protests like these, President Bush recognized the independence of the Baltic states. The official announcement of such recognition is during a press conference from his vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
When I first read this protest, I did not know that Lithuania was the first country to declare independence from soviet occupation, or how severely persecuted they were by communism if they protested. Their basic freedom of expression and even religion were denied to them. Communism is in opposition to the freedoms of democracy, and as U.S. citizens we had the opportunity to join in the fight against communism and stand up for those freedoms with fellow citizens and immigrants. The Freedom Rally became necessary for them to protest in the United States in order for Lithuania to be recognized as an independent state and be free from communist oppression. It connects to the Gaudium et Spes because the immigrants were protesting for the freedom of their fellow citizens in Lithuania against oppression and abuse from the communist state and abuse of power. My blog, the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, was also about people protesting against the oppression of a public authority. The black workers of Memphis were treated with no dignity or respect, just as those who were deported to Siberia and left to die were treated without dignity by the communists. Both the Baltic Rally and the Memphis Strike were citizens standing up for human dignity, basic human rights, and democracy.
ReplyDeleteThe Baltics were the last holdout of Nazi occupation and interestingly, the first to declare independence from Soviet occupation. It makes sense that these protests for the recognition of the Baltic States would happen among the diaspora outside of the USSR itself, logistically and politically. Putting pressure on the US government to recognize Lithuania, and the subsequent recognition automatically puts pressure on the USSR, as outside international entities are demanding the release of a provincial nation within the USSR itself. These protests within the United States were peaceful and called for the liberation of the Lithuanian people territorially and governmentally. The peaceful aspect of these protests as well as the legitimate grievances demanded to be addressed by the people to USSR are fully permitted under Gaudium et Spes. These protests are similar to the WTO protest I addressed in my first blog post, in that domestic protests (within America) had to do with international affairs and foreign policy matters. Protesters in Seattle were demanding action against the World Trade Organization's new round of trade negotiations that the protesters believed were leaving behind American workers. With the Baltic freedom protests we see those in America, Baltic or not, demanding action in the form of political recognition of the Lithuanian people and their corresponding nation-state which was occupied by the USSR. Soviet occupation is a topic that hits home for me because of the life family-friends had to endure under the control of the Soviet Union. 11 months ago I traveled alone to Prague & Plzen, Czech Republic to visit my friend and family-friends. My friend's parents told me in Slovak, Czech, and broken English of their experience under the USSR in the then Czechslovakia, specifically, how they participated in the protest called the "Velvet Revolution" that would become the nail in the coffin for Soviet rule in the former Czechoslovakia. I understand this sentiment of independence and protest against the former USSR.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and was drawn to it as my family's heritage is most closely traceable to Lithuania. I knew that they fell under Soviet domination during the Cold War, but I was not aware that the United States hesitated to recognize their sovereignty. This protest was almost completely opposite of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Most obviously the LA Riots were violent and even fatal, but the difference goes a bit farther. Notably to me, the protesters at the Lithuanian Recognition Rally were advocating for people who lived thousands of miles away from them, while the rioters in Los Angeles were upset about a local issue. The fact that these people had the empathy to look toward another country's struggle is encouraging. So often it seems difficult to improve the situations in our own communities that it is helpful to know that if enough people are well enough organized, they can even make change on an international level. Thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting because, unlike nearly every other protest we've looked at, this is a US protest based around something happening in an entirely different continent. All of the protests that I researched and made posts about were focused on very local issues, being isolated to a certain region of the US, while the Lithuanian protests were hoping to gain support for a global issue. I agree that the protests were clearly in line with the principles of Gaudium et Spes, as the rights of the Lithuanian people were clearly being violated by the Soviet government so the protesters had an obligation to speak out and raise awareness for the injustices faced by their people, and by themselves in many cases.
ReplyDelete