Mr. Landsbergis (Господин Ландсбергис)

Delighted to see you, Mikhail Sergeyevich.

Mr Gorbachev, why doesn't Moscow want to acknowledge.

Lithuania's desire for independence?

If you’re going to call me ‘Mr’…

I never have been and never will be ‘Mr’

and I don't want "misters" popping up in the USSR

because of Perestroika.

- I didn't mean... - I am against “misters”.

They simply wanted to carry on doing

what they did best.

They had created

a perpetual domain

and wanted to go on ruling this domain.

It is maybe one of the greatest mistakes humankind has ever made…

…and that mistake is all too evident

within Russia and the former USSR.

…the belief that power over something is the supreme value…

power over the little people,

but first and foremost power over territories,

over domains.

And such an organisation, which calls itself "a state",

exists solely to expand its territory

and remain invincible.

They proclaimed this in their anthems and wherever else they pleased,

"invincible, "everlasting", "we shall rule forever",

and Lenin will live forever,

all this nonsense is forever,

and you must forget about everything else

because "everything else" is evil,

and if you serve evil,

even in your mind,

then you are already an enemy.

Whose enemy? Our enemy.

And since we are the people

that makes you an enemy of the people.

If you think differently, if you don’t toe the party line

you aren’t just an enemy of the state

you are an enemy of the people,

because the authorities act in the name of the people,

because they granted themselves this privilege:

to be the people, as it were.

This is a fundamental lie,

and this whole Empire of Lies, which still flourishes today

is founded on such complete falsehoods.

What are they selling there?

- One. - Please.

Thank you.

Two please.

It would be better to sit lower down.

- So many people! - Ah!

So many people turned up!

Dear singers, compatriots,

let's sing "Lietuva brangi":

Lithuania...

Wait a second.

Lithuania,

my precious motherland,

A land where

heroes sleep in your graves:

Your beauty lies

in the skies so blue!

My precious, you've seen

so much torment and woe.

It didn't just start suddenly like a bolt from the blue.

We had a desire for a different life, a more truthful life.

As Solzhenitsyn said: a life without lies.

That’s just what we wanted - a life without lies.

We wanted to speak of things as they were,

not things to please the powers-that-be,

about things that needed to be solved, things that needed to be changed.

We even wanted to suggest how things could be changed.

The authorities saw this as a challenge,

though they themselves had asked for this,

when they’d announced changes.

Perestroika means change.

They realised that they were heading towards complete bankruptcy

with their wretched Soviet Union,

and in order to save the situation some changes had to be made.

They announced the possibility of reforms

and permitted people to discuss this topic

without running the risk of being exiled to the land of polar bears

for agreeing with Moscow

that change was necessary,

and for saying that we too supported change.

So when they started to pressure us:

“Why are you… you’re demanding too much”,

we naturally replied, “You yourselves are in favour of reforms

but we want more profound,

essential and far-reaching reforms.”

They took fright when they heard this,

because it was a threat to their power.

These were not the reforms they wanted.

But they somehow felt obliged

“not to instantly crush people with tanks”

but to allow them to discuss things freely

and to ‘let off the steam of discontent’

by making some trivial changes and reforms, some "perestroikas".

“We’ll do a few changes and it’ll all be fine,

then the Americans and the whole world

will think the leopard’s changed his spots

and they will help us survive

in the same old system of lies".

Just you wait, go on, say it!

Fascists!

Fascists!

Hey, what are you doing? He didn’t do anything!

We'll have to see about that!

What are you filming here?

Shame!

I keep telling you, we must sing the national anthem!

I thank all of you

who have gathered here, have come here…

Lithuanians have shown that they aren't slaves, and will never be.

Dear...

Quick march!

My elderly father used to say: “What a pity that I'm so old.

I'm too old, I won't live to see

them heading back home,

but you will see them

flee from our land.“

In fact he did live to see it too, he lived to 100 years of age.

He built this summer house

for his family.

It was an article of faith for us,

that this couldn’t last forever.

"Perhaps I won't live to see it, but you will.

Have faith." And this faith was justified.

But it’s a different matter to have faith, to wait, to hope

and then to plunge into despair,

alcoholism and desperation, because you think that nothing can change.

But why not try to do something?

Lithuania!

Lithuania!

Lithuania, our dear homeland.

Land of worthy heroes!

I feel...

I feel as if I am in the holy temple of Lithuania.

This isn't merely a hall, merely a sports hall,

this is not an ordinary auditorium, this is the holy temple of Lithuania.

On behalf of Sąjūdis,

I call upon you, my dear compatriots,

to take on this arduous task,

to stand shoulder to shoulder, to put your hands to the plough,

for the good of Lithuania.

God bless us all!

With great joy in my heart,

with great faith

in your hearts, in your love,

in your desire

to restore independent Lithuania...

Lithuania!

I don't think I've ever been so happy in my whole life,

as I am now,

in this temple,

here with the whole of Lithuania!

All of Lithuania has gathered here.

Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Utena, the whole country

is here today in our temple.

I declare

this extraordinary congress open.

We invite the next speaker to the stand:

the First secretary of the Central Committee

of the Communist Party of Lithuania comrade Algirdas Brazauskas.

Dear delegates and guests of the founding congress

of Sąjūdis, the Reform Movement of Lithuania,

dear comrades,

in the name of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania.

I am honoured to greet the founding congress of Sąjūdis

on behalf of the Supreme Soviet,

the Presidium and the government of the Lithuanian SSR

and to wish that its work

may be constructive and productive.

Three days ago I had a chance to meet with the General Secretary

of the Central Committee of the CP of the Soviet Union,

the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Mikhail Gorbachev.

He asked me to transmit his warmest wishes

to the creative and hard-working people of Lithuania,

for whom he has great respect.

Comrade Gorbachev said

that in Sąjūdis he sees a positive force,

which can benefit perestroika

and strengthen the authority of Soviet Lithuania even further.

The next speaker is Antanas Terleckas

from the Freedom League of Lithuania.

In the name of the Freedom League of Lithuania

I proclaim that the Lithuanian nation with its glorious history

and centuries-old tradition of statehood

can never be reconciled to the enslavement imposed upon it by Hitler and Stalin.

The Freedom League of Lithuania demands from the government of the Soviet Union:

1. A declaration that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is null and void;

2. The withdrawal of its military forces from Lithuania,

enabling the Lithuanian people to choose their own destiny.

The Soviet press tries to convince us, that we are inferior,

that we cannot survive on our own, with our economy destroyed

by Stalin and Brezhnev.

The disciples of colonialism preach that

"small" nations cannot move an inch without "friendly" aid.

Perhaps it's time for us to cease being a burden

to our benefactors from Moscow?

At the moment, the United Nations consists of 159 countries.