Letter of World Intellectuals

Цей текст майже сотні світових інтелектуалів уже друкувався на УП українською

Ось цей текст англійською. Розміщаю його для тих іноземців, які працюють в Україні, у тому числі іноземних журналістів.

The future of Ukraine

The future of Ukraine depends most of all on the Ukrainians themselves. They defended their

democracy and future 10 years ago, during the Orange Revolution, and are standing up for those

values again today. As Europeans grow disenchanted with the idea of a common Europe, people in

Ukraine are fighting for that idea and for their country's place in Europe. Defending Ukraine from the

authoritarian temptations of its corrupt leaders is in the interests of the democratic world.

We cannot afford to turn our back on Ukraine. The new authoritarians in Kyiv should know that there

will be a high price to pay for their repressive policies and for abandoning the European aspirations

of the people. It is not too late for us to change things for the better and prevent Ukraine from

becoming a dictatorship. Passivity in the face of the authoritarian turn in Ukraine and the country's

reintegration into a newly expanding Russian imperial sphere of interests pose a threat to the

European Union's integrity. It is a threat not just to the moral integrity of the Union but possibly to its

internal institutional integrity as well. Alongside the diplomatic and economic measures taken by

individual states and the entire EU, independent democratic initiatives should make efforts to defend

victims of repression, support civil society and strengthen independent media.

The quality of any democracy depends to a great extent on what its citizens know about their

country and the world. In Ukraine, the picture of the world is shaped by the authorities, who control

most of the mass media, and Russian television channels faithful to President Putin. For the sake of

democracy, we must support and strengthen independent and pluralistic media in Ukraine.

We must help strengthen civil society, especially the new initiatives that have arisen around the

Maidan. No matter what the authorities say, the people fighting to keep their country's future open

are not foreign agents – the only ones deserving that name are those pursuing a policy of mass

repression to quash Ukraine's hopes of becoming a European democracy.

The letter has already been signed by:

1. Andrew Arato, Professor of Political and Social Theory, New School for Social Research,

United States

2. Shlomo Avineri, Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

3. Lluís Bassets, Deputy Director, El País, Spain

4. Zygmunt Bauman, Professor of Sociology, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

5. Gianni Bonvicini, Director of the Institute of International Affairs, Italy

6. José Casanova, Professor of Sociology, Georgetown University, United States

7. Bogusław Chrabota, Editor-In-Chief of Rzeczpospolita daily, Poland

8. Norman Davies, Professor of History, University of London, United Kingdom

9. Aleš Debeljak, Poet and Cultural Critic, Slovenia

10. Tibor Dessewffy, President of the DEMOS Hungary 11. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, former Foreign Minister, Chairman of the Baltic Development Forum,

Denmark

12. Paolo Flores d'Arcais, Philosopher and Journalist, Editor of MicroMega magazine, Italy

13. Carl Henrik Fredriksson, Editor-In-Chief of Eurozine, Sweden-Austria

14. Ute Frevert, Director of the Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for

Human Development, Germany

15. Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, Oxford University, United Kingdom

16. Carlos Gaspar, Chairman of the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI),

Portugal

17. Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, United States

18. Carlo Ginzburg, Professor of History of Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy

19. André Glucksmann, Philosopher and Writer, France

20. Jeff Goldfarb, Professor of Sociology, New School for Social Research, United States

21. Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, United Kingdom

22. Andrea Graziosi, Professor of History, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

23. Tomáš Halík, Professor of Sociology, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic

24. Pierre Hassner, Director of the Fondation nationale des sciences politiques, France

25. Agnieszka Holland, Film Director and Screenwriter, Poland

26. William Hunt, Professor of History, St. Lawrence University, United States

27. Suat Kiniklioglu, Executive Director of the Centre for Strategic Communication, Turkey

28. Ira Katznelson, Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, United States

29. János Kis, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Central European University,

Hungary

30. Zenon E. Kohut, Professor of History, Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Research, University of

Alberta, Canada

31. David Koranyi, Diplomat, Former Undersecretary of State, Deputy Director Dinu Patriciu

Eurasia Center, Hungary-United States

32. Bernard Kouchner, Former Foreign Minister, France

33. Ivan Krastev, Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria

34. Marcin Król, Professor of History of Ideas, Warsaw University, Poland

35. Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, United Kingdom

36. Sonja Licht, President of Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, Serbia

37. Tomasz Lis, Editor-In-Chief of Newsweek Polska weekly, Poland

38. Adam Michnik, Editor-In-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza daily, Poland 39. Marie Mendras, Directeur de recherche, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

(CNRS), France

40. Dominique Moïsi, Conseiller spécial de Institut français de relations internationales (l'IFRI),

France

41. Michael Moser, Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Vienna, Austria

42. Alexander J. Motyl, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University-Newark, United States

43. Piotr Mucharski, Editor-In-Chief of Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, Poland

44. Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations, United States

45. Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford, United

Kingdom

46. Ton Nijhuis, Director of the Duitsland Instituut, The Netherlands

47. Zbigniew Nosowski, Editor-In-Chief of Więź magazine, Poland

48. Claus Offe, Professor of Political Sociology, Hertie School of Governance, Germany

49. Andrzej Olechowski, Former Foreign Minister, Poland

50. Monika Olejnik, Journalist, Poland

51. Andrés Ortega, Author and Journalist, Former Director of Policy Planning, Office of the

Spanish Prime Minister, Spain

52. Ana Palacio, Former Foreign Minister, Former Vice President and General Counsel of the

World Bank Group, Spain

53. Šimon Pánek, Director of the People In Need, Czech Republic

54. Anton Pelinka, Professor of Political Science, Central European University, Austria-Hungary

55. Víctor Pérez-Díaz, President of Analistas Socio-Políticos (ASP), Spain

56. Marc F. Plattner, Editor, Journal of Democracy, United States

57. Ruprecht Polenz, Former Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the German

Bundestag, Germany

58. Adam Pomorski, President of the Polish PEN Club, Poland

59. László Rajk jr., Architect, Designer and Political Activist, Hungary

60. Joachim Rogall, Executive Director of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Germany

61. Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Former Foreign Minister, Poland

62. Jacques Rupnik, Directeur de recherche, Sciences Po, France

63. Daniel Sachs, Member of the Board of Proventus, Sweden

64. Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, United States

65. Gesine Schwan, President of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Germany

66. Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology New York University, United States

67. Narcis Serra, President of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, Spain 68. Martin M. Šimečka, Journalist, Editor of Respekt weekly, Czech Republic

69. Sławomir Sierakowski, Director of the Institute for Advanced Study, Poland

70. Aleksander Smolar, Chairman of the Board, Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland

71. Timothy Snyder, Professor of History, Yale University, United States

72. Andrzej Stasiuk, Writer, Poland

73. Fritz Stern, Professor of History, Columbia University, United States

74. Chris Stone, President of Open Society Foundation, United States

75. Frank E. Sysyn, Director of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Research, University of

Alberta, Canada

76. Jerzy Szacki, Professor of Sociology, University of Warsaw, Poland

77. Monika Sznajderman, Publisher, Publishing House Czarne, Poland

78. Roman Szporluk, Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University, United States

79. Paweł Świeboda, President of demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy, Poland

80. Paul Thibaud, Philosopher and Writer, France

81. Nathalie Tocci, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Affairs, Italy

82. Jordi Vaquer, Director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe, Spain

83. Tomas Venclova, Poet and Writer, Yale University, Lithuania-United States

84. António Vitorino, former European Commissioner, President of Notre Europe-Institut

Jacques Delors, Portugal-France

85. Andrzej Wajda, Film Director, Poland

86. George Weigel, Writer, Ethics and Public Policy Center, United States

87. Michel Wieviorka, Directeur d'études, École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales,

d'études, France

88. Krystyna Zachwatowicz, Scenographer, Poland

89. Adam Zagajewski, Poet and Essayist, University of Chicago, Poland

90. Jacek Żakowski, Columnist, Polityka weekly, Poland

91. Slavoj Žižek, Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London,

Slovenia-United Kingdom