Creation of a Forum for Dialog and Cooperation with Lithuania underway

100 polish intellectuals signed a declaration of which aim it is to create a Forum for Dialog and Cooperation with Lithuania. The people in charge of this initiative are the director of the Polish History Museum Robert Kostro, and Adam Pomorski, the president of the Polish PEN Club.

As the declarations states, “the relations between Lithuania and Poland cannot be limited to just official and formal forms of contact. In mutual understanding, we have to build a community of democratic culture, collaboration and good citizens.”

The intellectuals refer back to the views presented by Jerzy Giedroy and Czesław Miłosz, who claimed that Poland should maintain positive relations with Lithuania. As the forum creators state, “even in the tough times we could find some good people amongst us. Now we need to refer back to them, to their concepts that did not accept any other forms of relations between our countries than good vicinity, mutual trust and collaboration that could guarantee security for the whole region. It is to their ideology that we have to refer now, that of Stanisław Stomma and Czesław Miłosz.”

The initiators point out that the relations between Vilnius and Warsaw can only be considered as exemplary it they are comprehensive. A part of the declaration reads: “we need action to be taken on the lower level, by the citizens, by NGO’s and churches. We need student exchanges, development of tourism in our countries, we need cooperation in terms of arts, culture, science, education, and we need constant debates on historical and social matters.”

Apart from Robert Kostro and Adam Pomorski, the declaration was signed by another 100 intellectuals from Poland. On the list of them, we can find the world famous film director Agnieszka Holland, a well-known polish poet Julua Hartwig and the also well-known writer from Gdańsk Paweł Huelle.
http://pl.delfi.lt/aktualia/polska/powstaje-forum-dialogu-i-wspolpracy-z-litwa.d?id=58764321#ixzz1voeyDeai

Tłumaczenie  Kamil Szwarc w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by  Kamil Szwarc within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.