Dear All,

There’s few important messages from us - State Small Theatre of Vilnius to the theatre world and to the all members of ETC:

1. Just not long ago we heard and learned about the political situation and violation of freedoms in Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and, sad to say, today we’re almost there in Lithuania. The tension is rising and the protests in all the cultural fields in Lithuania continue for more than a month. It is not only theaters - museums, choirs, NGOs, students, operas, cinema industry, even farmers, students and medics joined in. All of this began from the Government’s decision to trade the Ministry of Culture as a pawn in their negotiations with the “Nemuno Aušra” (“The dawn of Nemunas”) political party at the end of this September. This party, known for its populist, antisemitic, and pro-Russian rhetoric, paid little to no attention to culture in their political program. Moreover, it has shown to have neither the required competencies to govern this extremely important part of the country’s life, nor a commitment to protect culture and its autonomy. We are fighting and we will fight for our democracy and freedom of speech, for freedom of expression, without the populists in the governing positions. The protest in Lithuania continues till now and we don’t know when and how this will end. European democracies are facing significant challenges, and it is vitally important for us to know - we must protect and defend democracies by all available means. Unfortunately, today, the essential principles cherished by Europeans, fundamental freedoms and rights, are no longer self-evident givens. To preserve them, we must make an effort, act together, and support each other.

Short info about this here: https://kulturosasambleja.lt/i...

2. Every day, Lithuania faces multiple threats from russia and belorussia — from repeated airspace violations by military drones (without explosives) flying over our territory this summer, to russian fighter jets breaching our borders from Kaliningrad, russian shadow fleets operating in the Baltic Sea, carrying russian oil and damaging communication cables, fires in commercial centers (such as the IKEA case) and warehouses, self-igniting postal items, meteorological balloons with boxes full of belorussian-made cigarettes flying over Vilnius airport space and disrupting its activity, ongoing cyberattacks and the constant spread of disinformation. And all of this leads to only one aggressor - russia. It is the largest terrorist state in the world — the greatest threat not only to Lithuania but to the whole of Europe — and its aggression shows no sign of stopping. We have been warning about this loudly for more than 15, 10, and even 5 years ago, and we will continue to speak out everywhere: we must unite and act NOW, because they won’t stop. The Baltic nations know them well, their mentality, their behavior and their strategies. We all were occupied by russia for more than fifty years and forced to live inside the so-called “russian world,” or as they call it - “russkiy mir”. russians lie wherever they can, they’ve been laughing at Europe’s naivety for decades. Their imperial mentality remains primitive and brutal, irreversibly poisoned by endless propaganda and disinformation. Since Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia regained independence, russia has waged wars or committed acts of military aggression in Moldova, Chechnya (twice), Georgia (twice, occupying about 25% of its territory), Ukraine in 2014 (seizing Crimea and parts of Donbas and Luhansk), Syria, and again Ukraine in 2022 — launching a full-scale invasion, the largest war in Europe since World War II, which continues to this day. Our freedom, our sovereignty, and our future as independent nations are what we stand for today — and what we will continue to defend tomorrow. We can only hope that when the so-called “Day X” comes (though we pray it never will), we will all stand united. We must speak from our stages, emphasizing everything we wish to preserve, everything worth defending: freedom, our constitutional and European values, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, human rights and the right to choose our own path. We must celebrate freedom, diversity, and creativity. We have to focus on humanity and humanism — because that is who we are: free Europeans. We have the right to be who we want to be, to protect our national identities, culture and languages and to ensure that not any aggression can erase them. And theaters, by all means, will always remain places of resistance, of critical thought and free expression — against political populism, radicalization, or any form of military aggression. Because Freedom is not just what we defend. Freedom is what we are.