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National NewsConservative News
Captive Nations Week
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: July 16, 2006
More than likely, the vast majority of Americans have no idea that the third week in July is Captive Nations Week. Beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who signed the first proclamation in 1959, this week was set aside to draw attention to those countries that are under the oppression of communist and dictatorial regimes. During this week, Americans have traditionally been asked to strengthen their resolve to support the spread of liberty to people living in countries governed by oppressive regimes.
The idea of setting aside a week every year began with a congressional resolution that was written by Lev E. Dobriansky, a former U.S. ambassador and professor of economics at Georgetown University. Dobriansky conceived this observance during the Cold War, as the tentacles of communism spread through Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
At the height of the Cold War over a billion people lived in countries that denied them basic freedoms that most Americans take for granted. Yet in 1967, Dobriansky predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union in an article entitled “The Vulnerable Russians.” In this work, he proclaimed that the desire for self-determination that is written on the hearts and minds of all of humanity was stronger than the will of any totalitarian régime. At the time Dobriansky wrote that, many in America and Western Europe thought that the Soviet Union was invincible and the march of communism unstoppable. But Dobriansky believed that communism or any other oppressive ideology that denied people basic human rights was bound to fail.
Three decades later Dobriansky’s beliefs were validated by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the dismantling of the Soviet empire.
Unfortunately, the end of the Soviet Union did not free all nations from captivity. Today there are still anti-democratic countries scattered across the globe with millions of people who suffer under oppressive governments.
In a news conference earlier this month in Chicago, President George W. Bush stated; “There’s a debate here in the United States that says, well, maybe it’s too much for the United States to insist that others live in a free world. I view that as cultural elitism for people to say that. It’s like saying we are OK to be free, but you’re not. I believe freedom is universal. And I believe etched in the soul of every person on the face of the earth is the desire to be free. And I know that freedom has got the capacity to change regions of the world for the better.”
Despite major differences in culture and ideology, nations have changed and prospered. President Bush highlighted that fact and pointed out that nations such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan in the Far East have embraced democratic principles and are now thriving.
The nations in the Far East that have created effective democracies have done so by guaranteeing human rights and the rule of law. They have also embraced free markets and free trade in order to secure prosperity. President Bush’s National Security Advisor Steve Hadley related in April of this year that “the future of Asia will depend in large measure how the rest of Asia progresses toward political and economic freedom. The challenge for the United States is to pursue a policy that encourages this progress.”
Hadley stated that the good news is that “Fifty years ago, there were only a handful of democracies in Asia. Today, 1.7 billion people in Asia choose their own leaders, and Asia boasts two of the world’s largest democracies in India and Indonesia. Fifty years ago, most of Asia was mired in hopeless poverty. Today, over a third of global GDP is contributed by Asian countries and three out of the four of the world’s largest economies are in Asia.” The spread of democracy and free enterprise has helped to loosen the chains of oppression.
These nations are significant examples to Middle Eastern countries and other nations that culture and religion need not be an obstacle to democracy and the free market. Prosperity is the fruit of freedom and that is good for any nation anywhere in the world. Captive Nations Week serves as a reminder that there are still millions of people that are denied the freedom so many of us take for granted. Hopefully, this reminder will also make us more appreciative of our own blessings of liberty.
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