LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 34, No. 3 - Fall 1989 Editor of this issue: Violeta Kelertas ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1989 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

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• Valdas V. Adamkus, Administrator of Region V of the Environmental Protection Agency (ERA), has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Vilnius in a ceremony held April 1989 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The distinguished Doctor Honoris Causa degree was given for Mr. Adamkus' international efforts on behalf of the environment as well as for his contributions to the solutions in Lithuania where environmental problems, according to Mr. Adamkus, are very serious.

Mr. Adamkus has been active in the environmental field for nearly two decades. In the service of the U.S. Government, he participated in numerous committees and advisory bodies at home and abroad. In addition, he has been active in the Lithuanian community in the United States. Lituanus is very pleased to note that Mr. Adamkus is also a past chairman of the Lituanus Foundation.

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SĄJŪDIS CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE

The national assembly of Lithuania's largest grass-roots organization has adopted a declaration calling for a free, democratic and neutral Lithuania existing in a demilitarized zone, reports the New York-based Lithuanian Information Center.

During a meeting at the Kaunas State Music Theater on the eve of February 16, 1989, Lithuanian Independence Day, the 220-member elected national assembly of Sąjūdis approved its most direct affirmation of Lithuania's right to national self-determination.

The text of declaration traces the history of Lithuania's desire for freedom. It states that the Lithuanian declaration of independence on Feb. 16, 1918, "expressed the Lithuanian declaration nation's aspiration to create a democratic state." Recalling the annexation of Lithuania in 1940 by the USSR as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the statement says "the Lithuanian nation never reconciled itself to the loss of its state sovereignty." And in a thinly veiled reference to continued Soviet domination over Lithuania, the Sąjūdis declaration says Lithuania "to this date has opposed manifestations of state colonialism."

The carefully worded statement stops short of calling for immediate political independence for Lithuania, but makes clear that such is the long-term goal: Sąjūdis expresses the nation's determination to regain its rights through peaceful means, to live independent of any kind of dictate . . . Sąjūdis will follow the road to legal, political, economic and cultural independence for Lithuania, to state sovereignty, without confining itself to partial achievements. Sąjūdis's goal . . . (is) to create the conditions for free and democratic national self-determination."

And in a further demonstration of their sentiment for national freedom, the Sąjūdis delegates took a public oath before a crowd of 200,000 people gathered at the rededication ceremony of Lithuania's Freedom Monument in Kaunas. They pledged: "Lithuania should be such as its people desire. Our goal: a free Lithuania! Our destiny: Lithuania! May God and all people of goodwill throughout the world help us."

The Sąjūdis delegates extend an olive branch to the republic's non-Lithuanian inhabitants, some of whom have opposed Lithuanians' campaign for greater national freedom. Their statement promises "cultural autonomy for Lithuania's national minorities in a Lithuanian state." An estimated 20 percent of Lithuania's inhabitants are non-Lithuanian.

The Sąjūdis declaration is notable for the absence of any reference to Lithuania's future affiliation with the Soviet state. When Sąjūdis was founded in June 1988, its explicit goal was economic, political and cultural autonomy for Lithuania within the framework of the USSR.

Lithuanian Information Center

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NEW PERIODICALS IN OCCUPIED LITHUANIA — UNOFFICIAL AND SEMI-OFFICIAL

"SĄJŪDŽIO ŽINIOS" — THE BULLETIN OF THE MOVEMENT FOR RESTRUCTURING

Sąjūdžio Žinios (The Movement's News), the official bulletin of the Lithuanian Movement for Restructuring, (LRM) started publication in June 1988. The four-page bulletin, typewritten and photocopied, comes out 3-4 times a week. Despite its modest appearance and limited space, the bulletin is lively, informative and daring. It publishes independent political commentary, ecological exposes, historical documents, and promptly challenges the lies and distortions about the Movement, etc.

"AUŠRINĖ" — THE ORGAN OF A NEW STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION

Aušrinė (The Morning Star) is the name of a Lithuanian unofficial journal whose first issue, typewritten and eight pages long, appeared on September 1,1988. The journal is the official organ of a newly established students' association, which has pledged to continue the traditions and to pursue the goals of an organization of the same name, founded in Vilnius in 1910.

"ATGIMIMAS" — LRM PERIODICAL

LRM has been given permission to publish a periodical. The 16-page first issue of Atgimimas (Rebirth) was published in 30,000 copies by an official publishing house in Vilnius. The first issue includes critical speeches made at the mass meeting of August 23 in Vilnius, marking the 49th anniversary of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, an interview about economic sovereignty in the USSR, and a call for letters protesting against the construction of a third reactor at the Ignalina nuclear plant in Lithuania.

"SIETYNAS" — A NEW UNOFFICIAL CULTURAL MONTHLY

The first issue of Sietynas (The Pleiades), a new unofficial cultural monthly for young writers, appeared in Lithuania in August 1988. The outline of the magazine was approved by the Lithuanian Komsomol Youth organization last year, who submitted it to their secretary and the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian CP. When these two top officials gave no reply, the publishers decided to go ahead without formal permission.