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According to him, the party appealed to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (ŠMSM) to initiate an investigation to find out whether the school leadership had exceeded its authority and violated the constitutional rights of students to freedom. of expression and the free diffusion of ideas.
According to the president of the Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the news about the prohibition of the project that the students are developing and the threats to expel the students from the school forces them to react to the actions carried out by the gym, because freedom of expression it is fundamental and fundamental.
“Freedom of expression and free dissemination of ideas have no age limit. It also applies to people who are not adults. The constitution protects even the free dissemination of ideas that are unacceptable to anyone or cause controversy,” says G. Paluckas .
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Gintautas Paluckas
He also observes that the threats of expulsion from the school and the demands to modify the video made surprise him especially, since the school has no authority to interfere in the leisure activities of those who study there.
Freedom of expression and the free dissemination of ideas have no age limit.
“The video was not posted on behalf of the school or resources, so these threats were made to stifle ideas that the school administration did not like. Not to discuss, to argue, but to eliminate ”, says the president of the LSDP.
Students say freedom is restricted, gym sees danger
How 15 minutes I wrote earlier, in November last year, a group of students from a non-governmental Jesuit Catholic gymnasium in Kaunas created the left-wing channel “Giljožinios” on the YouTube platform.
According to the authors, it is being created as a counterweight to emerging right-wing neoliberal parties and to support left-wing politics in Lithuania.
With the launch of the first show on US imperialism, which says the US is only exploiting other states, according to the show’s creators, the school administration asked for the material to be removed and, if it disagreed, threatened to kick him out of school.
Students see censorship here because, they say, the gym did not provide official reasons why the program was inappropriate.
According to the show’s creators, an attempt was later made to find a compromise, but it has yet to be reached and production on the show has been halted.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Priestato atidaryme
In turn, the direction of the gym and the teaching community 15 minutes He said students perceive danger in their activities and deny restricting their self-expression.
“When the video on US imperialism came out, we saw it in a larger context. In December 2019, the creators of the disc used Soviet symbols banned by the state in the school space, ”said the representatives of the gym.
According to them, first of all, educational activities were undertaken, discussions were organized about the repressions of the USSR and the damage of radicalism.
“By the use of Soviet symbolism on January 12, 2021. it was turned into a video using an anti-American anarchist symbolism, reminiscent of Soviet propaganda, which reinforced suspicions that radical ideas are developing further and are taking on a worrying anti-state tone.
The use of both Soviet and anarchist symbolism leads us to believe that the release of this video on January 13. It was not a coincidence yesterday that the gym community reacted very seriously to such actions by students that contradicted our values, ”said the Kaunas Jesuit gymnasium board of directors.
The gym community reacted very seriously to such actions by students that were contrary to our values.
Even the dissemination of controversial ideas must be respected
Paluck, in response to the situation, said that a school that represents the values of the Jesuit community must understand the importance of respecting different ideas in a democratic country.
“The Jesuit Order, being controversial, with a long history of religious intolerance, was created to persecute non-believers, persecuting Evangelicals and Orthodox in Lithuania during the Counter-Reformation (especially in the 17th century) and in the 18th century . “Even the dissemination of controversial ideas must be protected and respected in a pluralist democracy,” said the president of the LSDP.
According to him, the issue of imperialism is extremely important and relevant, because Lithuania has experienced the oppression of various empires throughout its history, from the Russian Empire, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The school’s argument that the “anarchist” content somehow justified the threats, which appeared in public, succumbs to the Soviet era.
“The subject of US imperialism should be really familiar to the founders of the gym, members of the Jesuit order. November 16, 1989 In El Salvador, San Salvador, at a Central American university staffed by Jesuit monks, the Salvadoran forces backed by the United States They killed 6 Jesuit members to thwart peace talks organized by Jesuit members with Marxist rebels.
The Atlacatl Battalion, which carried out the massacre, was designed, financed, and trained by the United States to fight the leftist rebels. The massacre has been declared a crime by the State of San Salvador, a crime against humanity by a Spanish court (Five of the six Jesuits were Spanish citizens).
The question then arises: can the Jesuit Order, as an institution, disrespect the memory of its members who were assassinated by the imperial policy of the United States in Central America? ”- G. Paluck mentions historical facts.
Photo by Luke April / 15 minutes / Gintautas Paluckas
Therefore, according to him, the “irrational, reckless, cowardly and irresponsible” reaction of the school leadership to the information indicates rather the inability to defend one’s ideas and positions with arguments.
“The arguments of the school in the public sphere that the ‘anarchist’ content somehow justifies the threats are dedicated to the Soviet era,” he said.
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