To:

The European Commission

The European Parliament

The United States Congress

The United States Department of State

Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Amnesty International

UNESCO

General Secretary of the United Nations

 

The international conference ‘IMPRISONED RATIONALITY AND PHILOSOPHY IN PRISON’ took place at Vilnius University in cooperation with the University of Warsaw on 20-21 September 2024. The conference was held in solidarity with the Belarusian philosopher and political prisoner Uladzimir Matskevich. Conference participants call on the international academic community to sign a petition demanding the release of Uladzimir Matskevich and all political prisoners in Belarus.

 

Petition in Support of Uladzimir Matskevich

 

Belarusian philosopher Uladzimir Matskevich (b. 1956) was arrested and imprisoned on August 4, 2021, on charges of organizing public unrest, insulting the president, and participating in extremist activities. The current regime prosecuted and jailed him, silencing his voice. However, his ideas, books, friends, and colleagues continue to speak for him, proving that free thought cannot be imprisoned.

Matskevich is a prominent representative of rationalist philosophy and an important public intellectual for Belarus. He believes that the rationalization of the world through thought is a central task of philosophy, making it practical and action-oriented. For him, philosophy is not just an academic discipline but a process of critical reflection aimed at societal transformation. He asserted that philosophers and public intellectuals play a vital role in civil society, promoting freedom and responsibility.

Matskevich's life and work, his activity on the development of civil society in Belarus, the creation of a number of known political and social initiatives, the organization of public educational platforms, as well as his writings and public speeches have been an active implementation of his ideas of a free civil society and the responsibility of every citizen.

Following the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, the country has faced unprecedented brutal repression of dissenting voices, opposition figures and civil society. Matskevich was arrested for his active civic stance, with his detention and prison sentence striking a blow to the freedom of thought and expression that he has defended throughout his life. His case is part of broader repressions against intellectuals, activists, and advocates for democracy and human rights in Belarus. He is being held in de-humanizing conditions that are in detriment to his health and wellbeing.

We call upon the global philosophical and academic community to stand in solidarity with Uladzimir Matskevich. His arrest is not only an attack on him personally but also on the freedom of thought, academic community, and the right to express and act upon one's beliefs.

We demand the immediate release of Uladzimir Matskevich and all political prisoners in Belarus!

 

Signatories

Viktoras Bachmetjevas (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas)

Ewa D. Bogusz (University of Illinois-Springfield / University of Warsaw)

Przemysław Bursztyka (University of Warsaw)

Jonas Dagys (Vilnius University)

Simas Čelutka (Vilnius University)

Saulius Geniušas (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Franz Fan-Lun Mang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Gintautas Mažeikis (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas)

Jan Molina (University of Warsaw)

Almira Ousmanova (European Humanities University)

Laurynas Peluritis (Vilnius University)

Marcin Rychter (University of Warsaw)

Tatiana Shchyttsova (European Humanities University, Vilnius)

Paulina Sosnowska (University of Warsaw)

Anton Vydra (Trnava University)

Additional Signatories

James G. Hart (Indiana University Bloomington, USA)

Gary Herstein (Independent Scholar)

Randall Auxier (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA)

Jos de Mul (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Agata Bielik-Robson (Polish Academy of Science/University of Nottingham, UK)

Barbara Barysz (Polish Academy of Science)

Emilia Kaczmarek (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tomasz Puczyłowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jared Kemling (Rend Lake College, USA)

Elżbieta Filipow (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Justyna Grudzińska-Zawadowska (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Magdalena Gawin (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tomasz Tiuryn (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tadeusz Ciecierski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Grzegorz Gaszczyk (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Magdalena Środa (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Marcin Poręba (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jurga Jonutytė (Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Lithuania) 

Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mateusz Binek (University of Rzeszów, Poland)

Paweł Korobczak (University of Wroclaw, Poland)

Michał Kozłowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Karol Samsel (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mantas Antanas Davidavicius (Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Lithuania)

Yevhen Bystrystsky (The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) 

Giedrė Kazlauskaitė (Šiaurės Atėnai, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Edvinas Ambrukaitis 

Rasa Čepaitienė (The Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Justina Pajus

Karel Pajus

Saulius Jankevičius

Vainius Indilas

Samanta Malinauskaitė

Stanislovas Juknevičius

Michael Stemerowicz

Michal Oláh

Michal Lipták

Maria Skerenova

Romana Kolarzowa

Rima Bertašavičiūtė

Rustis Kamuntavicius

Rastislav Kožiak

Eugen Korda

Lucia Oravec Koreňová

Tomas Kavaliauskas (Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Lithuania)

Wojciech Kozyra (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mirosław Pawliszyn (University of Warmia and Mauzry in Olsztyn, Poland)

Adam Lipszyc (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Alex Pavlac

Thomas Tuozzo 

Laura Mueller (West Texas A&M University, USA)

Tess Varner (Concordia College, USA)

Deepa Majumdar (Purdue University Norhwest, USA)

Tomasz Maslanka (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mirosław Pęczak (University of Warsaw, Poland)

James Anderson (Independent Scholar, USA)

Auksė Vitkauskienė        

Dalius Jonkus (Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania)                                 

Andrzej Gniazdowski (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Piotr Zańko (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mikołaj Wiśniewski (SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland)

Michał Herer (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Krzysztof Skonieczny (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Magdalena Bieniak (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Monica Favara (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Andrzej Leder (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Zofia Rosińska-Zielińska (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Agata Bielińska  (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Jean Michel Salanskis (Université Paris X Nanterre, France)

Josef Früchtl (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Mehmet Ali Üzelgün       

Carlos João Correia (University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Justin Harmon (Notre Dame of Maryland University Maryland, USA)

Pavel Barkouski (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Andrew Irvine (Maryville College, USA)

Leonid Kalitenya

Charles Herrman (Independent Scholar, USA)

Justyna Żak-Szwarc

Steven Kuhn

Katarzyna Bielińska (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Larry Hickman (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA)

Jarosław Medyński

Marcin Moskalewicz (Poznan University of Medical Sciences/University of Marie-Curie Sklodowska, Poland/ University of Oxford)

Юлиана Лыткина           

Norm Friesen (Boise State University, Canada)

Lucio Angelo Privitello (Stockton University, New Jersey, USA)

Hans Rainer Sepp (Charles University Prague, Chechia)

Marie-Louise Bech Nosch (University of Copenhagen)

Roy Sommer (University of Wuppertal, Germany)

Josef Moural (J. E. Purkyne University)

Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Jonna Bornemark (Södertörn University)

Mark Antony Jalalum

Cristian Ciocan (University of Bucharest)

Anna Jedynak (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tomaž Zalaznik  (The Institute Nova revija)  

Tomas Sodeika  

Prof. Dr. Anja Kraus (Stockholm University)

Claudia Peter (University of Koblenz)     

Andreas Langenohl (Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen)         

Mira Miladinović Zalaznik (The Institute Nova revija)

Aleš Maver         

Daniil Krasniakou            

Dean Komel (University of Ljubljana)       

Roman Pikulik    

Manca Erzetič    

Nataliia Viatkina (The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine/American University Kyiv, Ukraine/University of Warsaw, Poland)

Stanislaw Krajewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jan Swianiewicz (Batory Foundation, Poland)

Jaroslava Vydrova (Trnava University, Slovakia)   

Alexandra Csoltiova        

Sisanne Bregnbæk          

Rudolf Bernet (University of Leuven, Belgium)

Andy Sin             

Robert Pulvertaft            

Eva Schwarz (Södertörn University)

Małgorzata Szyszkowska (Chopin University of Music, Warsaw, Poland)

Vyacheslav Arkatau

Sebastian Matuszewski  

Lina Saveikyte-Battivelli 

Angela Brintlinger (Ohio State University)

James McLachlan (Western Carolina University, USA)

Gabriele Freitag (the German Association for East European Studies)

Eli Kramer (University of Wrocław, Poland)

Michael Staudigl (University of Vienna, Austria)

Algirdas Fediajevas         

Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback (Södertörn University)  

Behrang Pourhosseini (Universite Paris 8/ Ecole Supérieure de Travail Social, Paris, France)

Magdalena Kuleta-Hulboj (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Krystyna Krauze-Błachowicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Marco Russo (University of Salerno)      

James Pula         

Dmitry Galinousky

Helen Grela (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Tsimafei Padvitski

Pavel Zelenin

Стрелков Дмитрий

Lindqvist Inga    

Dario Capretta

Birger Lindberg Møller (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Gabriele Mekauskaitė    

Hassan Abdelrahman

Maija Kule (University of Latvia, Riga)

Sergii Shevtsov  (Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Ukraine)

Wojciech Wciórka (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Joanna Komorowska-Mach (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mateusz Salwa (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Mauro Javier Saiz (Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina)

Eva Antal (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary)

Natalia Juchniewicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Adrian Ziółkowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

John August (Grand Valley University, USA)

Piotr Schollenberger (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Marek Nowak (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Miglė Maniušytė

Anna Wolińska (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Rafał Wonicki (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Janusz Dobieszewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Andrzej Waskiewicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Katarzyna Naliwajek (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Róisín Lally (Gonzaga University, USA)

Marek Pokropski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

David McNaughton    

Francesca Forlè

Adam Zahavi PILDAL

Katarzyna Paprzycka-Hausman (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Michał Dobrzański (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tereza Hadravova (Charles University in Prague, Czechia)

Agata Kowalewska (Jagiellonian University, Poland)

Robert Piłat (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw, Poland)

Katarzyna Lidia Weichert (Independent Scholar, Poland)

Jakub Mach (Independent Scholar, Poland)

Inga Kapustian

Marcin Trepczyński (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Szilvia Horváth           

Marta Valdmane (University of Latvia, Riga)

Marci Shore (Yale University, USA)

Gediminas Milašius    

Wojciech Starzyński (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Matthew Donnelly (John A. Logan College, USA)

Marta Zaręba (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Ralph Weir (University of Lincoln/University of Oxford, UK)

Ileana Bortun (Institute for Philosophy "Alexandru Dragomir", Romania)

Joanna Golińska-Pilarek (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Ion Copoeru (Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania)

Corey McCall (Cornell University, USA)

David Jones (Kennesaw State University, USA)

Izabella Zaborna

Jonathan Dronsfield

Ion Soteropoulos            

Kostiantyn Raikhert (Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Ukraine)

Łukasz Kamiński 

Morten C. Kielland-Brandt

Fabio Ranzani

Czigányik Zsolt   

Michael Bernhard

Anton Marczyński (Warsaw School of Information Technology, Poland)

Jakub Tercz (Open Seminars on Philosophy and Psychiatry Foundation, Poland)

Tadeusz Bartoś (Aleksander Gieysztor Academy of Humanities, Poland)

Monika Stasiuk  (Independent Scholar, Poland)

Katarzyna Dworakowska  (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Jari Neuvonen   

Jolanta Embrektienė

Katarzyna Kremplewska (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Sławomir Mazurek (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Massimo Dell'Utri           

Michał Barcz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Austėja Pacauskaitė

Maria Gołębiewska (Polish Academy of Sciences)

Gabrielė Žaidytė

Pär Stenbäck      

Andrej Božič (Institute Nova Revija for the Humanities, Slovenia)

Petr Brož

Marta Mikolajczyk

Mikołaj Olejnik  

Ida Towarnicka

Bernhard Waldenfels (University of Bochum, Germany)

Kevin Taylor (University of Memphis, USA)

Julia Sushytska (Occidental College, USA)

Robert Żmigrodzki

Cornelis de Waal (Indiana University, USA)

Martin Kaplicky (Charles University in Prague, Czechia)

Joshua Forstenzer (University of Sheffield, UK)

Ralph Ellis (Clark Atlanta University, USA)

Kenneth Stikkers (Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA)

Tomasz Zarębski (University of Wroclaw, Poland)

Aaron Wendland (King's College London, UK/ University of Toronto, Canada)

Nicolas de Warren (Penn State University, USA)

Ching-yuen Cheung

Sarah Bishop     

Emre San

Alisan Genc

Jakub Čapek (Charles University in Prague, Czechia)

Simone Gubler  Providence (Brown University, USA)

Elise Poll

Aistė Žalevičienė

Graham Harman (Southern California Institute of Architecture, USA)

Simona Navikaitė            

Collin Collin                      

Marta Faustino (Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal)

David Skalický

Eva Wiedemann              

Emanuela Carta (University of Leuven, Belgium)

Bartosz Maćkiewicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Krzysztof Sękowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Aleksander Gemel (University of Lodz, Poland)

Michał Zawidzki  (University of Lodz, Poland)

Mieszko Tałasiewicz (University  of Warsaw, Poland)

Dawid Misztal (University of Lodz, Poland)

Bartosz Działoszyński (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Tomasz Herbich (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Pia Rojahn (University of Tuebingen, Germany)

Ainis Kaikaris

Vakarė Rutkauskaitė

Jokūbas Paukštė

Bartosz Żukowski (University of Łódz, Poland)

Indrė Kasperūnaitė         

Ervinas Trynkinas

Ryszard Kleszcz (University of Łódz, Poland)

Birute Maciene 

Vilma Kalediene

Elvira Simfa (University of Latvia, Riga)

Cezary Cieśliński (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Richard Shusterman (Florida Atlantic University, USA)

Birute Macienė 

Kathleen Regan 

Mikałaj Chaustowicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Aldona Pobojewska (University of Łódz, Poland)

Lina Adomaitienė            

Diane Gruber

Iveta Kolesárová              

Alexey Vasilyev

Witold Rodkiewicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Ognian Kassabov

John Micgiel (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Aleksander Papko

Leszek Zasztowt  (University of Warsaw, Poland)

Marija Shumacher

Kacper Wańczyk

Abdul Majeed    

Magdalena Kamińska

Hamza Muhammad