Zelensky in address to Athens Democracy Forum: Greater unity we have, more tangible Russia's defeat is
Unity is the main force of democracy, and the greater unity we have, the more tangible the defeat of Russia, which unleashed a war against Ukraine, becomes, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a video address to the Athens Democracy Forum.
In his speech, the head of state noted that humanity would be able to protect democracy and guarantee its future.
"We will, because we know what gives democracy strength – this is unity. Unity makes democracy alive. When societies are completely atomized, when there are no stable ties between peoples, when someone may not come to the aid of another in a democratic community, democracy gets weaker, lags behind, falls apart," Zelensky said.
According to him, we have seen that people can become disillusioned with democracy if they feel unequal and humiliated, if people lose emotional connection with their representatives in power, moreover, there have been examples in history when individual democracies did not respond in the face of threats to other democracies, or when a tyrannical minority conquered the majority because it was not united. In such cases, he noted, tyrannies often began to destroy their own society, just to save power.
"This is exactly what happened in Russia over the past 30 years. So unity is the universal answer... All democracies should act in a united fashion, be a real community, and help each other when necessary. This is not only a matter of relations between the leaders of the states. This is not a question of who is or is not historically related to whom. This is a question of struggle for a democratic system. When we are truly together, no one will be an insurmountable threat to us," he said.
"We see this [threat] now in the war that Russia has waged against our people and against our common democratic system. The greater unity we have, the more tangible Russian defeats are," Zelensky added.
Therefore, according to the head of state, it is important that there are no isolated groups in the world communities, whether they are power groups, separate privileged groups or unintegrated minorities, since democracy lives between people.
Also, Zelensky noted that after the full-scale invasion of Russia, Ukraine managed to achieve the greatest unity of Europe and the democratic community of the whole world in decades.
"But the greatest does not mean the maximum. We have a lot to do to further strengthen our unity. And every such step to strengthen is a step to protect democracy. Not just somewhere, not just in some country, but in general – for all of us and for our children," he concluded.
