Tomio Okamura is the leader of the SPD (Svoboda a přímá demokracie, Freedom and Direct Democracy) political party in Czechia. He is a multicultural Czech: his mother was Moravian and his father Japanese.
In the following video, Mr. Okamura gives a lucid summary of the right to national self-determination — where it applies, and where it doesn’t.
Many thanks to Xanthippa for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | Esteemed ladies, esteemed gentlemen. Thank you for the honour | |
| 00:04 | to say a few opening words at this international conference | |
| 00:08 | entitled ‘Comparative Analysis on the Breach of International Law | |
| 00:12 | in the Case of Kosovo and Ukraine’. And thanks to organizers, | |
| 00:16 | headed by the SPD MP Jaroslav Foldyna. | |
| 00:20 | Welcome to all the guests, including foreign ones. | |
| 00:24 | From my point of view, the topic of Kosovo and Ukraine | |
| 00:28 | is very simple. At the least, since the end of the First World War | |
| 00:32 | the world has been in agreement on the right of every nation to self-determination. | |
| 00:36 | Superpowers, international organizations, | |
| 00:40 | and international courts had always been mindful | |
| 00:44 | of the right of nations to self-determination within their historical borders. | |
| 00:48 | So, the right of self-determination belongs to the Catalans in Catalonia, | |
| 00:52 | but perhaps it is clear to us that it does not belong to, say, | |
| 00:56 | the Czech minority in Chicago, just as it did not belong to the Germans | |
| 01:00 | in the so-called ‘Sudetenland’. Of course, there is no ‘Sudetenland’ here, | |
| 01:04 | but quite rightly, for almost fifteen centuries, [these have been] the lands of the Czech Crown. | |
| 01:08 | In the same way, the Albanians have the right of sovereignty | |
| 01:12 | in Albania. But of the land of Serbian Kosovo, | |
| 01:16 | not even an inch belongs to them. It has been, again, for long centuries | |
| 01:20 | the historical land of the Serbs. The right of self-determination belongs to Kurds | |
| 01:25 | in the territory traditionally inhabited by the Kurds, | |
| 01:28 | which had once been called Kurdistan. | |
| 01:32 | This right belongs to Russians in regions which they historically inhabit. In the frame of Ukraine, | |
| 01:36 | to Scots in Scotland, and on the basis of this right | |
| 01:40 | were once formed, for example, the United States of America. | |
| 01:44 | This is how Czechoslovakia once came to be. On the basis of this law | |
| 01:48 | our brother state Slovakia was also created. And it had never occurred to anyone in Prague | |
| 01:52 | to bomb Slovakia because of this, as was done | |
| 01:56 | by the post-Maidan government to Donbas. | |
| 02:00 | This right to self-determination is a fundamental human right which cannot be limited | |
| 02:04 | by any treaty nor law. | |
| 02:08 | This is stated in both the UN Charter and in the decisions of international courts. | |
| 02:12 | If anyone sends airplanes and bombs the Serbs | |
| 02:16 | because they were defending their sovereignty within their own historical | |
| 02:20 | territory, he is a criminal — just as someone who would | |
| 02:24 | bomb Russians in lands historically inhabited by them | |
| 02:28 | or opens fire at demonstrators in Catalonia, or murders Kurds | |
| 02:32 | in Kurdistan. Despite this principle being very clear | |
| 02:36 | and unmistakable, we see | |
| 02:40 | that times have changed. The European Union | |
| 02:44 | is explicitly built on suppressing the right to self-determination, | |
| 02:48 | and not only does it not protect oppressed nations which are asking for independence, | |
| 02:52 | but conversely, Brussels [?] method and it systematically eliminates | |
| 02:56 | this right within their [nation states’] territories. | |
| 03:00 | Accolades to Great Britain, | |
| 03:04 | which was the only one once in the European Union to permit the Scots | |
| 03:08 | an independence referendum. This is how a democracy behaves. | |
| 03:12 | If someone murders citizens for longing | |
| 03:16 | to live in their own country, in their own way, that person is a criminal | |
| 03:20 | with all this implies. | |
| 03:24 | I wish for all of you that we may achieve to not just defend our own sovereignty, | |
| 03:28 | but that we shall have the strength and courage to also defend | |
| 03:32 | other oppressed nations in Europe and the rest of the world. | |
| 03:36 | Thank you for your attention, and I wish you a pleasant time at the conference and in Prague. |