Lietuvių jaunimo politinė veikla Niujorke 1963–1968 m. Lietuvių Jaunimo Antikolonialinė Lyga (LJAL ), Žygis į Jungtines Tautas ir Baltiečių Kreipimasis į Jungtines Tautas (BATUN )

Abstract

In the late 1950s many U.S. college-educated Lithuanians from the post-World-War-II emigration looked suspiciously at some of the official organizations representing Lithuanians in America and elsewhere, such as the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania and the Lithuanian-American Council. The demise of colonialism in the world led Lithuanian youth to become more active in drawing public attention to the occupation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union and thereby seeking to induce the latter to grant them independence. For this purpose a federation of Lithuanian youth organizations was established in 1963; it called itself the Young Lithuanian Anticolonial League (LJAL in Lithuanian) and entered into contact with some African and Asian liberation organizations. One of its largest and best-organized actions was the November 13, 1965 march through New York to United Nations headquarters and the attendant visits to many of the national delegations. In order to achieve better coordination a joint new Baltic youth organization was founded— the Baltic Appeal to the United Nations (BATUN ). Many of the people active in it began to work in the Baltic U.N. embassies once Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained independence. So even though neither LJAL nor BATUN had a direct influence on the liberation of the Baltic States, they did help make world public opinion towards them more favorable.