Living Under Political Tyranny

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | 7:00 pm PST

Meet Real Dissidents. Hear Real Stories. Learn Real Lessons. RECOGNIZE REAL WARNINGS.

Will we recognize the signs of encroaching—possibly irreversible— tyranny? The Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley was proud to co-host with Human Events a live, 5-person Dissidents Panel at our March 2022 meeting in Santa Clara. Five courageous people, who escaped tyranny from countries all over the world gave us a real-time warning about the existential dangers of totalitarianism and what life looks like when people are no longer free.

Events around the globe are pointing to chilling scenarios that make worldwide tyranny no longer an abstraction. From Brussels to Vienna, London to Sidney, people are rising up against heretofore unimaginable encroachments on health autonomy, journalism and media, and political sovereignty.

Will we recognize the signs of approaching tyranny? Are we prepared to fight back and do what it takes to remain free?

Read more in this Human Events column.

ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:

MODERATOR: Brent Hamachek, Managing Editor, Human Events & former LFSV speaker. “We’ve nearly lost what we call ‘the greatest generation,’ those who fought in World War II. There’s another great generation, and they are those who fought against totalitarianism in the latter part of the 20th century. Their stories need to be heard, and their warnings for us as Americans must be heeded.”

CZECHOSLOVAKIA—Peter Palecek: Peter was two years old when his mother was taken to a concentration camp by the Gestapo. Later, under the Communists, Peter’s father was arrested, tortured daily for three years, then sentenced to thirteen years hard labor. Yet, during his 21 years in Czechoslovakia, Peter courageously spoke out against communism. He was condemned to labor in a heavy-duty transformer assembly under constant Communist surveillance and harassment.

CUBA—Frank de Varona: Professor de Varona is an educator, historian, journalist, and internationally known expert on Hispanic contributions to America, politics, economics, foreign affairs, and national security issues. In 1961 at the age of 17, he participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion to eradicate communism in Cuba. He was tortured for two years in prison before returning to the US, where he earned a BA in political science and economics, a Masters in social studies, and other specialty designations. Professor de Varona has written 28 books and over 500 articles for newspapers, magazines, and websites. 

EAST GERMANY—Peter Wolf: Peter was forced to learn Russian and accept Communist ideologies as a youth in East Germany. He and his mother were labeled traitors of the State, but they managed a daring escape from East Germany on Christmas Eve 1959. They briefly settled in West Germany before taking a 10-day ocean voyage to immigrate to America. Paul W. Cooper, a renowned author and screenwriter, wrote a book about Peter’s life, Because I Can.

SOVIET UNION—Tatiana Menaker: Tatiana received a MA in Marxist-Leninist Philosophy (the only philosophy allowed) from Leningrad University. After graduation, Tatiana wrote for “The Women of Russia," the first underground Christian feminist magazine in the Soviet Union. The state arrested her and all the other writers. Officially labeled a traitor for wishing to emigrate, eventually she and her husband were able to escape to New York. Tatiana studied at San Francisco State University where she wrote her first article on Marxist zealotry.

VIETNAM—Sutton Van Vo: Sutton was born in South Vietnam in 1937. He graduated from the US Army Engineers School in Fort Belvoir, VA and rose to the rank of Major in the South Vietnamese Army. After South Vietnam's fall, the Communist government imprisoned Sutton for 13 years in five different north and south Vietnamese Communist prisons.