On the initiative of Jack Lang international personalities have decided to support President Clinton. The text of this statement is as follows:

For eight months the democratically elected Presdient of a free nation has been subjected to inquisitional harrassment by a fanatical prosecutor with unlimited power. This prosecutor, in the name of morality and the law, is in fact waging an ideological battle.

Democracy is being endangered in two ways:

1) First, the traditional balance of power is being violated. Setting himself up as an absolute authority, Kenneth Starr has continually overreached his jurisdiction and in the process has seriously crippled the legitimate functions of the President. This behavior is profoundly inconsistent with the wishes of the founders of the American constitution and of those who have created modern constitutional governments.

Democracy is also threatened by the flagrant intrusion upon privacy - a right regarded as sacred in every civilized society. Tyranny begins when any power of any sort interferes with an individuak's private life or personal affairs. A statesman is answerable tp public opinion or to the law only for his public acts. All else is solely a matter of his conscience.

2) The judical drama being staged-managed by Kenneth Starr is in fact only an illusion. His real agenda is a political one. With the support of the FAR RIGHT he is seeking to undermine the IDEAS OF FREEDOM and President Clinton's liberal agenda.

The men and women who have signed this text reach out in friendship to the American people, the great majority of whom are faithful to the respect of personal private life, and to the concepts of tolerance and democracy. The arbitary and unjust procedures of Kenneth Starr must not be allowed to prevail. A victory in America over this prosecutor will signal a victory forthose who, throughout the world, are dedicated to the principles of freedom.

 

The initiators of this appeal:

Jack Lang, William Styron, Carlos Fuentes,
Bernard-Henri Levy, Gunter Grass,
los Prix Nobel Desmond Tutu, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jose Ramos Horta, Pierre-Gilles de Genncs, Gerard Depardieu, Vanessa Redgrave, Emma Thompson, Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Hopkins, Pierre Boulez, Peter Gabriel, Jessye Norman.

First Signatures of this Appeal:

Robert Altman, Bille August, Lauren Bacall, Roberto Benigni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Johr. Boorman, Nicoletta Braschi, Alan Bridges, Jane Campion, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Costa Gavras, Sofia Loren, Sam Neil, David Putnam, Charlotte Rampling, Corin REdgrave, Volker Schlondoroff, Katarina Thalbach, Liv Ullmann, Wim Wenders, Maurice Bejart, Carolyn Carison, Paul Auster, Israel Kadare, Yacher Kemal, Julia Kristeva, Alvaro, Mutis, Antonio Tabucchi, Zoe Valdes, Kenneth White,Jacques Derride, Jean-Claude Eloy, Vivanne Forrester, ANdre Glicksmann, Jacques Le Goff, Edgar Morin, Arthur Schlesinger, Daniel, Buren, Arman, Christo et Jeanne Claude, Richard Rogers, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Phillipe Starck, Art Garfunkel, Juliette Greco, Jean-Michel Jarre, Yehudi Menuhin, Julia Migenes Johnson.