Roads to Freedom center in Gdansk
Our original schedule, including a meeting with the head of the Solidarity Foundation, Jerzy Borowczak was changed at the last moment as a result of President Obama's visit to Poland. In Warsaw, on Saturday, the President met with the leaders of Solidarity and honored the past work of the movement in bringing democracy but urged them and other Poles to take up the cause of further democratization in Eastern Europe, especially Belarus and Ukraine.
Public Affairs Class at Roads to Freedom Exhibit
The President said: "The kind of repressive actions we're seeing in Belarus can end up having a negative impact over the region as a whole and that makes us less safe and less secure." The President specifically praised Solidarity, and how it inspired the American people in the 1980s, "I remember at that time understanding that history was being made because ordinary people were standing up and doing extraordinary things with great courage and against great odds. Your actions charted a course for freedom that inspired many on this continent and beyond." Relating the Polish experience to current reform in the Middle East, Mr. Obama added, "Part of being a serious actor is adding value internationally, and the Poles rightly feel that they can add value on democracy promotion and democratic transition, given their own success since 1989."
Our group felt honored to be in the midst of such important events and gladly accepted a change in our schedule. However, we were more than rewarded for our wait. On Monday morning we had the opportunity for a small informal meeting with Mr. Borowczak, who not only directs the Solidarity Foundation but is a member of parliament (the Sejm). Mr. Borowczak, was one of the three original organizers of Solidarity. At age 22, which he pointed out is nearly the same age as our students, he and the others organized the confrontation with the Communist authorities. At the start of the strike, the previously fired worker, Lech Walesa, climbed over the shipyard wall and joined in the leadership of Solidarity. Within a few weeks they forced the government to recognize their union and began an effort at social change in Poland. After a little over a year, pressure from other Communist countries in Eastern Europe led to Mr. Borowczak's arrest and martial law.
Of course, the story ended positively. Mr. Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize, Communism eventually collapsed in Poland and Solidarity's candidates won the first free elections after World War II and ushered in the collapse of dictatorships in Eastern Europe. Walesa went on to become President of Poland and Borowczak won a seat in Parliament.
However, Solidarity has not rested on its laurels. It runs a series of programs, not only in Poland, on democratization and free trade unionism. Additionally, it supports popular democratization education, including the well respected Roads to Freedom Exhibit in Gdansk, which we visited. In 2013, that exhibit is moving into new, larger, and more high-tech quarters. Already, guidebooks give it top billing as a site to visit in Europe.
statue to slain Solidarity workers.
The good news for our human rights program at Alma is that Mr. Borowczak committed to co-sponsoring our December conference in Washington, pledging to send several professors from Poland, and one or more current leaders of Solidarity and perhaps democratization leaders from neighboring countries.
Now our work begins to make the conference a stellar success.
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