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Lech Walesa
Former President of Poland; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
There are so many topics that I would like to tackle and present to you that I find it difficult to choose one with which to start. And, as you may have noticed, my life has been really an ample and rich one, and I could be talking a lot about the past. However, I don't think you care so much for the past, and I actually prefer, like yourself I suppose, to talk about today and tomorrow. Therefore, I will talk only very, very briefly about the past, focusing more on tomorrow.
I am a pragmatic politician, and I always take a practical approach to different problems, both small and large ones - political ones, too. For over 20 years, I was a worker, an electrician. For ten years, I was the president of the biggest labor union, and for five years, the president of a 40-million people state. Whatever I did, I always wanted to excel, to solve problems and to be of service to the others.
My way was challenging, but I can recall some beautiful things happening along that path, too. You have heard of my awards - for example, the Nobel Peace Prize, the Medal of Freedom of the United States, among others, honorary professor titles, over 100 honorary doctorates - I receive so many medals and awards. I wonder whether any one of you can recall what Leonid Brezhnev looked like: He had a jacket full of different medals, and I believe I have 20 times as many as he did. If I wanted to wear them all at once you would need a crane to lift me up from my chair. That's why I actually don't wear any, because otherwise I would be disrespectful to the other medals that I chose not to wear.
I often wonder why I was getting all those awards and medals. There are many, many other people who would deserve awards and medals. Why was it me getting them, me living in Poland, located who knows where? Well, I have come with an answer. Until the end of the 20th century, there were some very special places around the globe, and I happened to be living in such a special spot: Gdansk, that actually was the start of the Second World War, and Poland in general. All such history was happening to us only because we were located between two powerful neighbors: the Germans and the Russians, two great, powerful nations. But they are also very sociable peoples and they enjoy visiting one another - and, of course, the shortest way is across Poland. And, once they do enter Poland, they look around and say, Oh well, that is a beautiful country, and they decide to stay on for longer. On one occasion, they stayed on for more than 120 years and Poland was erased from the maps of the world. The last visitors we had were the Soviets, who settled well into Poland after the Second World War, for over 50 years.
I have been bringing up this subject of special locations around the globe to make you realize that people who happen to be living there have developed an ability to sense things better than the others. From such locations, you could get a better insight of what was going to happen in the world, both positive and negative. I suppose you wouldn't be able to get such a perspective from San Francisco, from the United States. Because here you have a totally different perspective, you live on the level of a superpower, of a huge country as well. Some citizens can still remember, and the younger members here can verify it in history books: The Poles tried to warn the world before the outbreak of the Second World War. And what did the world reply to our warning? You can find it in history books. It's merely a local conflict; we are not going to die for Gdansk. It was only once the war reached London and Paris that the world did remember the Polish warning - but it was too late.
Again, by the end of the Second World War, in 1944-1945, the Poles were trying to warn the world: Beware! Stalin is going to install the communist system in almost half of the world. The Western governments broke off diplomatic relations with our legal Polish government-in-exile and re-established relations with the Stalin-imposed Polish government. It took us almost 50 years to get rid of that imposed system. However, this is now, fortunately, all in the past. Yet what are the insights that we get from our perspective today?
I hope for once you are going to listen to those insights, perhaps for once at least. This is what we are saying today: This generation is living at the threshold of a new century, of a new millennium - but also, what matters more, at the threshold of a new era. Until the end of the 20th century, it was the era of land and territory, of division, of blocs and political systems. Human needs were really very basic. It was enough for humans to have enough food, have some shelter to sleep under, and to have clothing; that was enough. This is all in the era of land and territory, of divisions, of wars for riches in soil and for land. Hence, two opposing blocs were created, two opposing antagonistic superpowers. We worked out a structural framework that fitted that era - with the United Nations, NATO and other appropriate programs.
The downfall of communism and the progress of civilization takes us over into a new era. It is the era of technology, information, the Internet and globalization. Our needs are no longer restricted to land and territory; our needs are now focused on the products of human intellect - computers, etc. - and with the products of the human mind, we can purchase anything that is in the soil; we no longer need to wage wars for territory. This is an enormous opportunity that this generation is faced with, because, simply speaking, war is no longer profitable to anyone. With any products of human intellect, one can purchase anything.
The real tragedy of our times is that we have entered this new era with old-fashioned solutions, with the old structural framework, with old programs. Many aspects of our lives do not fit this new era, both the economic system and even the principles of democracy. We must correct those principles because we no longer have in existence separate countries, separate blocs and separate borders. Until recently, the world would look up at the United States as the model of democracy. However, this was slightly undermined during the last presidential election, when you almost ended up electing two presidents for one term of office. Well, at one point we were thinking, The United States is a big country, so perhaps it could do with two presidents: one coming in office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other one on alternative days - but it wouldn't be the best of models for the rest of the world to follow. However, I believe this is a challenge you can deal with.
There is a challenge elsewhere. I believe that in this new era we will continue carrying out votes on the principle that one individual has one vote, which means whichever entity has more individuals wins. Very shortly China will join different structures and organizations. Can you imagine any entity winning a referendum against China or any vote against China? The whole of Europe would finish absolutely last in such a vote. So we have an alternative: to either improve democracy, or we all get to work really hard and each family ends up with at least 30 children.
Democracy and Responsibility
We are confronting right now - we as a generation - big questions. For example: What kind of an economic system should we adopt in this world in which there are no borders and no divisions? I am confident that an economy in which 10 percent of the population possesses all the material riches, with 90 percent not possessing anything, will certainly not withstand the 21st century. The other question: What political system should we adopt in this new world? We have seen, anti-globalists are ready to destroy any city. As for democracy, I am sure the basic principles of it will be retained, but I am convinced that for it to be able to survive we also need to add, apart from rights of democracy, also responsibilities applying to the different levels of our lives. So far, we have enjoyed only the rights, and such democracy functioned well, restricted by borders.
As I said, these questions are really big, and there is one more question addressed to you. You have remained as the only superpower in the world, so the question is: What should be the position of the superpower in this new world? The current position of the United States is inconvenient for the country itself and for the rest of the world, too. The United States is a military leader to the world, an economic leader to the world, but certainly it is not the political leader to the world - whereas, actually, this last leadership is the most important one. The United States cannot be solving all the problems for the rest of the world. The United States should be politically organizing the rest of the world to solve their problems.
Thank you very much for your attention so far; as I have noticed, no one has fallen asleep, no one has left as yet - which pleases me greatly. Well, I could go on monologuing for the time that I was given, that is the whole hour, but with each monologue I would be picking the topics. However, if you opt for that, I can do it. That would be under one condition only, though: If you are up for the monologue, no one will be let out, because I hate speaking to empty seats. And the second condition being that whoever snores, make sure that they sit at the back so that they don't disturb the others.
I am at your disposal, ready to answer questions if you have any. Just one more request: Be assured there are never wrong questions. No one ever can offend me for problems being brought up, and, actually, the more challenging the problem the better, because then we can solve the problem together among all of us. Our common wisdom is really a great wisdom. I would also like to acquire a lot of your wisdom, too. I would like to understand what the position of the superpower should be. While I actually begin to have my doubts whether you really want to continue being the superpower. If you are unwilling to continue with this position, share it with Poland, we will know what to do with it.
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