Former Polish President Walesa discusses democracy at FIU

On the same day that popular protests forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down after almost 30 years in power, Lech Walesa, Poland’s first democratically-elected president, discussed the importance of democracy during a lecture at Florida International University.

Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who co-chaired the 1989 Round Table Agreement that led to semi-free parliamentary elections in Poland, presided over the country’s transition from communism to a free market economy.

“We have before us not just a leader, not just a Nobel Prize winner, but we have a true patriot,” FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg said.  “A patriot who was a man for his times and a man for all times.”

The event, on Feb. 11, marked the inauguration of the Ruth K. and Shepard Broad Auditorium in the new School of International and Public Affairs building.

During the lecture, Walesa discussed the importance of the rule of law in Egypt’s governmental transition, the United States’ role and responsibility as a super power and the power of the Internet to keep people informed, among other topics.

In an interview with news.FIU.edu, Walesa said that Cuba is on its road to freedom and he compared Mubarak to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

“He [Chavez] plays with demagogy and populism, and so far it works for him, but only for now,” he said.

According to Walesa, communist countries will not be able to go further without democracy and a free trade market.

“Whatever happened in the previous era, so far does not fit within the new times,” Walesa said.