On Thursday, May 5, the Clements Center for National Security will host Lech Wałęsa, former Polish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, for an event: "Russia's War on Ukraine and its Global Impact." Join us at 5:30 p.m. at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center in Amphitheater 204. Doors open at 5 p.m.
The Polish Club at UT, the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, the Center for European Studies, the Department of Government, the Liberal Arts Honors Program, the McCombs School of Business Department of Business, Government & Society, and Texas Global are co-sponsoring this event.
Lech Wałęsa is a Nobel Peace Prize winner (1983) and the first president of Poland (1990–95). He was the co-founder and leader of the Solidarity movement that led to the first democratic elections in Poland in 1989 and the fall of communism in Poland, and helped lead to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. At its height, Solidarity had over 10 million members. Wałęsa was TIME magazine's Person of the Year in 1981 and was included in its 100 most important people of the 20th century. He holds over 40 honorary degrees, including from Harvard, Columbia and the Sorbonne. He is the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Knight Grand Cross of the British Order of the Bath, and the French Grand Cross of Legion of Honour. In 1989, Wałęsa became the first foreign non-head of state to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. He was the first democratically elected leader of Poland since 1926 and the first-ever Polish leader elected by popular vote. He presided over Poland's transition from communism to free-market capitalism and liberal democracy.
For more information about this event, contact Elizabeth Doughtie: elizabeth.doughtie@utexas.edu.