Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Almost 25 years ago
Zaczelo sie w Gdansku - It began in Gdansk.
This is the official slogan of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the founding of "Solidarity" - arguably, as the official poster suggests, the first domino, whose fall eventually led to democratization of Eastern and Central Europe and the end of the Soviet Union.
And, 25 years later, dominoes still keep falling. Ukraine is the most recent so far, but as the Lord Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz reminds us (link in Polish), "There are three dots at the end of the list, because there are still countries in Europe that are awaiting freedom. The next one is line is Belarus."
The official celebrations will start on 14 August and will continue for two weeks, culminating on the 31st, the 25th anniversary of the signing of the August Accords, which officially gave birth to the first independent trade union in the communist world.
I'll be updating you on the celebrations throughout next month.
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