20th anniversary of free election

I don`t know if you heared about the movie about falling of communism in Europe made by some "artists" from the EU comission: Berling wall is falling - view from the left, from the right, view from the top, from the bottom, from the bottom left, from the bottom right and so on. Later they modified it a bit but it`s still not great. And not because of very few scenes about Poland, it`s just.. weak.

However now there is a new clip made because of the anniversary, for sure I like it more than the prevorious ones.



The text at the end: Marta Wloka was born on 4th of June 1989, at 10.00 PM. Twenty years ago, exactly at this time polling stations were beeing closed and counting of votes begun.

John,

I saw the clip. It is really nice and it shows lots of our history. I did not know that U2 song "New Year's Day" was inspired by Polish Solidaity movement!
Here it is more about it:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year's_Day_(song)

BBC NEWS
Poles remember historic 1989 vote

Poland is marking the 20th anniversary of the elections that led to the formation of the first non-communist government in the former Soviet bloc.

Ceremonies began with a service at Krakow cathedral attended by PM Donald Tusk and the former leader of the Solidarity union movement, Lech Walesa.



In 1989, Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in the first, partially-free elections in communist Eastern Europe.

The vote paved the way for the gradual end of communist rule in the region.

In December the following year, Mr Walesa was swept to power Poland's first democratically elected president.

'It started in Poland'

European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and the former Czech President, Vaclav Havel, attended the ceremony at Krakow Cathedral on Thursday marking the election that heralded the collapse of communism.

“ The Polish model served as an example for next countries and in this way it might have speeded up peaceful transition to a better system based on democracy ”
Leszek Balcerowicz, Minister in first Solidarity government

The BBC's Adam Easton in Krakow says Poland is a deeply religious country, and the Polish Catholic Church and Pope, John Paul II, played an important role supporting the Solidarity movement in its struggle for democracy.

With hindsight it seems obvious, but at the time Solidarity's victory surprised almost everyone, our correspondent says.

Just six weeks before polling day the organisation was still banned.

It had survived underground despite the communist authorities' attempts to crush it by imposing martial law in 1981.

By 1989, the Polish economy was facing collapse and the former Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev had signalled it would no longer intervene in Eastern Europe.

The Communist Party began talks with Solidarity and agreed to hold elections as a calculated concession to allow it a limited platform. They thought the opposition was too weak to organise, let alone win them, our correspondent says.

Solidarity's victory - the movement won 99 out of 100 seats in the newly created Senate and every seat available to it in the lower house, the Sejm - caught many by surprise and communism collapsed in Poland without bloodshed, he adds.

Leszek Balcerowicz, a minister in the first Solidarity government, told the BBC that it was an example for the rest of the region.

"The Polish model served as an example for next countries and in this way it might have speeded up the peaceful transition from a bad system to a better system based on democracy, market economy and civil society," he said.

One banner outside Krakow's cathedral on Thursday read: "1989, it all started in Poland".
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8083339.stm

Published: 2009/06/04 14:29:45 GMT

I also want to say thank you to Lech Walesa and the other heros.



And - czesc to the users! My name is Kuba and I am Polish and a liitle (1/2 :--) French. I found this forum while searching for some Polish culture items. I like the different stiles of language here and I hope to learn more English thanks to you.

Thank you Pauleriksen!