Poland’s former president Lech Walesa was on characteristically impassioned form at this morning’s IBA conference in Paris. The now octogenarian Nobel Peace Prize laureate sported a shirt embroidered with the Polish word for ‘constitution’, and badges declaring ‘Solidarność’ with Ukraine.
Walesa duly warned the youth of ‘the west’ not to be seduced by communism - but also voiced fears over the rise of populism. This has led to another era of perplexing political shape-changing, he noted: ‘Today the left-wing parties are more right-wing than the right-wing parties - and the other way round,’ he said to general laughter. 'And as for the Christian democrats. Christian? There is not a believer among them!’
Capitalism is still the only game in town, Walesa stressed. But Europe and the world need a ‘new capitalism’ that supplies good jobs and protections that have been lost.
Likening Putin to Stalin, and as a key actor in bringing down the Soviet bloc, Walesa called for a propaganda blitz to help Russians change the political system they labour under now. The west needs to tell Russians, ‘we want to help you, tomorrow Putin will conscript you in the army and the day after you will die. Do you want to keep on dying?’
Walesa remains a draw, 33 years after he became the first democratically elected president of Poland since 1926. The IBA booked one of the smaller auditoria at the Palais de Congres and quite a few lawyers who turned up late missed out.
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