NOBEL LAUREATE HERE FOR TALKS

A FORMER Polish head of state arrived on Saturday in Manila for a series of talks on the various aspects of democracy at different institutions.

Former president Lech Walesa of Poland planed in at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 at 3: 22 p. m., on a Qatar Airways flight QR- 646 from Poland via Doha, Qatar.

Walesa, also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate because of his significant contribution and influence in promoting basic freedom, individual liberties and human rights in his country, will be a keynote speaker of the Ninth MediaNation Summit, which will be held in Tagaytay City. He will also be discussing “The Politics of Reform: Protecting the Gains of Democratic Reform from the Enemies of Change” at the Asian Institute of Management’s “Development at Work” Series.

Likewise, he will be giving lectures on the positive contributions of academe, industry and government on globalization, democracy and solidarity at the De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University and the Rotary Club of Manila. Also, the 69-year-old workers’ icon will be receiving an honorary degree from the University of Santo Tomas.

Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 due to his conviction that his country needed to be changed. He organized a series of illegal strikes in 1970 after workers in the Gdansk shipyards protested due to the Polish govern-ment’s decree on raising food prices.

In 1980, another strike rocked the Gdansk shipyards that later inspired similar defiance across the country.

He became a leader of a trade union known as Solidarity, the first non- communist party, that reached 9.5- million members. When martial law was declared in Poland, Walesa and other Solidarity members were arrested. He was imprisoned for 11 months, and in 1982, his trade union was outlawed.