Walesa: ‘It’s not enough to defeat Russia militarily’
Former president of Poland visits Hartford to promote relief campaign
Bringing his Ukraine relief campaign to Hartford, former Polish President Lech Walesa on Tuesday called on a crowd at Infinity Hall in Hartford to help the millions of refugees flooding into Poland.
At the same time, Walesa said the world’s nations now face an opportunity to curb Russia’s long tradition of political corruption and imperialism.
“At this point, it is not enough for Ukraine to defeat Russia militarily. Unless we really put the right order in Russia, Russia will rise again within five to 10 years and will constitute a threat to the rest of the world again,” Walesa said.
Speaking to more than 200 people at a gathering sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut, Walesa also said it is urgent that citizens around the globe defend democracies from a wave of power-hungry demagogues.
“Participate in elections, because in Poland we underestimated this right to
vote and we allowed populists and demagogues to get the power. Looking at the example of Poland, the brave Polish people cannot really get rid of those demagogues and populists right now,” he said.
Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is touring the United States this spring to champion the cause of Ukrainian refugees who have flooded into Poland because of the Russian attacks on their homeland. It’s currently estimated that up to 3.2 million displaced Ukrainians are in Poland, with more than another million in Hungary, Moldova, Romania and elsewhere.
The Red Cross, Americares, Project Hope, Caritas and dozens of other organizations are running humanitarian aid operations in some of those countries, and Walesa’s Lech Walesa Institute is channeling money to help. The World Affairs Council announced that all proceeds from Tuesday evening’s speech and invitation-only reception would go into that fund.
On stage at the Infinity, the 78-year-old founder of Poland’s once-powerful Solidarity movement said helping Ukraine and its people is a pressing task. But he also believes free nations — particularly the United States and Germany — must lead the world in changing the course of Russia.
Most of the globe is ready for a period of safety, security and peaceful resolution to conflicts, he told Megan Clark Torrey, chief executive officer of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and the evening’s moderator.
“Throughout all our history we have had troubles with Russia, and today Russia constitutes trouble again,” he said. “The political system that rules there is terrible. A single individual — Lenin, Stalin before, Brezhnev and now Putin — can cause this terrible threat to the world,” he said.
“This time Putin has made a mistake. Somehow he has inspired the whole world to unite and oppose Russia. It’s a great opportunity for the world to give the final blow to Russia. The United Nations and the world must force Russia to introduce changes to its political system,” he said, calling for term limits, an independent judiciary, a constitutionally guaranteed free press and other elements of Western democracies.
“Two tasks still remain: The first to deal with Russia, who represents the remnant of the old world. The second, to help China to adjust to the track along which we have been moving,” Walesa said through his interpreter, Magdalena Iwinska.
“These are tasks that Poland alone cannot address. I believe in Europe it should be Germany who should be leading, and in the world it should be the United States,” he said. “Here is my appeal to you, United States: Take advantage of the opportunity that has been given to us.”