Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
October 13, 2011 at 3:06pm
He's apparently flying to New York to show his solidarity with Occupy Wall Street.
"How could I not respond," Wałęsa told a Polish newspaper Wednesday. "The thousands of people gathered near Wall Street are worried about the fate of their future, the fate of their country. This is something I understand."
A former shipyard worker who led Poland's successful revolt against Soviet communism, Wałęsa said "capitalism is in crisis" and not just in America.
I'm not sure what to say about that, but I enjoyed this tribute to Lech.
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Apr '11
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Lech, is capitalism in crisis or is Keynesian social democracy in crisis?
Edited on October 13, 2011 at 3:11pmMay '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
How completely awful and depressing!
Doesn't he realize that these are the same useful idiots who protested every form of resistance and opposition to the Soviet Union?
Edited on October 13, 2011 at 3:12pmJul '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Sad.
Sep '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
This has all been done before. It's too bad Lech isn't up on his Argentinian history.
Jun '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
There are people that I've known, that will absorb the zeal and determination of those around them with a cause, and then jump out ahead to lead the parade. The only problem is, they don't discern very well the different types of parade. One's as good as the other to them. They just like political revolution.
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
katievs: How completely awful and depressing!
Doesn't he realize that these are the same useful idiots who protested every form of resistance and opposition to the Soviet Union? · Oct 13 at 6:11am
Edited on Oct 13 at 06:12 am
I've seen enough complete misunderstanding of Turkey in the American press to understand exactly how someone looking at America from abroad could completely misunderstand everything. I get what must be going through his head--trade unions are the good guys, they're the anti-communists. There's quite a bit of historic precedent for that thought in the US, too.
Frankly, I'm not sure I understand these protests any better. I'm seeing them through the same media lens he is, and probably through a view of America that's out-of-date. I have no idea how big or significant they really are or what they really mean.
Apr '11
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Claire, I took note of the fact that he was a former shipyard worker (emphasis mine) which makes him right off the bat fundamentally different from the OWS crowd. As long as we are free to work, demand nothing in return except the right to keep the fruit of our labors the "crisis" can be averted.
His crisis in Poland stemmed not from capitalism but from the central planning and government control which communism and socialism always leave us with. That is the real crisis here in America as was true for him along with the people of Poland, not capitalism.
May '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Well, I think he's in for a surprise--not to say a rude awakening—when he gets there.
Jul '11
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
I think Lech Walesa coming to meet the OWS crowd will be educational for both.
Apr '11
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
After all this great man has done, I think he should get a free pass for this one. I lived in Poland for a few months three years ago, and Claire, I think your thesis is regarding the press coverage is exactly right. I generally found the Polish press to be awful when it came to covering American domestic affairs. Granted, that may have been because I observed them in the midst of the 2008 Presidential election, but I doubt very much that anything has changed.
Let us hope that Mr. Walesa will indeed have a rude awakening once amongst the occupy crowd.
Edited on October 13, 2011 at 3:50pmSep '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Lech and OWS correctly sense there is something of great import wrong. The problem has been precipitated by the eroding of economic freedom in this country which has become more dramatic in the last decade and a landslide in the last 3 years. I have no idea what Walesa views on this are. I doubt if any of OWS loons would agree and I am confident if they proposed solutions they would be the wrong ones. But they are correct when they identify Wall Street as being a willing participant in the process. I see evidence that Wall Street aided the politicians in both parties who have bond freedom with regulations and have become master escape artists in the process.
Apr '11
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
You seem to be evading where the real heart of the problem lies.
Which one of us in our own personal economic spheres don't go looking for an advantage without thought on how our striving for said advantage may affect the retailer, their employees or the global economy.
I'm not celebrating the instinct to gain any advantage without thought or consideration of my actions but what are the proper safeguards?
Jun '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Prawdziwy osioł
Jul '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Lech also must think that the AFL-CIO of Richard Trumka is the same AFL-CIO of George Meany and Lane Kirkland, the one that worked with the CIA and Bill Casey to aid the Polish Resistance; the one that invited Solzhenitsyn to speak to them when President Ford refused to have him into the White House (on Henry Kissinger's advice; thread hyperlink!). But that AFL-CIO is gone.
Personally, I fervently hope Lech does visit the protestors; and I want to see live video of his face when he meets them, and begins to realize he's been had.
Nov '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Katievs, you are so right. I'm afraid that they're having him on. I was just there, in the belly of the beast. "The thousands of people gathered near Wall Street..."? Try maybe, at best, a couple hundred. He needs to walk south from the WTC site, turn left at the sea of blue tarps, and for gosh sakes pay attention, because I can guarantee you that not a single person involved in this "demonstration" will recognize him, neither by sight nor even name.
Sep '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
sevenfold
You seem to be evading where the real heart of the problem lies.
Which one of us in our own personal economic spheres don't go looking for an advantage without thought on how our striving for said advantage may affect the retailer, their employees or the global economy.
My first and foremost consideration is acting in a ethical and honest fashion in both economic and personal matters. If I find myself interacting with a person who does not do like wise I try to limit my interaction with that person. I have found over time it is to my advantage to do so. It might come as a surprise to you but most others do likewise. Exceptions to this can be found in abundance in both DC and Wall Street.
Dec '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Where was Lech (a man I greatly admire) when the Tea Party was (is) under assault?? The OWS crowd openly advocates Communist doctrine. Lech has it backwards.
Sep '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Amen!
katievs: How completely awful and depressing!
Doesn't he realize that these are the same useful idiots who protested every form of resistance and opposition to the Soviet Union? · Oct 13 at 6:11am
Edited on Oct 13 at 06:12 am
Sep '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Didn't Lech openly support a Tea Party candidate in, what was it, Ohio? I think he did. What Claire and Eric Blair and R.B. Taylor have written makes me think he is genuinely confusing one power structure for another. But like katievs, I expect he's being had and will come away feeling quite differently about the OWS stunt.
Jul '10
Re: Lech Wałęsa is Confused
Yeah, it's not like he's Kanye West or something. You know, someone important.