Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-26-Speech-1-067"
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"en.20050926.13.1-067"2
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".
Mr President, in July and August 1980, Polish workers in Lublin, along the Baltic coast and in many other towns took strike action. At the end of August this action became a general strike affecting the whole country. The action was led and organised by an Inter-enterprise Strike Committee and by Lech Wałęsa at the Gdansk shipyard. Workers and the intelligentsia rebelled in the cause of freedom, social justice and dignity. The slogans of freedom, equality and brotherhood shouted out again from European banners just as they had 200 years earlier in Paris.
On 31 August an agreement was signed at the Gdansk shipyard. In it, the State authorities agreed to the 21 demands made by the strikers. This led to the emergence of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity. The general strike and Solidarity’s activities became a source of hope for workers the world over in the struggle for workers’ rights, a just society and a better world. Solidarity set off a chain reaction across Eastern Europe, which led eventually to a peaceful democratic revolution and a victory for democracy and human rights. It also meant the beginning of the end of the totalitarian system and the division of Europe, symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Twenty-five years later, here at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, at the political heart of a united Europe, it is fitting to honour the Polish workers and all those who rebelled against oppression and injustice, and played a part in the creation of the Solidarity Trade Union. Particular recognition is due to those who continued to pursue independent activity after the introduction of martial law in Poland. I would like to pay tribute to all the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, who are to be admired for their struggle in the cause of democracy, human rights and national sovereignty.
Mr President, we were not alone in this struggle. We recall the help Solidarity received from the international trade union movement, from Western European civil society and from democratic governments. Thank you, Europe! Thanks are also due to all those Europeans who sided with Solidarity and supported our fight for freedom and democracy when we were in prison or driven underground. The European Union should be proud of this heritage, proud of having given such proof of brotherhood. Brotherhood underpins European unity.
In its programme, namely the 21 Gdansk demands, and also the Self-Governing Republic programme, Solidarity presented a vision of a society and a country bound together by freedom, where human rights were respected and social justice prevailed. This vision remains relevant today. Solidarity’s programme can still serve as an inspiration at global level and also at European level, as Europe tackles the challenge of creating an effective economy and a just society.
In today’s world, Solidarity stands for a refusal to condone poverty and oppression anywhere on the globe. It demands that the European Union act to wipe poverty off the face of the earth. In the 21st century, Solidarity’s message demands a European Union foreign policy that actively promotes democracy and human rights, and support for those who are currently persecuted because they belong to a minority."@en1
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