New Europe and the United States

Today’s podcast is an edited recording of an April 28, 2004 panel discussion featuring the Polish journalist Adam Michnik and Nation writer Jonathan Schell. Moderating the discussion is Irena Grudzinska Gross, former director of the Institute for Human Sciences. Translating for Adam Michnik is Elbieta Matynia, Associate Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies at the New School.

Adam Michnik was a founding member of the Komitet Obrony Robotników (Committee for the Defense of Workers) in 1976 and a prominent activist during the Solidarity movement of the 1980s. He participated in the Round Table Talks of 1989 and was later elected to Poland’s first non-communist parliament, where he served from 1989-1991. Michnik continues to promote democratic values as the Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest daily newspaper. While he retired from active political life in 1991, Michnik remains one of Poland’s most prominent and influential people.

Jonathan Schell is the Harold Willens Peace Fellow at The Nation Institute and the Peace and Disarmament Correspondent for The Nation magazine. He teaches a course on the nuclear dilemma at Yale. He is the author of thirteen books including The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of Nuclear Danger.

The discussion aired on WBUR’s World of Ideas program on May 9, 2004; we are grateful to WBUR for making the recording available to EU for You.

04.28.04

View all posts