Thanks Michael for posting this – Jacek Kuron was my friend. I am very saddened by his passage.
Jacek’s life was the stuff of films and novels. I can say I knew a revolutionary. What Michael posted does not touch on his role breaking the back of communism in Poland and the Soviet bloc in general – a people credit that buffoon Reagan!
I met Jacek at the height of the Solidarity movement in Poland in the mid-80s. Hard drinking, he thought of only empowering people. He, and few others, actually helped create civil society in Poland.
He was a brilliant thinker and tactician. During most of the 90s, we stayed in contact. After the end of communism, he maintained close links to the average Pole. The last time I saw him, he asked me about American legislation concerning equal access to public places for the handicapped.
He also paid for his activism. He spent many years in prison. His father died of a heart attack one evening as the Polish security forces invaded his home conducting its usual harassment of opponents to the regime. His first wife died of cancer, denied proper medical care.
I don’t know what Woj thinks of Kuron, but I can say he inspired me. RIP Jacek.
Michael Pugliese <michael098762001 at earthlink.net> wrote:Jacek Kuron, dies aged 70.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/1/hi/world/europe/3815963.stm
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