{"id":514,"date":"2011-12-24T18:08:13","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T01:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=514"},"modified":"2025-07-13T23:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T06:49:03","slug":"former-envoy-says-poland-will-prevail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=514","title":{"rendered":"Former Envoy Says Poland Will Prevail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/scans\/Editorials_1982\/Editorial_PartX_001.jpg\"><img style=\"margin: 12px\" src=\"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/default_thm.jpg\" alt=\"Click to see original image\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Central Utahns got a &#8220;different&#8221; view of liberty during the Provo Independence Day Freedom Festival &#8211; from the angle of a country deprived of it. And the picture touched their hearts. ddressing a capacity fwd in the Marriott center Sunday night, former Polish ambassador &#8216;Romauld Spasowski said with emotion: &#8220;May I tell you Americans in this magnificent hall: &#8216;Never take freedom for granted!&#8217; &#8221; His moving speech was well-received. If the numerous interruptions for applause and the standing ovation are an indication, his listeners will take his words seriously &#8211; and indeed they should. Spasowski. twice envoy to the United States from Poland, defected last December in protest after the ruling military junta imposed martial law, ending a 16-month taste of freedom under the people&#8217;s &#8220;Solidarity&#8221; movement. &#8220;Solidaritzr gave Poland one of its inest hours in history,&#8221; the former ambassador said. &#8220;People prayed and wept in the streets&#8221; during the spontaneous renewal of democratic principles. In the interim before the &#8220;Soviet &#8211; orchestrated&#8221; crackdown there was no violence, he said. &#8220;Poles remember Solidarity as their &#8216;Camelot&#8217; &#8211; a beautiful and noble bud that didn&#8217;t have a chance to be fullblown   but which will never be forgotten.&#8221; Agreements at Yalta provided for free elections in Poland after World War II but through Soviet pressures these were never allowed. &#8221;We have been persecuted in many ways but we continue to struggle on because we love Poland and our heritage.&#8221; the speaker said. &#8220;We shall never give up our ideals and our values &#8211; and above all, our Christian faith and belief in God.&#8221; Spasowski said Solidarity continues &#8220;underground&#8221; and expressed his faith in ultimate triumph in the Polish quest of freedom. &#8220;The only questions are when and at what price.&#8221; I-le called for genuine dialogue between the military rulers and their Soviet associates and patriotic Poles, expressing hope that a forthcoming visit by Pope John Paul may influence a breakthrough. How can Americans help the Polish people? &#8220;We expect that the Free World and above all the great American people wil not abandon us in this hour trial   and that you will show your solidarity with us,&#8221; said Spasowski. He listed these avenues of help. which are worthy of American corisideration: -Moral support. This can be strengthened by opening free broadcasting, now jammed by the Soviets and their satellites, &#8220;so the Poles can hear the truth.&#8221; -Supplying basic foodstuffs, shoes. clothing and medicine on a geople &#8211; to people basis trough the Polish Catholic Church. -Denying economic cooperation to the Soviets &#8220;who are directly responsible for the ordeals of the Polish and Afghan peoples.&#8221; President Reagan stands high in Spasowski&#8217;s estimation, receiving thanks for his firmness in dealing with aggressors, support of human values <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eastjump.co.uk\/c\/c9010252-inflatable-combo\/\" style=\"color: black; text-decoration: none;\">inflatable combo<\/a>. and &#8220;all his manifestations in support of freedom in our country including his leadership in the program, &#8216;Let Poland Be Poland! &#8221; These further words should be taken to heart as a clarion call to all who love liberty: &#8220;The first line of defense of freedom ls moral strength and high principles   guarding and loving the basic unit in our society, the family   Value your free om; cherish it; be prepared to defend it.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Central Utahns got a &#8220;different&#8221; view of liberty during the Provo Independence Day Freedom Festival &#8211; from the angle of a country deprived of it. And the picture touched their hearts. ddressing a capacity fwd in the Marriott center Sunday night, former Polish ambassador &#8216;Romauld Spasowski said with emotion: &#8220;May I tell you Americans in&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=514\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Former Envoy Says Poland Will Prevail<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2436,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/2436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}