Lech Walesa — "Democracy is when people can spit in my face, and I have to wipe it off."
Democracy is when people can spit in my face, and I have to wipe it off.
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More from Lech Walesa
"I am not afraid of anyone, except my wife."
"I have to be the first, the best, the strongest. Otherwise, someone else will be."
"We must always fight for what is right."
"I will build democracy - democratically, semi-demo cratically and even undemocratically."
"I am still fighting for a better Poland."
About Lech Walesa (born 1943)
Polish electrician who founded Solidarity in 1980, won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, and became the first post-communist president of Poland (1990-1995). Closely associated with Václav Havel (fellow Eastern-bloc dissident-turned-president) and Pope John Paul II (the Polish pope whose 1979 visit catalyzed Solidarity). For an intellectual contrast, see Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and Communist leader — Jaruzelski imposed martial law in 1981, banned Solidarity, and interned Wałęsa. He represented the Soviet-backed institutional power Solidarity's nonviolent labor movement was organized to displace — they ultimately signed the 1989 Round Table Talks together that ended Polish communism.