Mariusz M. Brymora, the consul general of Poland in Los Angeles, addressed Utah Valley University students and others on July 22, in an Introduction to Comparative Politics class (but open to all students and the public).
His address, entitled “Why Poland,” gave a brief history and overview of Poland’s people and largest cities. This year is a particularly special one for Poland – they are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the political transformation in 1989, the 15th anniversary of Poland joining NATO, and the 10th anniversary of Poland joining the European Union.
In 1989, the political landscape shook as a result of Polish solidarity, the movement that supported free elections, and the surrounding countries felt the tremors. At the end of World War II, Poland was surrounded by only three countries – East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union. The fall of the Berlin wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the split of Czechoslovakia were caused, in part, by the solidarity movement in Poland, said Brymora.
“Gary Cooper, from this famous poster of High Noon, was the symbolic guy for the elections in Poland in June 1989,” said Brymora.
Poland joined the European Union in 2004. Brymora recalled encouraging Poles living in America to vote to join the EU in what ended up being a close vote in favor of joining. Today, Poland is the sixth most powerful economy in the EU, and was the only EU economy to not go negative during the financial crisis in 2008. For that reason, Poland earned the nickname, “Green Island.”
Brymora touched on the Ukrainian crisis as well.
“The Ukrainian crisis is, of course, the most important development in Europe in recent months. This is something that I would say nobody expected could have happened. We all thought that Europe was a very stable place, that everybody accepts boundaries, that the last conflict in Europe was the Balkan war in the 1990s and that we are good now. All of a sudden, the Ukrainian crisis started, which I have to say, was caused to a certain extent – and in my personal opinion, to a great extent – by the Ukrainians themselves,” said Brymora.
Currently, the United States is in the sixth stage of negotiating a trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The extensive TTIP would remove trade barriers and cut tariffs.
Brymora has been serving in Los Angeles since 2013, and has served in both Chicago and Washington, D.C. He has also worked previously as the deputy director of the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He met Rusty Butler, the Associate Vice President of the Office of International Affairs and Diplomacy at UVU, last year in Beverly Hills. Butler set up multiple events for Brymora while he is in town. Brymora met with the Polish community in Salt Lake City on Monday night, spent time with prominent faculty and business-people Tuesday morning and will meet with Governor Herbert on Wednesday morning to discuss commerce relations.
The address is part of larger series of lectures hosted by UVU’s Office of International Affairs and Diplomacy.
Tiffany Frandsen, News Editor | @Tiffany_mf
