Tadeusz Mazowiecki 1927 – 2013

Last night passed away Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a living symbol of Poland’s struggle for democracy and independence.

Mazowiecki was the first post-communist Prime Minister of Poland. I first met him in 1968 in Warsaw and then in Makow Podhalanski when I was involved with Polish Catholic Intelligentia Clubs “KIK”.

Mazowiecki was a role model for me. He was what we would call in today’s language a human rights activist with great vision and compassion for those less fortunate or suffering oppression. Mazowiecki was in forefront of student protests in March 1968, in August 1980 he was together with the striking workers in the Gdansk Shipyards and he was a key strategist of the Round Table negotiations in 1989.

Another great reformer of the late early 1990’s Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz said: “Mazowiecki was a man of principle, assertive but without aggression – this is very rare in contemporary politics.”

I admired his wisdom, purposefulness and elegant manner. His contribution to Polish democracy and peace will not be forgotten.

Rest in Pace

It was a pleasure to attend the National Human Rights Conciliation, Legal & Education Officer Conference in Canberra where I spoke about “Developments in Human Rights Education Nationally and Internationally.

In my role as Equity and Diversity Director at the University of Western Sydney I have initiated UWS community dinners to honour the special relationship between the CALD communities and the University.

The UWS Chinese Dinner was the second of a set of community events aimed at celebrating the largest culturally diverse communities of Greater Western Sydney, including the Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian communities; UWS organises also Ramadan Iftar breaking of fast dinner.  For more information about the UWS Chinese Community Dinner see:

http://www.uws.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/uws_honours_chinese_community_with_special_dinner

Sev will address the Sydney 2013 Quo Vadis Conference “Connecting Tomorrow’s Future” to be held at Rydges Hotel on 4 – 6 October 2013.

Dr Ozdowski’s address is entitled “Heritage and participation in a new society – a personal journey”. See it here:

 Quo Vadis Conference, Sydney – PowerPoint Presentation

For more about the conference see:

info@quovadisconferences.org.au

www.quovadisconferences.org.au

I am pleased to inform that “Racism in Australia: Our past, present and future” article from http://www.fecca.org.au/mosaic/archive/mosaic-issue-31-july-2012/racism-in-Australia-our-past-present-and-future  will be republished by the Spinney Press in an educational resource book entitled “Racial Prejudice and Discrimination”, which is Volume  370 in the “Issues in Society” series.

The article will be also broadly available as an electronic edition (secure PDF). The book is intended for use as a cross-curricular reference resource by Australian secondary schools. For more information: www.spinneypress.com.au