Gorbachev continues to shape history (NOVEMBER 27, 2009)
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Dec 3, 2009, 6:43:09 PM12/3/09
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Gorbachev continues to shape history
BY KIM CAMPBELL, CITIZEN SPECIAL NOVEMBER 27, 2009
In the past few weeks there have been many media reports celebrating
the fall, 20 years ago, of the Berlin Wall -- the physical
manifestation of the divide and hostility between East and West. All
these reports acknowledged the central role played by one man --
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who introduced the word
"glasnost" into the global lexicon and who, by his repudiation of
force as a means to contain the peoples of eastern Europe, helped to
end the Cold War and eliminate the spectre of mutual nuclear
destruction that had hung over our hemisphere since the end of the
Second World War.
I had the pleasure of meeting president Gorbachev in mid-1990 when he
made a brief visit to Ottawa with his then foreign minister Eduard
Shevardnadze.
As a cabinet minister I was included in the events where he spoke and
as a former "sovietologist" I was struck by the change he represented.
Little did we guess at that time that the break-up of the Soviet Union
was imminent and would send Shevardnadze back to his native Georgia
and president Gorbachev into political oblivion when the country he
presided over ceased to exist.
It is all the more interesting and remarkable then that Gorbachev is
today not merely a man of historical significance, but a man who
continues to shape history with his world-changing ways.
When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Gorbachev remained on the
world stage -- in fact, centre stage. Gorbachev was a central figure
at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and shortly thereafter founded Green
Cross International -- a global network of environmental NGOs
addressing issues at the nexus of environment and conflict.
Today Green Cross, under Gorbachev's leadership, has grown to more
than 30 national member organizations, active on every continent
(counting Antarctic expeditions). In states of the former Soviet Union
this means working with the Global Partnership (a G8 project launched
at Kananaskis in which Canada is a significant player) to clean up old
weapons sites and facilities. And in the Middle East it means working
to resolve conflicts around shared water resources. In South America
Green Cross works to minimize the environmental impact of mining
projects, and in Ukraine and Belarus Green Cross works with children
who are still affected by the Chernobyl disaster of 23 years ago.
The Gorbachev Foundation, the first real "think tank" in modern
Russia, deals with Russian and global issues around peace and
security, development, the environment and democracy in Eastern
Europe. I came to know president Gorbachev again in the late 1990s
when I was invited to be a fellow of an American-based foundation that
also bears his name. Through this organization Gorbachev became a
founding member of the Club of Madrid, whose members, former
presidents and prime ministers, work to promote democratic values and
leadership.
Gorbachev's latest venture combines all of these elements, bringing
together his work on the environment with the Green Cross, with
climate-change projects of the Club of Madrid, the Club of Rome and
his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates to form the Climate Change Task
Force, engaging world leaders and experts in an effort to push for
real progress on climate change at the Copenhagen conference next
month, and to engage civil society in the challenge to deal with the
effects of climate change.
This past month, Gorbachev has been doing what he does best: working
the world leaders' circuit selling climate change -- the UN in Geneva
in early October, the Club of Rome in Amsterdam two weeks later, Nobel
laureates in Berlin and the Club of Madrid last week -- and then on to
Copenhagen next month.
At 78 years of age, that is quite a breathtaking agenda.
Like so many others who have been encouraged and motivated by his
energy and warmth, I have been proud to work with Gorbachev over the
years.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold
War, Mikhail Gorbachev continues to challenge the world to change --
always for the better.
Kim Campbell is former prime minister of Canada. She is on the
National Council of Green Cross Canada.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=2274299
BY KIM CAMPBELL, CITIZEN SPECIAL NOVEMBER 27, 2009
In the past few weeks there have been many media reports celebrating
the fall, 20 years ago, of the Berlin Wall -- the physical
manifestation of the divide and hostility between East and West. All
these reports acknowledged the central role played by one man --
Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who introduced the word
"glasnost" into the global lexicon and who, by his repudiation of
force as a means to contain the peoples of eastern Europe, helped to
end the Cold War and eliminate the spectre of mutual nuclear
destruction that had hung over our hemisphere since the end of the
Second World War.
I had the pleasure of meeting president Gorbachev in mid-1990 when he
made a brief visit to Ottawa with his then foreign minister Eduard
Shevardnadze.
As a cabinet minister I was included in the events where he spoke and
as a former "sovietologist" I was struck by the change he represented.
Little did we guess at that time that the break-up of the Soviet Union
was imminent and would send Shevardnadze back to his native Georgia
and president Gorbachev into political oblivion when the country he
presided over ceased to exist.
It is all the more interesting and remarkable then that Gorbachev is
today not merely a man of historical significance, but a man who
continues to shape history with his world-changing ways.
When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Gorbachev remained on the
world stage -- in fact, centre stage. Gorbachev was a central figure
at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and shortly thereafter founded Green
Cross International -- a global network of environmental NGOs
addressing issues at the nexus of environment and conflict.
Today Green Cross, under Gorbachev's leadership, has grown to more
than 30 national member organizations, active on every continent
(counting Antarctic expeditions). In states of the former Soviet Union
this means working with the Global Partnership (a G8 project launched
at Kananaskis in which Canada is a significant player) to clean up old
weapons sites and facilities. And in the Middle East it means working
to resolve conflicts around shared water resources. In South America
Green Cross works to minimize the environmental impact of mining
projects, and in Ukraine and Belarus Green Cross works with children
who are still affected by the Chernobyl disaster of 23 years ago.
The Gorbachev Foundation, the first real "think tank" in modern
Russia, deals with Russian and global issues around peace and
security, development, the environment and democracy in Eastern
Europe. I came to know president Gorbachev again in the late 1990s
when I was invited to be a fellow of an American-based foundation that
also bears his name. Through this organization Gorbachev became a
founding member of the Club of Madrid, whose members, former
presidents and prime ministers, work to promote democratic values and
leadership.
Gorbachev's latest venture combines all of these elements, bringing
together his work on the environment with the Green Cross, with
climate-change projects of the Club of Madrid, the Club of Rome and
his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates to form the Climate Change Task
Force, engaging world leaders and experts in an effort to push for
real progress on climate change at the Copenhagen conference next
month, and to engage civil society in the challenge to deal with the
effects of climate change.
This past month, Gorbachev has been doing what he does best: working
the world leaders' circuit selling climate change -- the UN in Geneva
in early October, the Club of Rome in Amsterdam two weeks later, Nobel
laureates in Berlin and the Club of Madrid last week -- and then on to
Copenhagen next month.
At 78 years of age, that is quite a breathtaking agenda.
Like so many others who have been encouraged and motivated by his
energy and warmth, I have been proud to work with Gorbachev over the
years.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold
War, Mikhail Gorbachev continues to challenge the world to change --
always for the better.
Kim Campbell is former prime minister of Canada. She is on the
National Council of Green Cross Canada.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=2274299
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