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One Tuesday, November 3, Iranian author Azar Nafisi started the discussion by talking about totalitarian mindsets and their role in creating walls. Breaking down walls was an everyday business. Once one goes down, another goes up.

Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlyXgaJKM7s&feature=channel

Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cIY7ONUZGY&feature=channel

On November 3, Carl Bildt, minister of foreign affairs of Sweden, and Radoslaw Sikorski, minister of foreign affairs of Poland, talked about the ongoing walls in Europe. While Europe was at peace, countries like Cyprus were still divided. Sikorski reminded the audience that just east of Europe in Belarus, democracy had not yet arrived.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWAXrWYCxEc&feature=channel

On Wednesday, November 4, we were fortunate to have a former Eastern German dissident address the students. Markus Meckel, first democratically elected foreign minister of the GDR, mentioned the role of Eastern Europe in bringing down the wall. We should remember not just the actual fall of the wall on November 9, but also the people that long before fought and died so that change and democracy could come to their countries.

Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6UBrdOC6Ek&feature=channel

Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WQ2veEIQOA&feature=channel

Carl Gershman, President and Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, raised the ongoing democratization process of the countries west of the European Union, such as Belarus and Ukraine. Freedom and Democracy were not divisible. One country’s democracy was just as much its neighbors’.

Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZIliCidLA4&feature=channel

Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ijPM2bWWY&feature=channel