 You should leave the applause till the end. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm Lori Macaulay, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. I'm here to welcome all of you to this amazing event. I have the pleasure today to welcome you on behalf of the University of Michigan Wiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, the Copernicus Center for Polish Studies, the Wiser Diplomacy Center, Democracy and Debate Theme Semester, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. I'd like to extend a special welcome to the Honorable Eileen Wiser who's with us today and to our Dean of LSNA, Dean Ann Cousin. Thank you for joining us. And thank you to this robust audience and all of you who are on our live stream today for joining us. The University of Michigan has a long and storied legacy of research and teaching about the history, culture and politics of East Central Europe. This is embodied in the programs housed at the University of Michigan International Institute. The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies was founded more than 60 years ago. And the Copernicus Center for Polish Studies will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. The Wiser Center for Europe and Eurasia has made its mark here since 2008, strengthening faculty and student research and scholarship on the region, while also supporting Democratic capacity building in East Central Europe. During the Communist period, the University of Michigan served as a haven for dissident scholars, journalists and writers, welcoming luminaries such as Nobel-winning poets Joseph Brodsky and Cheslaw Mewash and historian Adam Michnik. We continue to honor these voices today with programs like the Wiser Center for Europe and Eurasia Fellowships that recently brought seven Ukrainian scholars here to conduct their research. This event today also shines a light on the interdisciplinary collaboration that is so emblematic of the University of Michigan. Our distinguished speaker is a Nobel Prize winner, a statesman and a symbol of how one individual can set in motion global change. The sponsors of today's presentation likewise are focused on educating and empowering the next generation of change makers through diplomacy, debate and policy, whether in Michigan, Poland or elsewhere across the globe. At this time, I invite Professor Jean-Vierve Zubrowski, our Director of the Wiser Center for Europe and Eurasia to introduce our distinguished guest. Professor? Thank you so much Provost McAuley and welcome everyone. It's a huge honor for us to host President Lech Waumeza. We've been trying to get him to Ann Arbor for several years and the day has finally arrived. So thank you also for showing him so much love upon his arrival into the room. And here goes my formal introduction. Well before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was solidarity and Lech Waumeza was a founding member and its leader. Solidarity began as a trade union representing workers during the Gdańsk shipyard strike in August 1980. Lech Waumeza, an electrician at the shipyard was quickly embraced by the workers as their leader and he negotiated on their behalf with the Communist regime, obtaining a series of important concessions including the official recognition of solidarity. Within a year, solidarity had 10 million members nationwide, representing one third of Poland's working population. In light of the immense popularity and growing threat the movement posed to the regime, solidarity was banned and martial law was imposed on December 13, 1981. Lech Waumeza and many other dissidents were jailed and solidarity went underground. It did not fade however and the dedication of its leaders and support of the Polish population eventually paid off. In the winter months of 1989, the regime and the opposition entered into negotiations that led to the historic round table agreement and that agreement made possible the first semi-democratic elections in Eastern Europe which took place on June 4, 1989. On that day, solidarity won a resounding victory and the rest is history. Communist regimes started to fall one after the other, Hungary in October, East Germany in November, Czechoslovakia and Romania in December and so on. The building of democratic regimes and free market economies in Eastern Europe began and in 1991 the Soviet Union was dismantled. Lech Waumeza was a key figure in that historic transition. First as leader of Solidarność, of solidarity, then as the Third Republic of Poland's first democratically elected president serving from 1990 until 1995. In that capacity he steered not only the political and economic transition but also oversaw the next round of free elections and set Poland on the path to NATO and EU accession. President Waumeza's historic role in the fight against authoritarianism has been recognized across the globe. In 1983 he received the Nobel Peace Prize, he also received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Knight Grand Cross of the British Order of Bath and the French Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor. As we know the fight for democracy is never over but that fight is perhaps more important now than ever since the fall of communism in 1989 with the rise of populism and the erosion of democratic institutions in Europe and elsewhere across the world. President Waumeza continues to fight for democracy through his teaching and activism and in recent years he's been an outspoken defender of Poland's constitution supporting the opposition to the current government's authoritarian tendencies and you see that he wears those colors very proudly. As Ukraine is fighting for its freedom today it is also fighting for democracy more broadly, as did solidarity in the 1980s. The war in Ukraine is also a threat to peace and prosperity in Europe and beyond and we want to recognize Poland's incredible solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people supporting the war effort and welcoming over 3 million Ukrainian refugees. Mr. President, Panie Presidente, it's a great honor for the University of Michigan to have you here with us today. We're incredibly grateful for your willingness to share your legacy with our students and we're eager to hear your reflections on the war in Ukraine and its global impact and before I invite you to the podium I need to give some instructions about questions because Mr. President Waumeza will be speaking for about 20 minutes and what he wants most is to have a discussion with you so when you enter the room you should have received a note card so we ask that you write your concise question on one side of the note card and pass it down the aisle, give it to our staff people who are there please raise your hand so you can see or stand up please so you can please stand up they will be circulating and collecting the note cards and then we have two outstanding students from the U.M.'s Ford School of Public Policy Margot Steinhaus and Julia Fadanelli who will compile questions and ask a representative sample under the guidance of my colleague Professor John Charachari, Associate Dean of the Ford School and now please join me in offering a very warm welcome to President Waumeza Right at the beginning I will decide about time It's good to get the applause at the end, not necessarily at the beginning You have to earn your final round of applause I will give everything I have, let's see Dear ladies and gentlemen Dear young people in particular I care very much so that today's students succeed in life because your success will sign off on my success As you know at some point I was a leader of a movement that completely overturned the world order With the help of the United States and other countries we succeeded in overturning the order in the world that was bad but we destroyed it in order to build a better world In the destruction part Poland had the biggest participation but the building of the no one should rely above all else on the United States and that's for the whole world because you are the great world, the biggest world power So we also have a duty to continue this great fight In Europe that obligation is shared by Germany I will talk about what I believe in my opinion which is what you guys should be doing in the future For today as a revolutionary my opinion is that nobody really leads the world and without good leadership there will be no continuation of the right beginnings we managed to finish off the wrong actions of the Soviet Union the Warsaw Pact we participated in reuniting Germany but we succeeded above all else because because what was happening then, the little countries, the whole world order then it was all putting a break to the development of things in the world When I look at Europe I think a lot of things were done successfully Europe was responsible, had been responsible for two world wars a lot of revolutions and let's look at it, let's look at Europe today We have practically speaking managed to remove all country borders in Europe We have introduced Europe, the currency for all countries having a good profession, good skills anyone can work in any country and those are all great achievements but now we faced the wall it is impossible to do all those big things from now on, it seems hard The questions that we're now facing are all great questions the first one, the first question is it's a question for you What new foundation should be laid down for this new coming era? Each country has a different foundation different level of development even religions are different Having such big divisions it is very difficult to build something big again When I'm throwing around different meetings throwing around these questions of what kind of foundations we should lay down there are two main proposals when it comes to these foundations about half of the world wants to build it based on freedom, on various kinds of freedom the free market and of course the laws that allow it to happen that's how half of the world wants to build it the other half responds No, it's not a good idea We have to first agree on the values that we will use to lead us If we have these values, let's say ten lay commandments then we can have the free market and the law and this division between these two is something that makes it very difficult to get out to overcome that division We manage to pass this, to pass this stage then we're facing the second big problem And what should be the new economic system that we should propose for this new coming era? We know there are two main big political system, economic system communism and capitalism In theory, just on the surface, the communist system is better than capitalism But it is so good, it cannot be implemented anywhere It is just so naive that it's impossible to make it happen So let's just not toy with it, let's just throw it out So what's left is capitalism But capitalism is based on rivalry, competition And the weaker ones in this rivalry, in this competition, the weaker ones become unemployed Someone called capitalism a rat race among nations But when we're building something bigger, that should be the end of a rat race The unemployed should be found and they should be put to work And that was the second problem And the third problem is how to cope with demagoguery, populism, lies and fraud by the politician And that's all on the global scale And we should remember that until the end of the 20th century We need to remember that in various nations people had some sort of a God in their conscience at the back burner That God was called differently But he was silently present in our conscience But we've left that stage We were afraid of communism in the Soviet Union We managed to overcome that So now the question remains, how do we handle nations, how do we lead nations when they have no inner breaks, no inner inhibition And the way things happened The way it happened is this, that the only power that can cope with all of these issues Because it is so powerful is the United States of America In earlier days the role of the United States was relatively simple It was the empire of God It was always possible to count on the US The US was the military leader, economic and political leader Nowadays the United States mostly lead militarily We have to gain back the United States to lead the world again And this is not so difficult This doesn't have to be difficult, it will be a different kind of leadership We have to realize that the previous era of countries, individual states, individual political camps Because of the technological development, that other era really had to fall The new era has appeared, and that's the era of intellect, information and globalization And this requires new programs, new political structures And maybe you living in this big country, you may not necessarily notice this But let's look at Europe How Europe is changing, how Europe is building, rebuilding So this was basically my introduction And now I would like to invite you to an open-ended discussion So that we can think it over and create some sort of mutual understanding In the change of generation, in the transition of generation This is where our biggest chance for the welfare, for affluence, for all the good stuff But we have to understand our times well enough It is clear that a lot of the existing structures in Europe, the country, the individual states, political parties They do not fit to the requirements of the new times Let's look at political parties today Left-wing parties very often have more right-wing programs than the left-wing parties and the other way around And let's look at the Christian parties They yell and scream, oh, we're Christian parties But there isn't a single believer among them This is not what should be here The only thing that works in the only type of structure system that works in contemporary times Is the traffic rules Everything else looks like traffic wood if we removed all traffic signs and roads One era has fallen down, but the other has not come into existence in full yet Today we're in the transition One has fallen down, the other has not been created yet I call it the era of the word The era of all the necessary discussions of what the future order should look like And what the role of the United States in this should be It will not do itself Somebody has to prepare it all and somebody has to lead I would like to encourage you to plead with you to lead Or just say, you know, in public, we're giving up, we don't want to lead And then just give your capabilities to Poland and we'll know what to do with them If there are no willing participants for the discussion, I will go on with my monologue But the monologue doesn't have to be that interesting And I would like difficult questions Because when it's difficult, I wake up and ready to fight And when there are poor, easy questions, I tend to fall asleep because I'm old I'm almost 80 years old But at the same time, this is the company where we can find the best possible solutions, I'm sure And then I will simply appropriate the best ones And then I can go to another meeting room like this and show them how wise I have become So please give me some way of doing that And now I'm sitting down So we are collecting the questions and our students are at work But please no censorship We know how you deal with censorship, so there won't be any censorship I might, however, start with an easy question and I hope you won't fall asleep So I want to ask how you see the response in Poland to the war in Ukraine And if you see this great solidarity of the Polish people with Ukraine As also one of the legacies of solidarity Ladies and gentlemen, the question is simple The answer is a little bit more difficult Solidarity was possible in those days Because the whole world was based on a common foundation It was communism, the existence of communism, the existence of the Soviet Union This was the foundation Other people hated the Soviet Union, but this was the common denominator At the top, we had different interests When we destroyed this common denominator What was left is just having interests So today the solidarity of that other type is impossible Unless you find the common foundation again But as for Ukraine and Russia We have to see the problem through a double lens The results of the Russian aggression Such as starving people, murdering people And from that perspective we have to help them so that they survive But the cause, the causes are really more important The cause is the bad political system in Russia It's not just Stalin or Putin The political system that makes it possible for people like them to show up If Russian leaders just had two political terms, five years each, not more They would not have built the kind of criminal system like they have Because people helping them would know that after ten years it will be over So let us do everything we can, each individual here, just to convince a few Russians They are also being murdered They are in the situation that nobody wants to talk to them They are boycotted everywhere And it's just because it's all caused by the political system And they will be thankful to us if we help them change that political system Because even if Ukraine conquers, wins over Russia today Russia will rise up again and there will be another Stalin or another Putin That's how it happened during Gorbachev Of course we should not be surprised, he was a great Russian patriot And he was working for the welfare benefit of Russia, not for our wealth When he became the leader of the Soviet Union The wise politician saw how things were, what the atmosphere was He knew it was impossible to hold on to the Soviet Union So he let it go But he decided to save as much of Russia as possible That's why he proposed perestroika and glasnost And he was talking really nicely to us And he convinced all of us, and particularly America And America said, okay, Stalin was there Rezhnev was there, horrible bandits, criminals But Gorbachev, he's a nice guy And we should not be creating problems for him And that's when we gave up some form of penalizing Russia For all the crimes involving millions of people that they did commit And Gorbachev knew that Russia would rise up again And he knew that in that Russian system a new Stalin would be here And he would try to rebuild the Soviet Union And that's why Gorbachev was very uneven Sometimes he would support Putin, sometimes he wouldn't So we should try to convince Russians for their happiness, for their safety It is necessary that we should together the Russian system One direction for changes Also remember that Russia includes around 60 different nations That had been conquered the same way that Ukraine That they are trying to conquer Ukraine today Russia would basically bring in internalized weaker nations Nations were moved to other regions Leaders were murdered And we should try to convince all those minority nations That they should gain back their space that they had had for centuries It's a long-term kind of action But this will cause that Russia will have no more than 50 million people For this idea that I have just announced Russia came up with a 5 million dollar bounty on my head And since I have repeated it again in an arbor, that's going to be 10 million soon Next question, so I'd like to invite one of the students Please, if you would please send I don't know if it's on, oh it is on, okay President Valencia, thank you so much for coming My name is Margo Steinhaus I am a second year Master of Public Policy student At the Ford School of Public Policy as well as a wiser diplomacy fellow My question for you now that we've started to talk about Gorbachev We lost a couple of really great legendary leaders like Gorbachev And Queen Elizabeth of the last two weeks And they went through so much and experienced so many difficulties What do you think are the greatest challenges leaders today face? As I was saying to you, that's what I've been repeating for the last 30 years Everything to make the United States gain back their leadership in the world But in a new style It's not about dollars It's not about doing all the work for the world We should prepare the programs and the cadres of people Who would be capable of doing all those good things that need to be done What would I do if I were your president? I was proposing things at one time At the beginning of the revolution I was saying, please help me build the United States of all the European countries And since this was my idea, I was hoping Europe would elect me its president And then I was thinking about possibly building a federation between Europe then and your country, the United States Because I think my idea would be to elect the president Of course, because the federation itself would be my idea I should be elected the president of it And then this is what I would say We have managed to deal with Russia in the meantime Now we've got China left And China doesn't really want to talk directly to Europe that much And not really that much with the United States either But in our European and American federation they would like to talk Then I would invite China to the table And of course as always I start the discussion, I start speaking first And this is what I say to China That's the situation here Either we will kill you off Or you will kill us off So my proposal is give in a little and we'll give in a little And we can then do globalization together My other proposal was that the United States gather some experts, some wise people And then they would say to them, either wise people Make a list of topics that don't fit in your country For example, the pandemic doesn't fit The internet, the internet, things like flights across the globe Make a list like this When you're done with the list then let us think which of these issues would fit the old order of small countries Which should be handled on a continent level And which ones have to be dealt with globally And divide this into those three groups There will be one other problem You will have to think about what kind of structures should be created, political structures What kind of programs so that we're ready to tackle all these important issues Are completely unprepared for those difficult issues The pandemic? What's going to happen when there's going to be the next pandemic? Migrations When China and India are opened up, that's migration You have to listen to old Vauensa as soon as possible and start preparing these solutions Because we will be taken by surprise They will ruin us They will destroy our civilization Most likely that kind of destruction of civilizations has happened a few times before on our planet Some civilization actually built Egyptian pyramids We don't know exactly how it was all destroyed And we are reaching the same point The world is beautiful But we have to understand the times when we happen to live And we have to understand the role And we have to understand the leadership And the biggest role, the biggest potential for leadership is On the United States and in Europe it has to be Germany Of course I would prefer it to be Poland But I have no, I cannot afford it So you should be the ones who will continue the reforms And I will look from up above down at you to see if you're succeeding Thank you, now another question You're giving me difficult topics so that's why I go on I'll try to take a little bit less time I need Fidel Castro for four hours to answer my questions We have a new question for you Mr. President President Valesa Thank you so much for being here with us in Ann Arbor My name is Julia Fadenali I am a second year BA student in the Ford School So I'm completing my fourth year in my undergraduate program Here at the University of Michigan And my first question All the political policy issues nowadays are all very difficult things So you have my sympathy Thank you It is a challenge So my question for you is Poland has been very gracious to take in many, many Ukrainian refugees Because of Russia's war on Ukraine And I'm curious if you foresee a change In the sentiment of the Polish citizens And accepting Ukrainian refugees in the future And why or why not you may or may not see this change We have no choice We have to help Because we have to understand the whole problem Until the end of the 20th century All today's countries Were built in a similar fashion That is they were expanding By appropriating weaker nations Then the United States You know the South, the North and the South Remember? But at the beginning of the 21st century There are two main concepts When it comes to Increasing Power territory One is democratic and based on freedom Joining the European Union Joining NATO Joining the United Nations And that's a peaceful one And the other which is Russian slash Chinese The old kind of regime Old style Tanks, heavy weaponry And go forward So now there is a question The question arises Which one of them is going to win Which one we will allow Putin made a horrible mistake He mobilized the whole world Against the himself When I was a president When I was the president I wanted to Take care of Russia To implement order to Russia And I was actually already carrying out discussions With various minorities In Russia And I was trying to Help them out To mobilize But the United States Figured it out What I was What I was into The Secretary Albright Came to Warsaw He came to the Belvedere To the presidential palace To see me And she said Mr. President Not a step further In that direction And I was sort of protesting What do you mean She put a map On the table And it had Markings on it Pointing out Where Russia had The worst Possible imaginable Weaponry And it turned out It turned out That the weaponry Was not in the Russian territory itself But in the small republics It was all hidden In the surrounding republics And the republics People in the republics Did not even know that they had it Just like Poland did not know That we had atomic Rockets in our territory And today, when we're discovering All these various places with weaponry You can open a YouTube channel And you could see places Where they Gathered that weaponry And I sat out Whether Secretary Albright Was telling the truth And I'm very grateful to her She was a very smart woman That she Got me out of these ideas Because I would have caused Real disasters For the world And she was a strong Wise woman And managed to stop Dvałęsa Next Next question Margo We have another question from the audience It would be so much easier If you simply learned Polish What was courage for you When you were leading the solidarity movement Against the totalitarian Communist state And what does courage mean to you today Actually It's a simple thing Really? It's a relatively Simple thing Most of all Both then and now Everybody fights Against generals And the police With politicians But I was doing it Differently I was fighting Against the system I was telling them You guys are all such criminals Because the system Allows you to be Sometimes They would actually arrest me Because they liked Having a chat with me I was not afraid of anything I was just afraid Of two things God A little bit And my wife And I was trying to tell them You're going to be better off In a different system You will make more money This is a bad system It's not bad The system is bad That's why I have more friends On the other side The side that I was against then Than I do among My former colleagues Because it turned out That they also wanted to change the system But they didn't believe It was possible It was true about Americans as well When I was still involved In my fight The smarter The American that I talked to was The less he believed it was possible The Soviets would never let you do it They would say They were simply convinced It was not possible But then when the victory came Now they are all grateful Because that's what they wanted as well And it worked out So it is necessary to believe And to strive If I had your capabilities Your education Your dollars I would have 10 nobles I would have 10 Nobel prizes Because I fight in a different way And today in Poland We have managed to introduce The right kind of system We already have three branches Of government The constitution Free press Free press We have a system that is not exactly good We have managed to accomplish the system Maybe not perfect, not ideal But a good one And today it is necessary To fight differently I have to Today my fight Is against the people Who are trying to destroy that system And that's why I keep wearing This sweatshirt And this is saying to them You're breaking the constitution You're breaking what we have accomplished And I wear it all around the world And I say that to Poland And what am I saying to you In wearing this shirt And I'm saying to you There is somewhere A really beautiful country Poland It resisted communism And then It treated elections Slightly It allowed demagogues And populace to hold power And now It cannot handle it that well You also took elections Slightly You also had some difficult elections But I also sort of Brought in some mess To you as well In Miami I met Trump one day He was not president yet And he was asking me a lot of questions And I told him everything And then I said to him Listen An electrician could become president So can you You know what? He believed me and he became one And then I was shocked Next question Question Julia Our next question is wondering How did you manage the transition From leading a labor party To a sovereign nation Ladies and gentlemen Please believe me I did not want to be president But when I saw how unprepared We were That basically we were shocked We were surprised by victory And my colleagues Didn't handle it Then I was saying to myself Somehow I managed With the union somehow So it's too bad I have to become president Maybe I'll manage to cope with that as well And it wasn't that bad I was succeeding But I didn't get any help The United States did not help me either Remember I was coming to the US And I was screaming I need your generals General Motors General Motors General Electric And you just gave me Some small corporals So I had The economic results Of what was happening Were too little And I lost the elections I was still talking about what you don't know At that time At that point I wanted to join the union Together with Ukraine With Belarus At that point I had this idea That Poland should be joining The European Union and NATO Together with Ukraine And with Belarus And in secret I was working on making that possible Again I talked to I talked to Diaspora communities In various countries In Canada and Brazil And I was saying to them I was saying to them You guys need to get ready And when And in my next term as president I will announce it You will join together And I was at that point I was getting pretty strong support For this idea in those Areas And then we'll just Together And then I lost the elections Everything So I have some Problem Some Pangs of conscience If we had Ukraine And NATO And in the EU today We wouldn't have had the problem That we have I managed I managed to handle The Soviet Union It was of course with your help With the United States help But the Joining the other thing Was less of a problem than that So that's one of my regrets It's too bad It's all because of your generals Have one more question Yes We have another question From the audience As someone who dealt with Mikhail Gorbachev Personally How do you think he should be remembered In the wake of his death All together He played a very positive role We were friends Although We Differed He believed that Communism could be renovated Reformed I did not At the beginning When we were Meeting And we would meet And speak together At various places When we would have dinner And drink a little bit I always asked him two questions I would always ask him Two questions I was saying to him Listen You're not president anymore I'm not president anymore Did you betray Communism? No I believe in Communism He would say And the second question Listen You're a smart guy You believed that it was possible To reform Communism And then he would get offended And not speak to me for half an hour Because Either a traitor Or a simpleton Somebody naive But I really respect him Because he had faith in Communism Because he did believe In Communism until the end And also I would like to Take an opportunity and just add That we often Do not choose Not to mention president Clinton And do you remember That he was the one Who made the ultimate decision That Poland and Hungary Were allowed to join NATO And the European Union I knew a few presidents Starting with Carter And a lot of them Spoke nice things Said nice things But they would never make a decision During martial law They would organize Candles and windows But in terms of actual dollars I would get 5% Of what Gorbachev would get But Clinton Clinton it was different In Prague when we were At this one meeting together He was pushed and he made a decision That he would help Poland Join These organizations That's why big thank you President Clinton He's probably even forgotten About this because I don't think He mentions that a lot I remember this Because I was sort of pushing him I was the one pushing him And I was not Particularly diplomatic about it I sort of said to him In public And he basically had no choice So he signed off on it And let it be known And if he has forgotten I will try to remind him If you're in touch with him Say hello from me We have time for one last question Julia That's what Adam told me You're scaring me That it's a last question The last question Sounds scary I don't think it's a scary question I think it's a good question for all of us To take away as we leave this room today But what do you think is the best thing We as US citizens can do To help Ukraine and Ukrainians Two ideas To help Russians Try to convince Russians That for their benefit Russian people are really nice people I like them a lot But they have a really Awful system And this is the system that simply allow Criminals like Putin To do what he's done And if it works out They will be thankful to us Because it's a beautiful, rich country But the system destroys Its beauty and its riches As a Nobel Peace Prize winner I will never Attack Russia But if Russia tries to Invade Poland If they hit Warsaw or Gdańsk I will hit back to Moscow The Old Testament idea I for an eye, tooth for a tooth I will not be just Defending myself like Ukraine does They do all the right things But Poland would do it differently And despite my age I would be I would be drafted I would bear weapons Despite my Nobel Peace Prize I will never attack anybody I will not let anybody Attack me And Putin knows that So let him be careful Let him beware Since this was the last question Of course we have not Exhausted all Potential for discussion I'm counting on Having enough time for you To be able to invite me back And at the end I am pleading with you Please realize That you are responsible For the whole world That this is your fate It has gone God-given role to lead The world Of course this is Leading in the new times And today Just talk Discuss things With various kinds of people Even people like me So that we could come up With some solutions With some ideas and programs You can always count on me Until The coffin is closed I will be at your beckoning And I'm not gonna be late For my own funeral I wish you all the best I would love to have pictures With you So individually We can have pictures But it has to be organized So let Genevieve explain How it's gonna work Because at some point When people say to me I've talked to you I've got a picture with you That's why I'm doing it Because you are the rising star Stars And I'm the falling star So please let's thank President Bowen And Oh it's weaker than at the beginning Go on And President Bowen So is very generous To take pictures with you But we need to have A line One person at a time And first I would like to invite The staff members of The Wiser Center for Europe and Eurasia And of the Ford School And then everyone else Get your phones out And get ready Thank you very much everyone For being here today Thank you