Maine, chiar in ziua aniversarii sfarsitului Zidului Rusinii, moment simbolic suprem al incheierii ciclului istoric inaugurat de Primul Razboi Mondial si revolutia bolsevica, incepe o conferinta internationala despre dramaticul, formidabilul, incredibilul, incandescentul an revolutionar 1989 si consecintele sale. O inlantuire de evenimente care au marcat o generatie. Unul din acele puncte nodale ale istoriei, pe drept cuvant numit de Papa Ioan Paul al II-lea annus mirabilis.
Cum scrie The Economist in editorialul sau din 7 noiembrie 2009:
“The destruction of the Iron Curtain on November 9th 1989 is still the most remarkable political event of most people’s lifetimes: It set free millions of individuals and it borught to an end a global conflict that threatened nuclear annihilation. For liberals in the West, it still stands as a reminder both of what has been won since and what it is still worth fighting for.”
Iata mai jos anuntul Institutului Cultural Roman, principalul sustinator al acestui proiect intelectual realizat in colaborare cu University of Maryland, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Georgetown University si Ambasada Romaniei de laWashington. Este a treia conferinta menita sa construiasca punti intre intelectualii din Romania ori originari din Romania (istorici, filosofi, specialisti in drepturile omului si retorica, politologi, scriitori, jurnalisti) si colegii lor din Occident. Prima conferinta din aceasta serie a avut loc in 2007 pe tema stalinizarii Europei de Est si Centrale. Volumul nascut din acel eveniment a aparut luna aceasta la Central European University Press si va fi oficial lansat la Boston, la conventia anula a organizatiei academice American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies sambata, 14 noiembrie.
“În zilele de 9 şi 10 noiembrie 2009, Institutul Cultural Român şi profesorul Vladimir Tismaneanu, directorul Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies (University of Maryland-College Park), în colaborare cu Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service (Georgetown University) şi Ambasada României în S.U.A., vor organiza conferinţa “The End and the Beginning: The Revolutions of 1989 and the Resurgence of History”. Acest eveniment este al treilea dintr-o serie de conferinţe organizate de instituţiile amintite mai sus începând cu anul 2007. Prima s-a numit ”Stalinism Revisited: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe and the Dynamics of the Soviet Bloc” (Washington D.C., 29-30 noiembrie 2007), iar a doua “Promises of 1968: Crisis, Illusions and Utopia” (Washington D.C.,6-7 noiembrie 2008).
Evenimentul din acest an are ca obiectiv analiza naturii, semnificaţiilor şi consecinţelor revoluţiilor din anul 1989 atât într-un cadru european cât şi global. Organizatorii doresc să ofere o privire de ansamblu interdisciplinară şi complexă a acestui moment de turnură al istoriei contemporane. Dispariţia regimurilor comuniste în Europa Răsăriteană şi idealurile politice propuse de tumultul anului 1989 au provocat o reconsiderare a semnificaţiei unor concepte esenţiale pentru lumea în care trăim: democraţie, liberalism, societate civilă, egalitarianism, naţionalism, şi, de ce nu, chiar acela de revoluţie.”
Lista participantilor:
Dr. C.D.Mote – President, University of Maryland – College Park
State of Maryland Senator Jim Rosapepe – Former U.S. Ambassador to Romania
H.E. Adrian Vieriţă -Ambassador of Romania to the U.S.A.
Vladimir Tismaneanu – Director, Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies, Professor, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
Horia-Roman Patapievici -President, Romanian Cultural Institute
Charles Gati – Adjunct Professor of Russian and Eurasian Studies, School of Advanced International Studies/Johns Hopkins University
Agnes Heller – Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at the New School in New York
Gale Stokes – Mary Gibbs Jones Professor Emeritus of History, Rice University
Jeffrey Isaac – James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science and Director of the Indiana Democracy Consortium at Indiana University
A.Ross Johnson – former director of Radio Free Europe and senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Jeffrey Herf – teaches Modern European and German political and intellectual history at the University of Maryland in College Park
Konrad Jarausch – Lurcy Professor of European Civilization at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
James McAdams – William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs and Director of Nanovic Institute for European Studies University of Notre Dame
Karol Soltan – Associate Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland in College Park
Victor Zaslavsky – Professor of Political Sociology and the Director of the Transition Studies Center at the Free International University for Social Sciences, Guido Carli, Rome
Charles King – Professor of International Affairs and Government at Georgetown University
Vladislav Zubok – Professor, Department of History at Temple University, Philadelphia
Tom Gallagher – Professor of Ethnic Conflict and Peace at University of Bradford
Thomas Blanton – Director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University
Mills Kelly – Associate Director or the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University
Nick Miller – professor of history and chair of the department of history at Boise State University
Bradley Abrams – President of the Czechoslovak Studies Association
Emil Hurezeanu – former director of the Romanian department of Radio Free Europe
Catalin Avramescu – Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest
Ioan T. Morar – Romanian journalist and civil society activist
Iulia Motoc – member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and she teaches at the University of Bucharest
Noemi Marin – Director of Peace Studies Program, and Associate Professor of Communication at Florida Atlantic University
Lavinia Stan – Associate Professor at the Political Science Department of St. Francis Xavier University
Cornel Ban – fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University
Bogdan Iacob – PhD student, Central European University