speech! speech!

Today, Mikhail Gorbachev received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brown and gave a lecture titled “Democracy’s Impact on Globalization.” It was truly a privilege to listen to this intelligent, diplomatic, humble, utterly humane politician. It’s in large part thanks to his “daring… and restraint,” as Ruth put it, that I have been able to go back to Russia after emigrating; thanks to processes he helped set in motion, people are now less afraid, more politically active over there. To take a country as twisted and stifled by its own governments as the Soviet Union and turn it around, never losing sight of humanity in the process, is admirable.

He didn’t say anything new, by any vaguely politically aware person’s standards; nevertheless, it was an excellent lecture to read (and to hear) in the current political climate here in the States. He talked of real democracy, not only on a national but on an international level. He talked of the need for popular vote, pointing out that world leaders get elected by 25-30% of their populations, considering the nonvoting masses and the (fewer!) people voting for the opposition. He said that the UN needs to regain momentum and authority. He did mention Iraq, stating unequivocally that, although Americans did create the mess, it would be wrong for the world to not participate in cleaning it up, because it would only promote divisiveness. Later on, during the Q&A, he harshly criticized the U.S. for its imperialist attitude, said that imposing American will on other peoples is not acceptable and does not promote democracy, and quipped that the U.S. needs perestroika as much as Russia and Latin America do. Throughout his speech, Gorbachev repeatedly placed emphasis on peace and the betterment of the human condition (not his exact words) as the ultimate goals.

The simultaneous interpretation was atrocious. Having done it in the past, I know what it takes; and this guy was just plain unprepared. He was bad. I wonder if he’s Gorbachev’s “own” interpreter (unlikely, given the quality) or one provided by the university (which would be shameful). I hope that, if the text of the speech is posted, it is a better translation.