Gdansk, Day2 (06 Aug 08)

The Monument of the fallen Shipyard Workers (three hugeass steel structures behind us) was erected to commemorate the victims of the December 1970 shipyard strikes.

These symbolic pieces stood 42 metres over Solidarity Square, weighing more than 100 tonnes, were built by the shipyard workers themselves.

You are probably wondering what is all the fuss about this square.

Well, this is the birthplace of the 1st non-communist trade union

(communism did not permit any formation of non-communist unions/clubs/societies... eg: PKR, UMNO, the cougar club or Hung Heng)

and the 1st anti-communist social movement led by Lech Walesa - THE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT "Solidarność". Its English word, Solidarity originated after this party movement in Gdansk.

I heard Teresa Kok mentioning Solidarity too in one of her speeches after her ISA release.

To put you in a better perspective, you can consider:

• The Gdansk Solidarity Square as Kelana Jaya Stadium

• Lech Walesa as Anwar Ibrahim

• Josef Stalin as Pak Lah

• communism as ISA

• Cwei as Chua Soi Lek

• Jing as Saiful Bukhari

• Shin Lert as Rosmah Mansor

• and I as a potential ISA arrest blogger
  (nobody reads this blog so I'm negligible, as for the others their character stands)
  
  Oh right, you might be wondering whether Jing and I got jackets...

I know, its bloody gay... so shut up

There was a Solidarity museum near the square. So we checked it out.

The museum was a bi-exhibition of ''relics of Poland'' and '' things you still see in Ukraine in the present day''.

Shinlert making an emergency phone call to make sure her credit card bill hadn't arrived home.

and she found out that bedbugs weren't her only problem. She maxed out her credit limit on her card too.

Jing and I just had ''almost dog-food'' during our incarceration.

Me giving the Lenin sign

Tell you what, I will get Cwei and Jing to pose exactly like they did in this picture for another ''present day'' wc shot in Ukraine. The only difference will be the smell and the diorama.

As we proceeded with the tour, we discovered more things which we see in our daily lives across the border.

so we concluded the Polish-Ukraine border was actually a time portal.

Jing in a background of riot police. He aspired to be one...

...and he just yet did! as a riot police enforcing martial law during the uprising.

Damn shield wasn't at all light. This was definitely one of the crazy sprees we had.

We weren't allowed to touch the exhibits in the museum... however, we had a ''paramilitary riot-police prop fight'' even though under CCTV's supervision.

and quickly came out with a cover just in case we were caught for messing with the exhibits. We are going to act ignorant and say we are Singaporeans. Malaysia does not need any more disgrace or defamation... perfect cover!

All in all, this museum did tell an amazing story about how freedom was painstakingly fought for. Wałęsa's 10 years fight was expressed in all the awe-inspiring exhibits, stories and films in the museum.

Solidarity gave rise to a broad anti-communist nonviolent social movement that, at its height, united some 10 million members and vastly contributed to the fall of communism. Poland eroded the dominance of the Communist Party and by 1989 had triumphed in parliamentary elections. Lech Wałęsa, a Solidarity candidate, eventually won the presidency in 1990. The Solidarity movement heralded the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe

Again, my admiration to the Polish people whom were resilient defending their freedom from the evils of war, stresses of the cold war, communism and annoying neighbors.

for more info about the Solidarity struggle, you can visit the official site by clicking on the link below

http://www.solidarnosc.org.pl/en/

The Solidarity Museum taught me a few things:

• do not set a dateline when you plan to overthrow the government.

• If AI succeed in overthrowing the ruling govt, he might be the 1st Malaysian to be awarded a Nobel Prize like Walesa did.

• If you want to see Poland during the 80's, go to Ukraine.

• Do not sniff the riot-police's helmet, Jingo might have left some souvenirs in there.