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00:00The Nobel Prize
00:15I'm lazy, but it's the lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle
00:20because they didn't like walking or carrying things.
00:24Lech Wałęsa was born on September 29, 1943 in Popowa, Poland.
00:32After graduating from vocational school, he worked as a car mechanic at a machine centre.
00:37He served in the army for two years, rose to the rank of corporal
00:42and in 1967 was employed in the Gdansk shipyards as an electrician.
00:48In 1969 he married Danuto Golos and they have eight children.
00:54During the clash in December 1970 between the workers and the government,
00:59he was one of the leaders of the shipyard workers and was briefly detained.
01:04In 1976, however, as a result of his activities as a shop steward,
01:10he was fired and had to earn his living by taking temporary jobs.
01:14In 1978, with other activists, he began to organize free non-communist trade unions
01:22and took part in many actions on the seacoast.
01:26He was kept under surveillance by the State Security Service and was frequently detained.
01:32In August 1980 he led the Gdansk shipyard strike, which gave rise to a wave of strikes over much of the country,
01:42with Wałęsa seen as the leader.
01:44The primary demands were for workers' rights.
01:48The authorities were forced to capitulate and to negotiate with Wałęsa the Gdansk Agreement of August 31, 1980,
01:58which gave the workers the right to strike and organize their own independent union.
02:04The Catholic Church supported the movement and in January 1981,
02:10Valenza was cordially received by Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
02:16Valenza himself has always regarded his Catholicism as a source of strength and inspiration.
02:22In the years 1980-1981, Valenza traveled to Italy, Japan, Sweden, France and Switzerland,
02:30as guest of the International Labour Organization.
02:34In September 1981 he was elected Solidarity Chairman at the first National Solidarity Congress in Gdansk.
02:42The country's brief enjoyment of relative freedom ended in December 1981,
02:48when General Jaruzelski, fearing Soviet armed intervention among other considerations,
02:54imposed martial law, suspended solidarity, arrested many of his leaders
03:00and interned Valenza in a country house in a remote spot.
03:04In November 1982, Valenza was released and reinstated at the Gdansk shipyards.
03:10Although kept under surveillance, he managed to maintain lively contact with Solidarity leaders in the underground.
03:18While martial law was lifted in July 1983, many of the restrictions were continued in civil code.
03:26In October 1983, the announcement of Valenza's Nobel Prize raised the spirits of the underground movement,
03:34but the award was attacked by the government press.
03:38The Jaruzelski regime became even more unpopular as economic conditions worsened,
03:44and it was finally forced to negotiate with Valenza and his Solidarity colleagues.
03:50The result was the holding of parliamentary elections, which, although limited, led to the establishment of a non-communist government.
03:58Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union was no longer prepared to use military force to keep communist parties in satellite states in power.
04:09Valenza, now head of the revived Solidarity Labour Union, began a series of meetings with world leaders.
04:17In April 1990, at Solidarity's Second National Congress, Valenza was elected chairman with 77.5% of the votes.
04:28In December 1990, in a general ballot, he was elected president of the Republic of Poland.
04:35He served until defeated in the election of November 1995.
04:40Valenza has been granted many means of pride in public the United States.
04:43Tsunade Europe had established the current state of Social Media,
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