Gorbachev far from evil to UCI crowd

Alicia Robinson
Daily Pilot

Los Angeles Times. March 25, 2004.

They weren't swords, but former weapons did make up the unusual award received by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at UC Irvine Tuesday.

The first-ever UC Irvine Citizen Peacebuilding Award, made by art professor Gifford Myers from the barrels of guns, was given to Gorbachev for his contributions to world peace and improving the environment.

"It is a very important symbol," Gorbachev said through an interpreter. "Instead of swords, let's have plowshares."

Gorbachev also gave a speech peppered with applause, and he gave lengthy, considered answers to audience questions about the conflict in Chechnya, Russia's political situation today, and the global energy crisis.

One questioner charged that more than 100 million people had died as a result of communism and added that Ronald Reagan once called the USSR "the evil Soviet empire."

Gorbachev's response brought him warm and hearty applause.

"I started perestroika in order to rid my country of the Communist model that existed there," he said. He also allowed the countries that splintered from the Soviet Union to make their own decisions about what kind of government they wanted, he said.

Asked how he came to give up leadership voluntarily, Gorbachev said, "I behaved, in fact, like a Democrat. I had some other options available to me but I could not take that road, that very dangerous road that could have resulted in strife and bloodshed."