4 October 2007
Gorbachev calls for new global thinking in Louisville
Recalling the cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union to end the Cold War, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said in Louisville on Wednesday that many of those lessons have been cast aside for a «victory complex» and an emphasis on «domination».
«Our two nations are leading the way in the wrong ways», Gorbachev said through a translator during a speech at the Kentucky Center to a crowd of more than 2,000.
Gorbachev traced this «victory complex» back to a simplified reading of the fall of the Soviet Union as a U.S. victory in the Cold War, and said it continued with the ideology that led the U.S. into the war in Iraq, even when many in the global community did not support the unilateral strike.
«Can we develop a proper vision of the world if all we think about is the self-interest of individual nations?» Gorbachev asked rhetorically in his speech.
The 76-year-old — who led the Soviet Union from 1985-1991 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his efforts to end the Cold War and secure relations with the West — was in Louisville as part of a multicity tour leading up to a meeting of the Green Cross International, an environmental group he founded in 1993.
Gorbachev said he considered the environment, an emerging shortage of natural resources and global poverty as global priorities that can only be addressed through a spirit of cooperation and unity.
«What we need is sustainable development», Gorbachev said.
The hour-long talk, which concluded with a question-and-answer period, was hosted by the World Affairs Council of Kentucky/Southern Indiana as part of its 2007-08 Global Issues Forum. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to appear April 3. A May speaker has not been announced.
In his opening remarks — which included his own extended introduction — Gorbachev asked for the lights to be turned on the audience and said seeing so many young faces made him recall his youth and realize his age.
«I’m 76 years old, unfortunately», he said. «Seven is a magic number, so that’s some consolation».
Gorbachev also drew some chuckles from the crowd when he spoke of President Ronald Reagan as a «very right-wing president of course» who used «common sense», and when he responded to an audience question about his legacy from a woman who said she was writing a paper about Gorbachev.
«I think once you complete your paper you will draw your own conclusions», Gorbachev said.
Ultimately, Gorbachev said he would like to be remembered as «somebody worth remembering».
More than 400 students and educators were in attendance at the forum.
Among them was Trevor Flick, a 16-year-old high school junior from Jasper, who made the hour and a half trek with his father.
«I agree with him that everyone needs to get along and collaborate instead of all the war», Flick said.
Greg Gibbons said it was his son, a student at Manual High School in Louisville, who urged him to attend the event.
«It was a good reminder to us Americans that the world is bigger than America», Gibbons said.
