June 4, 1989, was a seminal date for democratic transformation.

On one side of the globe, the Chinese Communist Party used tanks and bullets to suppress the peaceful protest in #TiananmenSquare. On the opposite side, #Poland witnessed its first free election since WWII, where the Polish #Solidarity opposition won a landslide, capturing all but one seat in the parliament's upper and lower houses.

That’s why it was such an honor for the Campaign and Samuel Chu to be invited to join the celebration at Europejskie Centrum Solidarności (European Solidarity Centre) this year—a special place where we draw strength and lessons for our neverending pursuit of a more just, free, and democratic world.

We are again reminded that every culture and people has an innate aspiration and capacity for freedom and the right to self-determination.

Gdansk was the cradle of democracy not only in Poland but also in Eastern Europe. The Solidarity movement directly influenced and impacted the peaceful revolution that liberated East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall. In a poignant display of solidarity, we met with several towering figures who played central roles in the opposition and underground organizing in East Germany: Ulrika Poppe, Marianne Birthler, and Esther-Marie Ullmann-Goertz.

There is no freedom without solidarity.