Gorbachev Visit
October 26, 2005See Video:
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Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union whose vision helped bring an end to the Cold War, paid a surprise visit on October 26 to the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
Gorbachev met with law students for more than an hour and engaged in a one-on-one interview with the school’s dean, Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, herself a former general counsel with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
More than 300 students packed into the school’s lecture hall listened as Gorbachev described his brief career as a lawyer, his rise to political power, and the tumultuous times of his reign over the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.
“In a totalitarian society such as the Soviet Union, there was no dissent and a democratic process could only begin from above,” he said. “It was a confluence of historic events that affected a generational change and allowed the introduction of perestroika and glasnost.”
The Nobel Peace Prize winner tied the problems of Third World poverty to current terrorism and security concerns. “It is hard to imagine a calm, safe and secure world” where so many people live in backwardness and poverty, he said.
Gorbachev also cited the need for solutions to global environmental problems. He is active in Green Cross International, an organization he founded in 1993, which encourages governments and businesses to seek global solutions to environmental problems.
Pacific McGeorge students Matt Hooper and Daniel King were the organizers of Gorbachev’s visit.
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