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Bogdan Borusewicz
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Bogdan Michal Borusewicz, (born January 11, 1949 in Lidzbark Warminski, Poland, where his parents moved from Vilnius) is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since October 20, 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, and a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm) for three terms.
He is notable for being the first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.
still a secondary school student of School of Fine Arts in Gdynia, he was arrested in May 1968 during the Polish 1968 political crisis on charges of printing and distributing opposition fliers.
In 1975, he graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin in the field of history.
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Encyclopedia
Bogdan Michal Borusewicz, (born January 11, 1949 in Lidzbark Warminski, Poland, where his parents moved from Vilnius) is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since October 20, 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, and a member of the Polish parliament (Sejm) for three terms.
He is notable for being the first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.
Democratic opposition in communist Poland
When still a secondary school student of School of Fine Arts in Gdynia, he was arrested in May 1968 during the Polish 1968 political crisis on charges of printing and distributing opposition fliers.
In 1975, he graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin in the field of history. During the 1970s he took part in a campaign of support for striking workers in Radom, and became a part of the Workers' Defence Committee. In the years 1977-1978 he was a co-organiser of the Free Trade Unions of the Coast.
He was a principal organiser of the August, 1980 strike in the Gdansk Shipyard which led to the formation of the Solidarity trade union, and a co-author of the strikers postulates. He took part in the formation of the Solidarity free trade union.
After the institution of martial law by the regime on December 13, 1981, he spent more than four years hiding from the authorities and organising the underground structures of the then-outlawed Solidarity trade union. Between 1984 and 1986, a member of the Provisional Solidarity Coordination Committee and then Provisional Solidarity Trade Union Council. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1986, released under an amnesty in 1988. He supported the May and August strikes in the Gdansk Shipyard in that year.
In free Poland
Deputy chairman of the Solidarity trade union movement 1990-1991. Was one of the candidates for its chairmanship in February 1991.
From 1991 to 2001 a member of parliament (Sejm). In the first term (1991-1993), the leader of the Solidarity party, and the chairman of the commission studying the consequences of the Martial Law period. He was opposed to the vote of no confidence for the Suchocka government (against the position of the Solidarity trade union), and after its fall left Solidarity. In the following elections he was elected as a member of the Unia Demokratyczna party, which in 1994 became the Unia Wolnosci (UW). He was the chairman of the special forces parliamentary committee. During the third term (1997-2000) in the Buzek government, he was the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration (in charge of the police force). He resigned when the UW left the government coalition in 2000. He was also a member of a variety of other parliamentary commissions.
He was not elected again in 2001. from October 2001 he was a member of the board of management of Pomorze province, and was a candidate for the presidency of Gdansk (obtaining 16.32% of votes). He did not join the Democratic Party (organised by UW members as a broader grouping), being opposed to the inclusion of politicians associated with the postcommunist SLD party.
He was chosen a senator in the 2005 parliamentary election, running as an independent but supported by both the Law and Justice(PiS) and Citizens Platform (PO) parties. He was chosen as the Marshal (Speaker) of the Senate with their support.
He tried to defend Lech Walesa when IPN publish book with proofs of Walesa's collaboration with Secret Police (SB) in early 70's. Accused Marka Kubasiewicza about being agent of SB without any proof trying to discredits other "Solidarity" people.
In 2009, he criticized the Pope over the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X, and was later criticized by other prominent Catholic figures in Poland.
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