1987. november (125-143. szám) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2
1 ®otí 2.4/D Little Rutsell Street i LONDONI, Ví-C.i. ■ Ttl.Oi-^iO H 20 ■ Q. Firassi 133/1987 (E) 20th November, 1987 International Seminar in Budapest Concerning Gorbachov*s and the Cooperation of European Alternative Social Movements Tomorrov, on November 21st an intemational seminar vili begin focussing on the links betveen East and West in the Lav Sociological Faculty of the Eötvös Lorand University in Menesi Street. About 120 invited guests vili take part in the tvo day conference, apart from Hungarians people from Western Europe - England, Federal Republic of Germany, Holland and the United States and there vili be guests from Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Yugoslavia as véli. The organisation of the conference vas undertaken in the West by an organisation based in West Berlin called the "European Netvork of Dialogues Betveen East and West". The Hungárián organisers announced the aims of and the participants in the conference in a circular: "The present optimistic intemational situation encouraged us to hőst an extensive East-West seminar to vhich ve invite véli knovn Hungárián and foreign experts in this field, as véli as somé of the great person- alities of Western European intellectual and cultural life and repre- sentatives of movements involved in East-West dialogue." The seminar vili focus on tvo themes. On Saturday Gorbachov’s reform policies vili be discussed; the Hungárián philosopher János Kis - editor of the samizdat periodical Beszélő (The Talker) - and Mary Kaldor, a véli knovn representative of the Western European Peace Movement vho is English, vili give opening lectures to start the debate. On Sunday the prospects of establishing a common European democratic movement, the aims and possibilities of cooperation betveen East- European alternative social movements vili be discussed. The debate vili centre on the accounts of the Hungárián Miklós Vásárhelyi, a Pole, Czech or Eastern European lecturer and the Dutch Mient Jan Faber;and the vj»iter György Konrad vili alsó speak. Bút the above themes vili only serve as a framevork fór the day-long debates on Saturday and Sunday in vhich the participants can ask any question con- nected vith these themes. In the seminar - vhose official language vili be English - uninvited people can take part if there is enough space in the hall. The conference has already provoked interest in Hungary and abroad. In Poland a conference vith similar themes and attended by foreigners vas held nőt long ago bút it could only take piacé in a church and the official Polish press agencies sharply attacked it. During the veek nevs has spread of hov the Hungárián author- ities have prevented the seminar from being held in the Lav Faculty bút according to information received over the phone today from Budapest the conference can take piacé on Saturday moming at 10 am in its originally planned piacé. Apart from the importance of the theme there are alsó somé other circumstances vhich raise the interest: an independent group of Soviet citizens called the "Glasnost Press Club" visheB to organise an intemational seminar on humán rights in Moscov on December 10th-13th; it is perhaps possible to conclude from Hungárián experiences vhether the Soviet authorities vili permit the conference to be held. ■
