This event has been archived here: r/pbeAoN2019.

Freedom! We are free!

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the start of one of the most pivotal, instantaneous, and shocking political wave of change the world saw in the 20th century: the Autumn of Nations! On this day thirty years ago, Poland’s government agreed with the opposition trade union Solidarity to establish a bicameral legislature and open the country to its first elections in decades.

Centered on Eastern Europe, the Autumn of Nations was the culmination of efforts from dissidents of communist and or authoritarian governments, reformists in party leadership, and an overall change of political climate that oversaw the end of the tensest period in world history: the Cold War. The once-united Eastern Bloc split away from the Soviets and moved to their own political and economic independence. Those same nations dismantled the Iron Curtain one by one and made swift reforms to governments in a process of democratization that would’ve been unheard of even the year prior to the Autumn of Nations.

From the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany's reunification to the ringing of the bells in Prague; from the Baltic Way to Romania’s brief civil war; and from Solidarity’s rise in power in Poland to Hungarian and Bulgarian political reform, the world watch in awe and wonder as these nations moved away from suppressive, abusive regimes to governments aiming to pioneer global human rights.

The far-reaching impacts of the Autumn of Nations were immense, too, and beyond Europe. Massive student protests in China favoring reform took place, which infamously ended in the Tiananmen Square massacres. Indochina saw its communist governments make economic reforms and Cambodia completely abandon the ideology altogether. Other communist governments were dismantled in Africa, whether peaceful or not. Even non-communist regimes felt the shockwaves of the revolutions in Eastern Europe, with authoritarian governments in Latin America, Asia, and Africa falling. Most notably, though, was the fall of the Soviet Union. The USSR, who arguably sparked the Autumn of Nations due to its new foreign doctrines as part of its own interior reforms, collapsed into many independent states and isolated countries like North Korea and Cuba, with dire consequences for those two as they lost crucial aid.

The impacts of the Autumn of Nations are still seen today by our modern politics, and the ideals it carries still stands and is still something many strive for: democracy, unity, and peace. Today is a day of reflection to honor the brave men, women, and children who took the streets and, facing the direct risks in both non-violent and violent revolutions, achieved the impossible.

This event would have never been possible without the hard, endless work of these dedicated members of the r/polandball community:

• u/jackson_games_cb

• u/thrawn0o

• u/Toucandigit

• u/Lucky_Numbr_7

• u/Hinadira

• u/MoveElit

• u/TheSnipenieer

• u/themg26

• u/Pomik108

• u/sharpie660

• u/javacode

May the Iron Curtain ever so fall!

To shout your own protests against authoritarianism, add two hashes (##) at the front of your text like this:

##Solidarność! Freedom for us all!

Solidarność! Freedom for us all!