Veteran videographer David Lionel is moderating an interactive screening of Mikhail Gorbachev, A Man for the Ages at the Palmetto Branch Library, 923 6th St. W., Thursday, April 28, from 6 to 7:30 PM. This short video portrays the life, deeds, and thoughts of one of the great men of the 20th Century. An interactive format encourages participants, gathering in small circles, to express their deepest feelings about his example vs. the current Russian leader. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Premier of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, ended the cold war. In negotiations with US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, he forged a path to peace with the West through mutual respect and inclusion. Rather than maintaining the Russian Empire, he refused to prop up the puppet governments oppressing Eastern Europe. Domestically, he encouraged political openness – glasnost - and enabled economic restructuring – perestroika. From within, he engineered the Communist Party’s loss of control over all aspects of Soviet society. The elected Congress of People’s Deputies he created undermined the one-party state. His vision and actions manifested revolutionary thinking to achieve conflict resolution and enhance human unity. His way offers hope for lasting peace, in place of endless war-making. David Lionel lived for three months in the Soviet Union during the fall of 1990. On many nights, he went with a colleague and a translator at 3 AM to a Moscow State TV archive to select footage from Gorbachev’s life. Lionel has enjoyed a long career covering major social movements as an advocacy video producer and editor.

For calendar of events click here.