Solidarity

Warsaw,Poland -- DURING THE certain and romantic years o the struggle against communism, Solidarity leaders here used to say, "There is no freedom without Solidarity!"Now that symbolic phrase has been reworked. In this uncertain and unromantic age for Poland, the ambivalent new phrase is, "There is no Solidarity in liberty."This play with words -- something the Poles are famous for -- explains a lot. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, former Solidarity spokesman, explained the frustration of these ambiguous days to me, saying: "Before, we were in this totally moral situation.

Violence struck the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore once again Sunday night, as an unidentified male was wounded by gunfire so severely that homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene, according to police. The shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. in the 3000 block of Chesterfield Avenue, a block from where a "solidarity walk" against crime was held Thursday night by local residents and city leaders, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The walk had followed the fatal shooting of Peter Marvit, a 51-year-old scientist, in the 2800 block of Chesterfield Avenue last week.

Residents and city leaders who gathered Thursday night in the Northeast Baltimore neighborhood where a 51-year-old scientist was recently gunned down spoke passionately about taking the streets back from criminals intent on intimidation. Gathered in the Belair-Edison neighborhood to take a "solidarity walk" after the killing Monday night of Peter Marvit, they spoke of sticking together to confront crime throughout the city. "We know we cannot let the cowards win, not in this neighborhood, not in any neighborhood in this city," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, telling the 100 or so residents in attendance that they "deserve to live in safe neighborhoods.

Residents and city leaders who gathered Thursday night in the Northeast Baltimore neighborhood where a 51-year-old scientist was recently gunned down spoke passionately about taking the streets back from criminals intent on intimidation. Gathered in the Belair-Edison neighborhood to take a "solidarity walk" after the killing Monday night of Peter Marvit, they spoke of sticking together to confront crime throughout the city. "We know we cannot let the cowards win, not in this neighborhood, not in any neighborhood in this city," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, telling the 100 or so residents in attendance that they "deserve to live in safe neighborhoods.

Above, Krista Strothmann is one of 18 people arrested after traffic was disrupted during a protest in downtown Baltimore. Yesterday's rally was intended to demonstrate solidarity with San Francisco hotel workers, who have been locked out of their jobs. At left, Debra James (with sign) joins dozens of union workers in a show of support. The arrested protesters were all charged with impeding vehicular traffic and failing to obey a police officer's lawful order. (Article, Page 3b)

The president of the 1.3 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) came to Baltimore last night to "seek higher ground for low-paid workers."Gerald W. McEntee told a packed Knox Presbyterian Church in East Baltimore that a new association of low-wage workers here would "build a bonfire at the bottom and let the heat rise to the top, and when they feel the heat, they will see the light."The meeting launched a joint drive by AFSCME, the largest public employees union in Maryland, and Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, a church-based civic group, to organize the "invisible" workers who clean Baltimore's hotels, offices and schools.

GDANSK, Poland -- If opinion polls are right, the enfeebled Solidarity opposition is staging a stunning political turnaround. There is even serious talk of a Solidarity-led coalition taking back the Polish Parliament in elections next fall.That would be a momentous comeback for the trade-union-based popular movement, which brought down communism in 1989 only to be swept to the sidelines by its revamped Communist adversaries in elections.But what is most striking about Solidarity's long-awaited rebounding is the absence of its most famous figure.

A private company took over security duties at two Baltimore City housing projects yesterday even as new charges of improprieties were leveled over the award of the $2.1 million contract.At 8 a.m. yesterday, personnel from Solidarity Security and Investigative Services went on patrol at Murphy Homes and Flag House Courts, relieving guards from L. Washington and Associates of Philadelphia. The new company is charged with guarding seven buildings containing 1,245 housing units.Housing authority spokesman Zack Germroth said the switch was "going exceptionally smoothly."

WARSAW, Poland -- Poles vote today in the second round of presidential elections after a bitter campaign that revealed the weakness and division of the ruling Solidarity labor movement.Today's candidates for the as-yet undefined office of head of state were the top vote-getters Nov. 25: Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, the favorite, and emigre Stanislaw Tyminski, a Polish-Canadian-Peruvian who outpolled Solidarity Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and sent Solidarity into a state of shock.Both Mr. Walesa and Mr. Tyminski are populists.

World leaders are descending on Washington to publicly show solidarity and privately urge restraint. (The times cry out for split infinitives.) What goes down must come up, sayeth the Olde Investor. Rudy Giuliani, all is forgiven. The new security measures at police HQ make downtown Baltimore look like Belfast before the cease-fire. Whatever became of Gary Condit?

After narrowly failing to pass a gay marriage bill this year, advocates in Maryland are putting together a savvy and high-powered campaign to persuade a few holdout delegates to embrace the issue. And they're aiming it straight at the constituency that may be key to the legislation's chances in the General Assembly and at the ballot box if it is petitioned to referendum: African-Americans. A gay marriage bill cleared the Senate this year but was withdrawn from the House of Delegates when it became clear that supporters were a few votes shy. In particular, proponents had trouble convincing some Democrats from Prince George's County and Baltimore City who were under pressure from African-American church leaders who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds.

LAV VEGAS — Billy Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Assn., emerged last week from a meeting with one-tenth of his 400-plus locked out players. With NBA owners pushing hard on the idea they need to significantly slash payroll and institute a hard salary cap as a response to their claim 23 of 30 teams are losing money, Hunter's players appear headed to a fall — and perhaps winter — without paychecks. Player unity, then, is a crucial element of avoiding a salary free fall.

Here's why the recently approved Baltimore City teachers' union contract reminds me of Texas. My daughter's college roommate is from Fort Worth. With the exception of the rodeo ring at Billy Bob's Texas honky tonk (which you should visit before you die), Fort Worth is home to about as many cows, and as many real cowboys, as you'll likely find residing or working in downtown Silver Spring. But you wouldn't know it by the number of Stetsons and hand-tooled, pointy-toed cowboy boots on parade at either Billy Bob's on a Saturday night or in the downtown Fort Worth office district during lunch.

Anna Walentynowicz, a shipyard worker whose firing made her a central figure in Poland's Solidarity movement, which broke the communist grip on the country in the 1980s, died April 10 in the airplane crash near Smolensk, Russia, that also claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other top Polish officials. She was 80. Ms. Walentynowicz became a heroic symbol of freedom in her homeland after she was dismissed from her job at the Gdansk shipyard in August 1980, just five months before she was scheduled to retire.

CHICAGO - Streaming into an unparalleled moment in history, tens of thousands lit up Grant Park with a display of election night electricity not seen in generations. Under crystal skies and a crescent moon, they came from across the country and around the world, stood shoulder to shoulder and cheered joyously for President-elect Barack Obama, each drawn for reasons as diverse as the faces around them. "The energy is shifting," said Linda Robb, a white woman from Buffalo Grove who burst into tears as Obama won. "There is a transformational shift happening - consciousness is being raised."

BRONISLAW GEREMEK , 76 Ex-d issident, foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek - a key figure in the Solidarity trade union that helped topple communism and, later, Poland's foreign minister - was killed in a car accident yesterday, police said. Mr. Geremek was driving a Mercedes that collided head-on with a van yesterday afternoon near the western Polish village of Miedzichowo, said Hanna Wachowiak, a regional police spokeswoman. The activist-turned-politician had been serving as a member of European Parliament since being elected in 2004.

WARSAW, Poland -- Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki resigned last night after his stunning defeat in Sunday's presidential elections not only by Solidarity leader Lech Walesa but also by an unknown Polish-Canadian emigre, Stan Tyminski.Mr. Mazowiecki said that his Solidarity government had relied on the support and understanding of the population during a period of necessary but "extremely painful" reforms."For several months I believed that that understanding existed," he said. "Yesterday's election results show that the situation has changed."

Charging a violation of federal conflict-of-interest rules, attorneys for a security guard company filed a formal protest yesterday of the award of a $2.1 million contract by the Baltimore housing authority.In a four-page letter sent late yesterday to housing authority officials, lawyers for Watkins Security Agency Inc. charged that awarding the one-year contract to Solidarity Security and Investigative Services Inc. was "contrary to law" and should be reversed.The letter noted that its bid calls for security guards to be paid at $10.21 per hour, while Solidarity's bid calls for a higher $10.35 hourly rate.

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com. "Emily Hussein Nordling," her entry now reads. With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name. Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim. Hussein is a family name inherited from his father.

DEIR EL BALAH, Gaza Strip -- At Mohammed Telbani's biscuit and ice cream factory, the ovens are cool, the freezers are warm and his business is quickly going under, since Israel knocked out Gaza's main power supply. "Look at this. This is supposed to be a factory?" Telbani said, glancing at the silenced line of machines that bake, slice and wrap chocolate and hazelnut wafers, pretzels and cookies. No electricity means there's no power to chill his ice cream. Now in its third week, the Israeli military offensive to search for a kidnapped Israeli soldier and stop Palestinian rocket fire has also placed a stranglehold on Gaza's commercial crossing, leaving Telbani's factory without sugar and other supplies, and no way for him to export his goods to the West Bank and abroad.