The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton will give opening remarks followed by Aung Din, Policy Director, US Coalition for Burma. Former US Ambassador to Belarus, David H. Swartz will introduce Professor Mikhailov. A brief question and answer session and a reception will follow the lecture.

Anatoli Mikhailov, a preeminent democracy activist in Belarus, will deliver this year's key-note address. Dr. Mikhailov will be speaking on "Democracy as a Challenge." A highly respected expert on German philosophy, Dr. Mikhailov established the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus in 1992 in order to provide an alternative to the established education process inherited from the Soviet Union. After President Alexander Lukashenko took office in 1994, and started instituting "reforms" to consolidate his power, the university became a focal point of civic opposition. In 2004, the Lukashenko regime ordered the university shut down. Professor Mikhailov was forced to leave the country and has been in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania. The University reopened in Vilnius in 2005 with EU help. At present its student body comprises 270 graduate students in addition to a number of students engaged in long-distance learning.

The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Lecture is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy. The event expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician as an advocate of democratic change worldwide.

For more information on the event as well as online RSVP, please visit the Lecture website at www.wilsoncenter.org/ratiu . You can also send an e-mail to ionratiu-lecture@wilsoncenter.org in order to RSVP. The event is open to the public.