Continuation of the debate that followed the individual presentations in the academic panel entitled “Meanings of 1989 and the Present Significance of the Past.” The academic panel is the second panel of the “Between Past and Future: The Revolutions of 1989 and the Struggle for Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe" international conference that was held at CEU in March 1999. The chairman is Vladimir Tismăneanu. Questions are being asked from the audience and the respondents are the member of the panel Jacques Rupnik (Institute of Political Studies, Paris), Tamás Gáspár Miklós (Georgetown University), Karol Soltan (University of Maryland), Daniel Chirot (University of Washington), Sorin Antohi (Academic Pro-Rector at CEU) and Vladimir Tismăneanu (Maryland University). After a break, the event continues with the third panel of the conference, called “Winners and Losers in the Great Transformations Since 1989” where Prof. Sorin Antohi is the chairman. The panelists are Adam Michnik (Chief Editor, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland), Martin Palous (Deputy Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic), Valerie Bunce (Professor at Cornell University), János Kis (Professor at CEU), Jeffrey Isaac (Professor at Indiana University) and Vladimir Tismăneanu (Professor at Maryland University). The first part of Adam Michnik’s speech is recorded here.