A weekly look at noteworthy addresses...

A weekly look at noteworthy addresses in the Southland. Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister from 1979 to 1990, addressed the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Saturday. From her prepared text: New World Order “Is there a New World Order? . . . I believe that President Bush is right to talk in these terms. A seismic change has occurred with the crumbling of communism and the advance of democracy and free enterprise. It will be possible to achieve greater international cooperation in upholding peace. But we should also be cautious. Human nature itself does not change. This is not the first time that New Orders of a visionary kind have been conceived. . . .”

East/West Relations

“The West can hardly be blameless if the Russian people, who so courageously stood up to the tanks and the KGB in August, go hungry this winter and begin to be thoroughly disillusioned with a market economy. They may not realize that it is in fact communism which caused their present plight and that free enterprise has not yet been given a chance. It is our job to help get them through that transition, to the future they seek.”

Looking Ahead * Today: Yelena Bonner, Soviet human rights activist and widow of the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, will address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council at noon at the Beverly Hilton. For more information call (213) 628-2333.

* Saturday: State Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) will deliver the keynote address at “Encuentro: Mexico in Los Angeles,” a conference on Los Angeles’ Mexican roots, at 12:30 p.m. at Occidental College’s Keck Theater. The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call (213) 259-2991.

Announcements concerning prominent speakers in Los Angeles should be sent to Speaking Up, c/o Times researcher Michael Meyers, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053