RIP Vaclav Havel

[Danny]

Sadly Vaclav Havel passed away this morning. He was an inspirational figure who chose to stay in Czechoslovakia after the 1968 Russian invasion rather than go into exile in the West where he would undoubtedly have been able to pursue a lucrative career as a celebrity dissident and playwright.

He was uncompromising in his fight for a democratic society despite the pressure he faced from the authorities to conform and the personal privations he faced. His stature amongst the Czech people was confirmed when after they eventually rose up he became the figurehead of the velvet revolution and the first freely elected president since the second world war.

Unlike many East European political figures he never embraced the ultra free market forms of capitalism that was imposed on most of the former Soviet ruled countries.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Anyone who makes Frank Zappa an honorary cultural ambassador is OK in my book.

 

[Danny]

I was always amazed that Havel even knew about Zappa. I am sure he didn't get played much on Radio Free Europe.

 

[Arch]

I heard a story that he went around the corridors of power on a microscooter, and always liked him for it.

 

[Bicycle]

He was a remarkable man. A quiet fighter who didn't know when to give up and (at the time quite surprisingly to some) in the end he won.

He'd been jailed by the old regime for (among other things) hooliganism, but he seemed never to slow.

I thought he was much older than his years, but I imagine chainsmoking and life as a dissident can take it out of you.

A European great of the postwar years whichever way you look at it.

 

[skudupnorth]

Great man,really sad news but at least he saw his country free from communism.I have been over to Czech many times and it is a brilliant place and the people are wonderful......hence my avtar !

 

[StuAff]

A truly amazing man, and a great loss to the world (which needs more like him). Some of the harassment he had to put up with during the communist era was appalling. There was a BBC documentary series, 'The Lost World of Communism', a few years back- the episode on Czechoslovakia included some archive footage of Havel shot in a period of house arrest, including the man himself talking to camera in English. The police had a watchtower (almost like a shed on stilts) outside his house. When he took the dog for a walk there was a cop six feet behind him. To suffer that and lead the way he did in power was as remarkable as Nelson Mandela.

"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate."

 

[Danny]

I heard a story that he went around the corridors of power on a microscooter, and always liked him for it.

On the BBC news tonight they said he also went round on roller skates.

 

[slowmotion]

A great man. To help bring about a revolution against tyranny, and, having done so, retain a spirit of reconciliation, not revenge, was amazing.

His words on Climate Change and the nature of freedom were pretty good too.