Current Affairs International anti-totalitarian festival offers expanded programme
The International multicultural festival against totalitarianism, Mene Tekel, has kicked off a week of activities in Prague. It has a wider and richer programme than ever to get the message across that the totalitarian threat is a current as well as an historical issue.
Photo: Martina Schneibergová
Now in its third year, the festival is gong from strength to strength with
50 percent more activities this year than last.
One of the organisers, actress Debora Štolbová, describes the
festival’s ongoing development and central aims
“The main theme in the festival is the fight against totalitarianism and against all forms of evil forces in our society in the past and these days. I would say it is always like if you light a candle in the darkness, the light gets brighter and brighter. We can see that this year. This is the third year of the festival and we have already more and more people coming with new ideas.”
The programme includes exhibitions about some of the juvenile victims of Communism, grandchildren’s memories of their persecuted grandparents, and a reconstruction of a 1950’s trial by law students. There is also a musical message from some famous bands that were persecuted under the Communist regime.
“This year we have a rock festival in the rock club Vagon with many music groups that were not allowed to produce their music officially because they did not dare to stand up against the Communist regime. These bands are very popular. It is for example Psí Vojáci and Prohrála V Kartách, which many people adore here.”
The festival ends on March 1. Details can be found on the website www.menetekel.cz.
