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One on OneVrata Brabenec - Plastic Person still fighting for justice
My guest on this week's One on One is Vrata Brabenec, one of the members of
the legendary early 1970s underground band the Plastic People of the
Universe. Inspired by the Velvet Underground, the Plastics' moody,
psychedelic sound earned them a legion of fans across Communist
Czechoslovakia, but also the unwanted attention of the police. In 1976 the
authorities arrested four members - including Vrata the saxophonist - and
sentenced them to prison for "organised disturbance of the
peace." The Plastics' case caught the attention of Vaclav Havel, who
launched the "Charter 77" human rights petition to champion
their cause, and Vrata Brabenec and his fellow Plastic People played a
small but crucial role in the fall of Communism. They're still playing,
and I recently met up with Vrata in a pub in Prague. I began by asking him
where the name of the band came from.
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Current AffairsPlastic People film documents struggle for freedom of expression
A new Czech film set to be released this Thursday documents the rock group The Plastic People of the Universe and hopes to re-familiarise Czech society, and especially contemporary youth, with attempts at free speech under the Communist regime. The band which was formed in the same year as the 1968 Soviet-led invasion, has come to represent the values that led up to the 1989 Velvet Revolution. The film documents the history of this unique band, while presenting a picture of the absurdity of living under a totalitarian regime. spoke to the film's director, Jana Chytilova: More
