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Current AffairsSamizdat editions of Lidove Noviny go online
It’s twenty years since a group of anti-communist dissidents took the
brave decision to revive the newspaper Lidové Noviny, once the spiritual
home of the Czech nation’s most eminent journalists and essayists. The
dissidents were searching for a way of getting uncensored news and views
to
a wider audience. For two years, from January 1988 until December 1989,
they distributed a monthly “samizdat” version of Lidové Noviny, until
the paper was revived as a regular daily in January 1990. An archive of
those samizdat editions has now been put online. More
Talking PointThe role of the Canadian Embassy in Prague in the "Age of Normalisation"
This month the Canadian Ambassador to Prague Michael Calcott hosted a panel
discussion at the Canadian residence recalling cooperation between Czech
dissidents and Canadian officials in the years leading up to the fall of
communism. During the mid-1980s, the end of the period known as the
Normalisation, key officials at the embassy went out on a limb, risking
careers to help dissidents and their cause, even going so far as to
smuggle
dissident writing, even going so far as to smuggle
dissident writing (Samizdat) out of the country. Documents
included everything from personal correspondence to political and
philosophical tracts to novels and plays, authored by members of the
dissident movement that included Vaclav Havel. More
Current AffairsCooperation between Canadian officials and Czech dissidents from days of Normalisation recalled
On Tuesday the Canadian Ambassador to Prague hosted a panel discussion at
the Canadian residence recalling cooperation between Czech dissidents and
Canadian officials in the years prior to the fall of communism. The event
was most unusual as it brought together many of the former players: figures
like Jan Urban and Jirina Siklova and former embassy officials.
More
Talking PointIs there a twenty-first century samizdat?
A recent four-day conference in Vienna devoted to the theme of samizdat and
tamizdat networks in central Europe brought together scholars, journalists,
and members of the former democratic opposition who participated in the
samizdat networks of the 1970s and 1980s. One of the key questions
explored concerned how we look at this history today. One specific element
of the legacy of central European samizdat deals with how the experience
may be transplanted to other regions of the world today.
More
Talking PointFrom Samizdat to Tamizdat: a Vienna meeting
From September 12-15, 2006 the Austrian capital of Vienna played host to
the first-ever international conference devoted exclusively to the
phenomenon of central European samizdat and tamizdat networks. Hosted by
the Vienna Institute for Human Sciences, in cooperation with German,
American and Hungarian-based scholarly institutions, the meeting brought
together a group including members of the former democratic opposition in
communist Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Russia, as well as
scholars and journalists who write about this period of contemporary
history. The four-day conference entitled 'From Samizdat to Tamizdat:
Dissident media crossing borders before and after 1989' offered a chance
to discuss topics of common interest pertaining to a historical period
still little-explored.
More
SpecialLudvik Vaculik: a Czechoslovak man of letters
Ludvik Vaculik, one of the Czech Republic's greatest living writers turned
80 on July 23. Born in Brumov, a small corner of southeast Moravia, in
1926, Ludvik Vaculik became an acclaimed writer—important enough for the
communists to ban after 1968—and his credentials have also included editor
of both Literarni Noviny and Rude Pravo, radio journalist, publisher of the
samizdat series Edice Petlice, essayist, and always an engaged citizen.
More
Current AffairsRenowned author Ludvik Vaculik turns eighty
This past Sunday, Ludvik Vaculik celebrated his 80th birthday. One of the
Czech Republic's most well-known and respected writers, Ludvik Vaculik has
been part of the Czech literary scene since the 1950s. He has written
several novels, literally hundreds of essays, not to mention some of the
most important political texts of twentieth century Czechoslovak history.
More
Current AffairsCzech Foreign Affairs Ministry Starts New Initiative To Support Democratic Tendencies In Totalitarian Countries
The Czech Republic as a country with its own bitter experience of communist
rule often enlists in events promoting democracy in totalitarian
countries. The latest initiative has been aimed to encourage the
transformation of society in Iraq. This initiative lay not only in
financial investment but also in cooperation with non-governmental
organizations and local partners. The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
has now established a new department called the "Section for
Transformation Promotion", which will build on this experience and
evolve similar projects in different parts of the world. The head of the
department Gabriela Dlouha lists countries, which should be in focus,
apart from Iraq. More
Current Affairs Exhibition of Samizdat opens at National Museum
In modern European history, Samizdat - the writing, printing and distribution of literature that was suppressed and banned by the censors during Communism - represented a mass struggle for freedom that was often punished with years of imprisonment and even death. A major exhibition documenting this struggle will open at the National Museum in Prague on Thursday, called "Samizdat - Alternative Culture in Central and Eastern Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s". Dita Asiedu was at an early viewing of the exhibition:
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