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One on OneVáclav Havel’s decency gave him courage, says his former advisor Jiří Pehe
People in the Czech Republic and around the world hail the late
ex-president Václav Havel as a great European, a humanist and a man who
stood up to the communist regime, a decent and courageous man who led his
country to democracy. In this special edition of One on One, we talk to
political commentator Jiří Pehe who served as Václav Havel’s chief
political advisor in the late 1990s. More
SpecialVáclav Havel - 'Guardian Angel'
This play is vintage Havel, his only radio play, dating back to the first half of 1968, when he was at the height of his creative powers. Not long after it was completed, Soviet tanks brought an end to the reforms of the Prague Spring, and for two decades the play was left on the shelf. More
Current AffairsNation mourns death of a hero
The death of Vaclav Havel stopped Czechs in their tracks on Sunday. A hush
fell over the country as thousands of people gathered to light candles and
pay a silent tribute to the hero of the Velvet Revolution. At 6 pm bells
around the Czech Republic tolled in memory of the man who showed endless
courage in the face of oppression and who led his nation on the road to
freedom and democracy. More
Current AffairsInternational press responds to the loss of a great European leader
The Guardian in the UK looks at President Havel in the European context.
Their editorial describes the president as “a politician whose vision and
wit embraced not just the art of the possible but of the impossible too”.
All the states of Europe, the paper writes “have to be open to the new,
the brave and the difficult without abandoning the moral, the wise and the
treasured. More
Current AffairsThousands turn out to pay respects at impromptu gatherings
A crowd of several dozen people at Prague’s Wenceslas Square swelled to
several thousand within the space of minutes Sunday evening, and the statue
of St. Václav went awash in candlelight. At the end of a reading of the
writings of the country’s mentor in democracy and freedom, the entire
multitude was silent for a long time - some weeping quietly, but most just
standing speechlessly, gazing at the memorial, and looking stunned and lost
in thought. The passing of Václav Havel had not been unexpected, but that
did not make it any less of a shock. It seemed that for those gathered at
this and other squares around the Czech Republic there had been a sudden
realisation that their world had just become a slightly different place. More
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