Nov 17 (17. listopadu), Prague & the Velvet Revolution

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Twenty years ago, I was clipping articles from newspapers and stashing them in a giant scrapbook. I was dumbfounded by the events occurring in Central and Eastern Europe. All my life I had heard about the evil Soviet empire and the Communist bloc countries. They were America's sworn enemies.

In the fall of 1989, however, I was shocked by the rapid geopolitical changes. First Poland and Hungary. Then East Germany. Then it was Czechoslovakia's turn. Little did I know that in just 9 months I would be moving to Czechoslovakia to begin a major period of my life that shapes me to this day.

On November 17, 1989, a giant group of students held a rally near one of Prague's university campuses. (I would later study there.) You can see this rally in the photograph above. This rally by brave students led to the wave of events that would topple the communist regime in Czechoslovakia within one week. (An article in today's New York Times discusses the mystery surrounding one curious event on Nov 17, 1989.) By my birthday, Nov 24, Czechoslovakia became the next communist country to open its borders and join the democratic world.








I recall Nov 17, 1990. It was the one-year anniversary of the end of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. People had adopted the name "Velvet Revolution" to refer to the transition because of the peaceful handover of power that occurred without loss of life.
On the anniversary, George H. W. Bush and Václav Havel spoke at the festival gathering on Wenceslas Square that drew 500,000 people. As one of the few Americans living in Prague at the time, I received a pass to get relatively close to the stage. My heart was drawn, however, by the crowds who sang and chanted en masse below me.

Freedom was still so fresh and exciting. The liberty and privileges I took for granted were still completely new to them. I have never been more grateful or more amazed about the things I have been accustomed to all my life. We as people are all interconnected. Our hopes and dreams are not so different. People simply want a chance in life, and I clearly saw how much those Czechs there on Wenceslas Square valued what they never before had.

Life is not just about having what we want. It's also about wanting what we have...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dear Jason,

Can you contact me to karlo.marinovic@tol.org, I would like to use photos in this article for a project in an NGO I'm interning in?

Also, do you have higher resolution photos?

Thank you,

Karlo
December 16, 2013 at 6:01 AM
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