Today is the 19th anniversary of the fall of communism in former Czechoslovakia. Nineteen years ago the communist police attacked an unarmed student demonstration of about 15,000 people, which sparkled nationwide solidarity and started a series of mass protests which led to the return of democracy. What may surprise you however is the fact that according to the latest polls 34% of Czechs are dissatisfied with the current state of the country. Most people today believe that the the most important slogan of the Velvet revolution, “Love and Truth will conquer all hatred and lies“, is not being acted out by their country. Yet another poll taken by the Ceske Noviny is even more disheartening: 1/4 of the Czech citizens doesn’t mind having communists in their government! Only 20% of Czechs think that the Communist party should be forbidden and about 30% of young people don’t care either way.
Now having all this depressing statistics written on a piece of paper, imagine you could go back in time and found yourself in the middle of the actual Velvet Revolution. You would get on that Wenceslas Square stage, pulled this crumpled piece of paper out of your pocket and slowly started to read these statistical numbers into a microphone. How would these 15,000 fired-up students react? They would probably think: “What? So we are going through all this so that 19 years later no one even cares anymore??” And then you would be probably booted of the stage because no one would end up believing you.
I wonder what do all the pioneers of the Czech democracy think of this? I know that the Plastic People of the Universe are very disappointed by it – they told me so in my interview with them. And I am sure Vaclav Havel probably feels the same.
CR: Dnes slavila Ceska republika (a Slovensko) 19. vyroci Sametove revoluce, ktera nejen ze svrhla komunisticky rezim, ale posleze take znovuzrodila statni demokracii. Co je velmi zvlastni je, ze 34% Cechu je nynejsim vyvojem CR nespokojeno. Vetsina si take mysli, ze zname revolucni heslo “Laska a pravda zvitezi nad lzi a nenavisti”, proste nikdo z Cechu nedodrzuje. Co je ale podle meho nazoru dokonce i smutnejsi statisticky udaj je, ze cela ctvrtina Cechu by tolerovala komunisty ve vlade! Pouze 20% lidi si mysli, ze by komunisticka strana mela byt zakazana. A co si o tom mysli nase ceska omladina? Podle pruzkumu Ceskych novin je to 30% mladych lidi uplne jedno.
Ted si predstavte, ze byste mohl/a cestovat casem a najednou stojite 17. listopadu, roku Pane 1989, na Vaclavskem namesti pred 15,000 lidmi a do mikrofonu jim pomalu ctete vyse zminene statisticke udaje. Jak by na to reagovali? Asi by vas vybuceli z jeviste – proste by vam neverili. A co si o tom mysli prukopnici ceske demokracie jako Plastikove nebo Vaclav Havel? Plastikum se to tedy vubec nelibi (zeptala jsem se jich osobne pri nasem rozhovoru) a myslim, ze Havel ma na to asi stejny nazor…
Source: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/domov/index_view.php?id=344757
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Tani great arcticle.
Yes I remember waching TV and asking parents a lot of questions. I am happy that this think happend. Our family was christian so it was difficult time in communism.
Ahoj Lenko!
Thank you! Not very people were/are Christians in Czech 🙁
I became a Christian when I came to the US – through my husband. I am so much happier now!!
Ahoj Tanjo!! I didn’t know you were Christian. Jsem taky! My husband and I were discussing your article and I agree with you 100%!! My husband said look at it a little deeper. He said that many people would rather have it Communism again, because of what is going on now here. Many people don’t have jobs. The government sold many of the Czech owned companies to other countries. Many people lost there jobs because of this. People who are not educated can not find a job. When communism was here everyone had a job and money(not a lot). Things were affordable then. Now, the other countries who have companies here have everything so expensive. So, the peoples choices are expensive quality clothes or cheap Vietmanese clothes(that fall apart after you wash them once). The things that are going on here now would not happen during communism, because it wasn’t allowed. Now, to get a contract with someone you must tell them if you give me the contract I will give 50 000,- under the table for your. That is what people are dealing with here, unfortunately. And, the Czech people can do nothing about it. I think that is why people are saying it.
I know, the corruption in the Czech Republic sucks. I think it’s connected with the lack of morality which streams from the godlessness the country suffers with.
You are 100% correct. It is a godless country. That is why I think people are so sad and angry!! They base their life on what they have and don’t have. If they have they buy to fill the void. And, if they don’t have they drink to fill the void. It is very sad. I told my husband the same thing. My husband is not a Christian 🙁 His mother told me that you must know God from when your young. She thinks she is too old to know God. That is very sad. I told her it is not true.
Hi Tani:
I left you a couple of comments here from work computer, but they never posted. I’m trying it now from my home laptop. I hope it works.
I was just saying that us Czechs are such an ungreatful nation and that we tend to forget pretty easy. I also loved how Kimmie brought up the have or not have stuff they measure they lives by. That is so true. I don’t think I would want to go back to live there. Vacation? Any time! but that’s about it :o)
Hura! Funguje to!
Sorry about my typo in the sentence about Kimmie. It should have ended in: they measure their life by…
Dobrou noc :o)