What preceded the deployment of military forces? Why did the Chinese leadership decide to quell the protests? How does today’s China handle the legacy of the protests and their subsequent violent suppression? Are such mass protests at all possible in China now? And is there any chance whatever of the democracy movement being continued today?

Taking part in the debate will be sinologist Martin Hála of Sinopsis, sinologist Olga Lomová of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts and journalist and long-time China correspondent Tomáš Etzler.

Chaired by Kateřina Procházková. Erik Black, cultural attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Prague, who in the past worked at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, will deliver an opening address.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Sinopsis and the U.S. Embassy in Prague. 

Guests: Alja Adam, Axel Dietsch, Miloš Doležal, Markéta Hejná, Rudolf Jurolek, Nina Kremžar, Jiří Macháček, Michal Maršálek, Marie Steinerová and Maja Vidmar.

Music: Lana Petrovič, Marie Puttnerová and Martin Novák.

Lenka and Peter Kuhar will host the evening.

Debate chaired by Silvie Lauder.

The results of the research may help explain the results of the recent elections to the European Parliament and suggest ways that European issues can be better communicated in the Czech Republic. The study was focused on the middle class – specifically on how it influenced May’s vote and whether it is at all possible to speak about the middle class as a homogenous social group. The presentation will also offer a breakdown of the middle class into individual segments.

Speakers: Tomáš Dvořák, political sociologist, Jakub Charvát, political scientist and electoral marketing expert; MP Markéta Pekarová Adamová; Eoin Drea, senior research officer at the Martens Centre; and Jaroslav Poláček, an analyst with TOPAZ.

The debate will be chaired by Petr Honzejk, a journalist and commentator with Hospodářské noviny.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with TOPAZ.

Since 2015, when the so-called refugee crisis reached a climax, migration has become a key focus of societal interest and political debate. It has become a subject that deeply divides society, sparking fear in many and influencing politics and electoral campaigns and results, as well as greatly undermining the unity of the European Union. Nevertheless, in the last two years the number of asylum seekers in the EU has fallen to virtually the same level as before the crisis and the subject is slowly receding. That said, a labour shortage and low unemployment in the Czech Republic is leading to a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers and their integration will prove a fresh challenge to society.

How are those changes making themselves felt in the current discussion around migration? How is it being portrayed in the media now, what does it mean for Czech society and how will it influence the country’s migration and integration policy? What role did the subject play in campaigning for European Parliament elections at the end of May?

These questions and more will be considered by Radha Sarma Hegde, an academic in the field of media, culture and communication at New York University; Grigorij Mesežnikov, director of Slovakia’s Institute for Public Affairs and editor of Phantom Menace: The Politics and Policies of Migration in Central Europe, which will be presented within the framework of the debate; Eva Valentová of the Association for Integration and Migration, who wrote one of its chapters; and Adéla Jurečková of People in Need, who will introduce the NGO’s current research into the media depiction of migration in the CR.

The discussion will be chaired by Daniela Vrbová of Czech Radio’s Plus station, who was an editor on the show Zaostřeno na cizince for some years. 

It is an odd period and everything is upside down. The banned writer Ferdinand Vaněk earns a living by rolling barrels at a brewery. His boss, the chief brewer, is unable to handle with a tricky task “from above”… A beer-soaked clash between principles and a clear philosophy of life and a long-established system of circumventing principles and surviving without superfluous tenets or opinions reveals a monstrous power that twists character and suppresses the freedom of the individual.

The one-act Audience (1975) was initially written to amuse the author’s friends at Hrádeček but was soon performed internationally at a number of theatres. 

The speakers will be then representatives of the opposition movement Hana Marvanová (Independent Peace Association – Initiative for the Demilitarisation of Society), Petr Placák (Czech Children) and Alexandr Vondra (Charter 77).

Chaired by historian Petr Blažek.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.

In the words of the philosopher Miroslav Petříček, Mirek Vodrážka represents a unique voice in Czech thinking: his perspective is always personal but not “subjective” given that it is based on a broad knowledge of specialist literature from many fields (including philosophy, sociology, history and counterculture theory) as well as intensive work with the sources. This is apparent in his book Rozumí české ženy vlastní historii? (Do Czech Women Understand Their Own History?), which via the story of Milada Horáková (and other female victims of the totalitarian regime) reflects on Western and Czech feminism.

Musical accompaniment: Mirek Vodrážka on keyboards and soprano Helena Zaoralová.

Panel: 
Yanina Karalevich-Kartel, Belarusian activist and co-founder of citydog.by and its sister platforms “Grassroots” and “Kak eto lyubit’”.
Artiom Kontsevoi, founder of www.dev.by, the hub for all things IT in Belarus.
Anna Loktionova, culture manager, co-founder of the DOTYK queer festival, director of space Canteen_XYZ in Minsk (2016-2018)

Moderator: Marina Puzdrova, Executive Director Civic Belarus

The debate will be held in English.

Debate with leading Czech TV presenters who experience these situations face to face with politicians on a regular basis: Světlana Witowská, Jindřich Šídlo and Emma Smetana.

Chaired by Jakub Čaloun, chairman of the association Mladá Politika, and Jan Švenda, Mladá Politika’s deputy chairman.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Mladá Politika.

The book, which was widely reviewed in the US and was very warmly received by the American public, delivers a thrilling account of the clash between the rulers of the Great Planes and the conquering white civilisation, employing an objective approach to this complex and sensitive issue.

Taking part in the debate will be Milan Gelnar, director of the Argo publishing house; Miroslav Černý of the Department of English and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Ostrava University; Martin Svoboda, editor and translator (Pynchon, Bukowski, McCarthy etc.); and Mnislav Zelený-Atapana, an ethnologist and novelist.

Jáchym Topol will chair the discussion and read excerpts.

Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Argo.