There’s Strength in Diversity! Václav Havel, or Somebody Else?

After a gap of 30 years, the Czechoslovak anti-Communist opposition of 1989 may appear a philosophical monolith headed by Václav Havel and Charter 77. In reality active citizens had been coming together in dozens of civic initiatives long before the Velvet Revolution. Despite the risk of police prosecution, connected (or sometimes isolated) groups, as well as all manner of “lone wolves”, were involved in rich cultural endeavours, issued a great number of samizdat magazines and book series, organised petition drives and later the demonstrations that eventually rocked the regime.

Various strategies of contending with the authorities can be observed, as can different levels of radicalism, from the Chartists and the underground to reform Communists, and from the church and the environmental movement to the student milieu, where some resistance was palpable until the last moment.

Who had the greatest influence in the opposition? Today what opposition methods seem most effective? Was cooperation between opposition groups always harmonious? Or were there generational clashes between established dissidents and the emerging generation? And did Václav Havel and the Charter 77 veterans have any competition?

Jáchym Topol will moderate this debate with people who were there, including Monika MacDonagh-Pajerová, Petr Placák, Alexandr Vondra, Daniel Kroupa and Luboš Dobrovský.