12th International Conference in Honour of the Laureate of the 2024 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
- Where: Prague Crossroads, Zlatá 1, Prague
- When: October 2, 2024, 13:30 – 20:00
Why Should We Care?
“The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle.”
Václav Havel (Summer Meditations, 1991)
Under the auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský
"Each of us is responsible for the whole world," said Václav Havel in one of his many reflections on the topic of human freedom and responsibility. For an individual this seems a superhuman task.
International law, international justice, and their mechanisms are failing as a principle of international governance. However, the interconnection of today's world, through the network of relationships, processes, and flows of raw materials, goods, technologies, and information, continues to deepen. We depend not only on the entire surrounding inhabited world but also on the state of the planet as a whole. We have no escape.
We can hardly think that we are safe as long as nothing happens to us personally. That we are not concerned with civilizational conflicts, with the power interests of totalitarian regimes in Russia, Asia, and the Middle East, because they take place far away and, in principle, have nothing to do with us. The unpunished systematic crimes of these governments only reinforce the belief that corruption, censorship, impunity, and violence are the most effective means of achieving their goals.
There is only one world, and everything that happens in it affects us all. We all have our share of responsibility.
- Organisers: Václav Havel Library & Charta 77 Foundation
- Partners: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
- The conference is being held with the kind financial support of the Sekyra Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The main strategic partner of the Václav Havel Library in 2024 is the Bakala Foundation.
- Media Partners: Czech Radio Plus, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Conference Programme
| 13.30 | Registration |
| 14.00 | Welcome: Zuzana Tvarůžková, journalist, conference moderator |
| 14.05 | Conference opening: Milan Babík, Director of the Václav Havel Library, Jolana Voldánová, Director of the Charta 77 Foundation |
| 14.10 | Opening speech: Jan Lipavský, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| 14.20 | Conference keynote: Marci Shore, Professor of history, Yale University Why we must be interested in what is happening in other countries and other parts of today's globalized world, as well as in connection with ongoing military conflicts. |
| 14.50 | Interview with the 2024 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize laureate The laureate will be announced at a ceremony held at the beginning of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on September 30, 2024. Chair: Milan Babík, Director of the Václav Havel Library |
| 15.10 | Panel I: Discussion with 2024 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize finalists Chair: Zuzana Tvarůžková |
| 15.55 | Coffee break |
| 16.15 | Panel keynote: Jessikka Aro, Finnish journalist and expert on the Russian disinformation war Exposing Russia's hybrid operations despite a decade of harassment by Putin’s trolls. |
| 16.30 | Panel II: Propaganda and information manipulation: Invincible tools of evil? Are we still able to effectively counter manipulation and lies? In today's world, are we able to defend the basic values of democracy, which are being "blurred" by boundless relativization? What role do authorities play in this process? What role do power interests play? And what role does artificial intelligence play? Panellists:
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| 17.50 | Coffee break |
| 18.10 | Panel Keynote: Irina Scherbakova, historian and translator, co-founder of the Russian historical-educational, charitable and human rights organisation Memorial What is the situation of the Russian dissent today and how can the world help? |
| 18.25 | Panel III: No Evil Is Far Away Human rights violations are often a harbinger of more widespread violence and conflict. Why do all ongoing and potential conflicts in the world affect everyone? How much does it cost to ignore human rights crimes in the name of economic interests? Panellists:
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| 19.40 | Closing remarks Milan Babík, Director of the Václav Havel Library |
* Discussions will be held in Czech and English with simultaneous translation from/to both languages.
Related articles
- Why Should We Care? October 2, 2024
- The laureate of this year's Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is María Corina Machado October 1, 2024
Related videos
- An Interview with investigative reporter Jessikka Aro / Why Should We Care? / Conference 2024
- An Interview with Babutsa Pataraia / Why Should We Care? / Conference 2024
- Marci Shore: "There is a joke in Yale that you can't graduate without reading Power of powerless."