Vaclav Havel
Václav Havel (1936 – 2011) was the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1993), President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003), and the author of 21 plays, including Largo Desolato and The Garden Party, and the essays The Power of the Powerless, Living in Truth, and The Art of the Impossible.
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2011-12-19
| Václav Havel, who died on December 18, was that rare intellectual who, rather than forcing his way into politics, had politics forced upon him. In 1998, while serving as President of the Czech Republic, he offered the following reflection on the benefits and dangers of his career path.... read |
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2011-12-19
| As politician, playwright, poet, dissident, and essayist, Václav Havel – who died on December 18 – led one of the most remarkable and influential lives of modern times. In March 1997, while serving as President of the Czech Republic, Havel offered the following assessment of the intersection of politics and playwriting in his unique career.... read |
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2011-08-31
| Since the election of President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, Ukraine has experienced a significant and alarming deterioration in its democratic framework. And, given Ukraine’s strategic importance, particularly with regard to European energy security, the country’s fate has become an urgent matter of concern for the West.... read |
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2011-03-21
| The scale of the disaster facing Japan reminds us that a shared sense of human solidarity is just as important to citizens of powerful countries as it is to poorer countries. Indeed, such solidarity can engender feelings of gratitude and trust that can last for generations.... read |
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2011-02-14
| Since multi-drug therapy was introduced in the early 1980’s, some 16 million people have been cured of leprosy worldwide. Yet, even after a person is free of the disease, the stigma attached to it has the potential to disrupt people’s lives in ways that no drug can cure.... read |
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2010-09-28
| On November 7, when Burma’s first general election for almost two decades is to be held, a well-rehearsed script will play out. The country’s ruling generals will twist what is meant to be a democratic process, whereby the people get to express their will, into a mockery of free expression in which people vote in fear and without hope.... read |
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2010-05-26
| The death of Eduard Chuvashov, a judge killed in cold blood on April 12 in Moscow, is another in a long and growing list of murders perpetrated on those in Russia who try to seek justice for the victims of crimes. These murders are not isolated occurrences; on the contrary, they define the nature of Russia's current regime.... read |
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2010-03-31
| The arrest of Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, a former president of Venezuela’s Chamber of Deputies, governor of the Venezuelan state of Zulia, and presidential candidate, should concern the entire world. Attempting to silence Álvarez Paz demonstrates just how far President Hugo Chávez’s regime is willing to stray from democratic norms. ... read |
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2009-06-12
| One of the fundamental pillars of Europe’s political architecture is a strong and enduring belief in the universal validity of equal, universal, and inalienable human rights. European leaders should bear that in mind when the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council meets this week to discuss once more relations between the EU and Cuba.... read |
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2008-12-31
| In Gaza, mankind’s basic morality is at stake. Of course, Israel’s need for security must be understood by all sides, but confidence-building measures are needed from all sides as well, in order to send a clear message that dialogue, not violence, is the way forward.... read |
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2004-11-12
| The fifteenth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on November 17, 1989, which brought an end to 41 years of communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia, is an opportunity to ponder the meaning of moral behavior and free action. Today we live in a democratic society, but many people - not only in the Czech Republic - still believe that they are not true masters of their destiny. They have lost faith that they can really influence political developments, much less influence the direction in which our civilization is evolving. ... read |
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2005-01-26
| I vividly remember the slightly ludicrous, slightly risqué, and somewhat distressing predicament in which Western diplomats in Prague found themselves during the Cold War. They regularly needed to resolve the delicate issue of whether to invite to their embassy celebrations various Charter 77 signatories, human rights activists, critics of the communist regime, displaced politicians, or even banned writers, scholars, and journalists – people with whom the diplomats were generally friends. ... read |
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2009-06-12
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| One of the fundamental pillars of Europe’s political architecture is a strong and enduring belief in the universal validity of equal, universal, and inalienable human rights. European leaders should bear that in mind when the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council meets this week to discuss once more relations between the EU and Cuba.... read |
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2008-12-31
| In Gaza, mankind’s basic morality is at stake. Of course, Israel’s need for security must be understood by all sides, but confidence-building measures are needed from all sides as well, in order to send a clear message that dialogue, not violence, is the way forward.... read |
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2007-09-27
| The world’s dictators know exactly what to make of the international community’s inability to coordinate effective measures to restrain Burma's military leaders. How else can they explain it than as a complete confirmation of the status quo and of their own ability to act with impunity?... read |
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2011-12-19
| Václav Havel, who died on December 18, was that rare intellectual who, rather than forcing his way into politics, had politics forced upon him. In 1998, while serving as President of the Czech Republic, he offered the following reflection on the benefits and dangers of his career path.... read |
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2011-08-31
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| Since the election of President Viktor Yanukovych in 2010, Ukraine has experienced a significant and alarming deterioration in its democratic framework. And, given Ukraine’s strategic importance, particularly with regard to European energy security, the country’s fate has become an urgent matter of concern for the West.... read |
-
2010-09-28
| On November 7, when Burma’s first general election for almost two decades is to be held, a well-rehearsed script will play out. The country’s ruling generals will twist what is meant to be a democratic process, whereby the people get to express their will, into a mockery of free expression in which people vote in fear and without hope.... read |
