Remembering the meeting with Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý at Forum 2000 in 2009

"The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility."- Václav Havel IHT (21 February 1990) 

Six years ago in October of 2009 together with former prisoner of conscience José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, Czech journalist Carlos González Sháněl, political analyst Javier Loaiza, Tamara Suju Roa and  Former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga met President Václav Havel and Forum 2000 Executive Director Oldřich Černý at the Forum 2000 on the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.

It was at this event that President Havel made some profound observations that now and hindsight speak volumes at the challenges currently faced in a deteriorating international atmosphere.

At the time President Barack Obama had backed out of meeting with the Dalai Lama due to an upcoming trip to China, Vaclav Havel explained the importance of such "small compromises" on October 12, 2009 at Forum 2000:

I believe that when the new Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize postpones receiving the Dalai Lama until after he has accomplished his visit to China, he makes a small compromise, a compromise which actually has some logic to it. However, there arises a question as to whether those large, serious compromises do not have their origin and roots in precisely these tiny and very often more or less logical compromises.

Both Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý have passed away and are greatly missed, especially in these difficult times when moral clarity and discernment are greatly needed. The video below was made by journalist Carlos González.


At the gathering above President Havel signed a petition calling for the release of 305 Cuban political prisoners. Cuban democrats should honor and remember the dissident who became a prisoner of conscience who became a president and later a private citizen and through out this trajectory maintained his solidarity with the victims of repression around the world. On the 26th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution the legacy of Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý lives on in the free society they struggled to bring into being.

Forum 2000: Democracy and Its Discontents A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen

"I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions." - Václav Havel, Speech of October 1989

Tomorrow begins the 18th Forum 2000 Conference in Prague which coincides with the 25th anniversary of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe and the brutal crackdown in China that killed scores of nonviolent demonstrators. Therefore it should come as no surprise that the title of this conference is "Democracy and Its Discontents A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen."

Delegates meet Forum 2000 co-founders Oldřich Černý and Václav Havel in 2009

Having physically been present at Forum 2000 as a presenter in 2009 and later as an attendee in 2013 I can affirm that it is a gathering and program worth attending and supporting. In addition to engaging in the great exchange of ideas there are also opportunities for activists to obtain support for causes from the international dignitaries in attendance. At the same time when not able to travel to Prague following it over the internet on a live video stream has also been incredibly worthwhile and highly recommend it to others.

Forum 2000 delegates in Prague in 2013 at H.H. Dalai Lama event

Please consider becoming a friend of Forum 2000 with concrete and regular support by following Forum 2000 on Twitter, watching the Forum 2000 events between October 12th through the 15th, and letting others know about this treasure trove of accumulated wisdom. Forum 2000 is one of the many positive legacies of  Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý.

Below is the video program for 2014 of Forum 2000 reproduced from their web page.

Watch the Forum 2000 Conference, “Democracy and Its Discontents,” Live Online

Venezuelan prisoner of conscience Leopoldo Lopez at Forum 2000

We invite you to watch the live video broadcast of the panel discussions held during this year’s Forum 2000 Conference, “Democracy and Its Discontents: A Quarter-Century After the Iron Curtain and Tiananmen,” which takes place October 12–15, 2014 in Prague and 12 other Central European cities.

 

On Sunday, October 12 you can watch a live stream of the Opening Ceremony at Prague Crossroads with the keynote speech by Russian businessman and former prisoner of conscience Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

On Monday, October 13 and Tuesday, October 14 you can follow the live broadcast of the sessions held in the main hall of Žofín Palace (Forum Hall). Speakers include Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Belarusian writer and activist Ales Bialiatski, Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration Lobsang Sangay, Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq Falah Mustafa Bakir, Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, and former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar.

You can watch these proceedings in the Video section of our website. Recordings of these discussions as well as other events will be posted there shortly after the conference. The live broadcast will be held in English.

Online reporting from the entire conference can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ via #Forum2000.

More information about the conference and its program can be found here.

  

Broadcast Program

Sunday, October 12

19.00–21.00

Opening Ceremony

Jakub Klepal, Ivan M. Havel, Jürgen Hoffmeister, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Igor Blaževič

  

Monday, October 13

09.30–11.00

Democracy and Its Discontents

Jacques Rupnik, Iveta Radičová, Karel Schwarzenberg, Zhang Qianfan, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Michael Novak

11.15–12.45

The Significance of Václav Havel’s Value Based Foreign Policy

John Shattuck, Lobsang Sangay, Carl Gershman, Ales Bialiatski, Andrew Schapiro, Yoani Sánchez

14.00–15.30

Is Democracy in Decline? Reflections from the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Euromaidan

Christopher Walker, Marc Plattner, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Tarek Osman, Yoani Sánchez, Yevhen Hlibovytsky

15.45–17.15

Russia: A Non-Democratic Power on the World Stage?

Petr Kolář, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vytautas Landsbergis, Andrey Zubov, Daniel Baer

17.30–19.00

Systemic Change, Economic Reforms, and Democracy: What Have We Learned? What Lessons for the Future?

Danilo Türk, Jan Švejnar, Grigory Yavlinsky, Ivan Mikloš, Mauricio Pozo 

  

Tuesday, October 14

10.00–11.30

3 Years After Arab Spring: Middle East at a Crossroads

Shlomo Avineri, Salam Fayyad, Falah Mustafa Bakir, Tarek Osman, Youssef Amrani, Gilles Kepel

 

11.45–13.15

Priorities and Aspirations for Democracy in the 21^st Century

Jiří Schneider, José María Aznar, Yogendra Yadav, Murong Xuecun, Juan Requesens, Šimon Pánek

17th Forum 2000 Conference: A Reflection

Oldřich Černý and Václav Havel

Returning to Forum 2000 four years after being a delegate in 2009 is a bittersweet affair. Bitter because the founder, Václav Havel is no longer with us and the years of unjust imprisonment under the communist regime shortened what still managed to be a long and fulfilling life. Its a bit selfish on my part because one knows that he lived a fully integrated life and was that rarest of things a great and good man. However, the absence of his moral authority and courage is sorely felt around the world. World politics is diminished by his absence. It is also bitter because of the passing of Oldřich Černý in 2012 the first Executive Director of Forum 2000 at the age of 65.



However it is also, sweet because despite these profound losses Forum 2000 continues and in 2013 counts with the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Aung San Suu Kyi who both were championed by Havel until his final days. Folk singer Joan Baez who 50 years ago this year sang her songs of freedom for Martin Luther King Jr. as the Civil Rights Movement marched on Washington D.C. to guarantee voting rights for African Americans was there to celebrate the presence of Aung San Suu Kyi with song and later took part in a panel on civil society. Belarusian, Burmese, Chinese, Cuban, Ecuadorian, Egyptian, Venezuelan dissidents, former heads of state, philanthropists and intellectuals gathered to talk about the situations in their respective struggles and to exchange views. On Tuesday morning at 8:00am a working breakfast on "Challenges for Democracy in Latin America" will be held followed at 3:00pm with a panel that explores "Venezuela, Cuba: What Lies Ahead?"

A conservative intellectual heavyweight, Roger Scruton, was also present to weigh in on important matters globally in the panel on "Trust, the State, and the Rule of Law" and on Tuesday morning at 10:30am will look at the local in a panel on "Transforming Cities: Towards Smart Forms of Governance?"

Luckily, the conference is being recorded and placed on the web because a number of these important conversations are being held simultaneously at different venues in Prague and elsewhere in the Czech and Slovak Republics. It is available for thinking people around the world to engage in this important conversation about the future of our civilization.

Beyond the important achievement of creating a space of open dialogue for differing views to look at the world's problems there is also the generous spirit of the Forum that through first hand experience can be described as warm and embracing with a sense of humor. Friends, who although perhaps not in agreement meet in an atmosphere of respect to explore their differences and in doing so learn more about themselves and the other. It is a Havelian spirit.

Unfortunately, in today's news climate were trivia and distraction are often front page news, events such as Forum 2000 are poorly covered when one considers the importance of what is taking place here.

My commitment to this initiative of Havel and Černý remains firm and hope that others will take it upon themselves, both citizens and policy makers to join the conversation thinking about the long term and about the common good.

It is what both Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý did until their dying days. Their example should inspires others and make the world a better place over the long term. The bottom line is that with the freedom found in living in truth comes the responsibility to do what you can to make this world a better place for the next generation. During the current Forum 2000 Conference: Societies in Transition it was said that the Czech transition is still underway after more than twenty years. The preservation and expansion of freedom is ongoing process that must be affirmed and defended. In a real sense every country is in the process of transition. The difficult question one must ask: Is the society undergoing a transition to more or less freedom and decency?

Please consider becoming a friend of Forum 2000 with concrete and regular support by following Forum 2000 on Twitter, watching the remaining Forum 2000 events on September 17 and 18th, and letting others know about this treasure trove of accumulated wisdom that is just one of the many positive legacies of  Václav Havel and Oldřich Černý.

One side note walking into the top gallery of the Prague Crossroads prior to the Opening Ceremony and seeing a broken heart suspended on the far wall brought back the feelings of loss and mourning for a great friend of oppressed peoples around the globe. However, with the continuing existence of Forum 2000 it can be affirmed that the heart, although battered by the loss of a friend continues to beat on.