"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)
Showing posts with label power of the powerless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label power of the powerless. Show all posts
"Politicians at international forums may reiterate a thousand times
that the basis of the new world order must be universal respect for
human rights, but it will mean nothing as long as this imperative does
not derive from the respect of the miracle of Being, the miracle of the
universe, the miracle of nature, the miracle of our own existence." -
Vaclav Havel, Independence Hall, July 4, 1994
Nine years ago on December 18, 2011 Václav Havel passed away. Victims of repression the world over were heartbroken because they had lost a steadfast friend.
Nine years later Forum 2000 remains a living legacy
that gathers together politicians, victims of repression, human rights defenders, artists and intellectuals to focus
on particular problems threatening the world today and seeking
solutions.
There is also a tradition that continues to be observed that celebrates Vaclav Havel's humor and sense of the absurd that is called the "Short Trousers for Vaclav Havel" initiative.
"We believe that injustice and tyranny must be confronted with courage and perseverance." - Forum 2000 participants
Forum 2000 Declaration
Our Commitment to Furthering the Legacy of Václav Havel
Fresh from travelling around the globe as the new President of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel came to realize that, although civilization had always faced challenges, those it faced today appeared more complex, more interconnected and more in flux than at any time in the past. He saw that such challenges could not be effectively met by a single individual, group, country, or region, nor could they be dealt with from the perspective of a single ideology, religion, or branch of knowledge. Instead, the search for solutions would require, he believed, a continuous, open-minded dialogue on a broad range of topics involving a wide variety of participants.
Václav Havel searched for a way to make this happen. That is why he, along with Elie Wiesel and Yohei Sasakawa, established Forum 2000 in 1997 providing it with their sponsorship, their ideas, and practical means to operate. Over the past decade and a half, Forum 2000 has made a unique contribution to facilitating a wide ranging global dialogue on many different issues, set in the symbolic environment of Prague.
The past year has been marked by two painful losses: the passing away of Václav Havel, and the death of Oldřich Černý, who from the beginning was Forum 2000’s Executive Director and moving spirit. Their legacy, however, remains and the time has come to restate clearly where Forum 2000 stands and where it is heading.
This year's conference, focusing on Media and Democracy, in itself a fundamentally Havelian topic, offers a perfect opportunity for such reflection.
Our Inspiration
Forum 2000’s founders have left us the indelible legacy of their ideas and approaches, whether it be Václav Havel’s insistence that "telling lies can never save us from further lies," or Elie Wiesel’s profound observation that "indifference is the epitome of evil," or Yohei Sasakawa’s devotion to alleviating disease and human suffering. These are the principles that will continue to guide us as we move forward.
Since 1997, our discussions have also been shaped by the growing number of Forum 2000 participants, prominent personalities from all walks of life, who cherish the experience and often return to participate again, providing us with valuable feedback and inspiration for our further activities.
And the inspiring genius loci of Forum 2000’s primary location: For centuries, Prague has been a crossroads of history. It represents a symbiosis of different cultures, in particular the Czech, German and Jewish cultures, until their relative harmony was destroyed by nationalist clashes and the horrors of Nazism. In both 1938 and 1948, Czechoslovakia paid dearly for the politics of appeasement and yielding to intimidation. Communism, which established a totalitarian state in post-war Czechoslovakia, managed to survive attempts at reform by crushing the Prague Spring in 1968 and went on to last a total of forty years. Democracy has not come easily to this region, and it has had to be struggled for throughout a troublesome transformation. The quest continues.
Our Values
We believe that injustice and tyranny must be confronted with courage and perseverance. The very least we can do is to remember and remind. The late Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, as well as Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, were regularly invited to Forum 2000 conferences, even though it was certain their authoritarian rulers would not allow them to attend. Forum 2000 also repeatedly drew attention to the plight of freedom loving people in Belarus, Russia and Tibet. Václav Havel was the first head of state to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama for an official visit, and support to Tibetans has been maintained via Forum 2000 till the present. Through Forum 2000’s Shared Concern Initiative, Václav Havel began a successful campaign to award the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, jailed in China for his human rights activities, and urged his and his wife’s release from prison. As symbolic as these actions are, we believe they bolster the power of these powerless and confirm the legitimacy of their uncompromising stances. The struggles of human rights activists are an acute reminder of the need to stand up for democracy and human rights, freedom and liberty, and the principles of citizenship, civility and responsibility, wherever they are under threat.
We believe that vibrant and engaged civil societies form the bedrock on which respect for human rights, functioning democracy, social justice and sustainable economic prosperity are based. These civil societies are equally vital for posing the key questions of public life, and often help find practical solutions.
We believe in genuine and open dialogue. Rather than pretend we have ready-made answers to the problems we face, Forum 2000 seeks to create a space for frank and profound reflection about the values that underlie human behavior and for exploring how they can be applied to real-world situations. It seeks to be a place where commonly accepted orthodoxies can be questioned with audacity, and directly.
We believe that real partnership can exist among those who speak openly and tell the truth. Such a relationship requires tolerance between nations, ethnic groups, cultures, religions and individuals at a basic human level. It requires a willingness to listen and, on occasion, an agreement to disagree. It is only by attempting to place oneself in the shoes of another that entrenched differences can be overcome and solutions to great challenges envisaged.
Our Methods
Our flagship annual Conferences gather dozens of participants of many different ethnic, cultural, religious and professional backgrounds, including prominent politicians, senior academics, religious leaders, but also little known dissidents and young activists. The discussions are open to the public in Prague, and to a global audience via online broadcasting and the publication of contributions and outcomes. In addition, Forum 2000 conducts specific dialogues in other smaller-scale formats. We envisage bringing the dialogue to other locations in the world.
The Shared Concern Initiative is a vehicle for facilitating the joint expression of an opinion shared among groups of distinguished leaders and personalities. Wherever our shared values come under attack, the Shared Concern Initiative can give a voice to that concern, one that can be heard around the world through a number of media outlets. Developments in Venezuela, Tibet and Ukraine are recent additions to the issues the Initiative has addressed since its establishment in 2005.
Forum 2000 provides intangible yet direct support to the evolution of civil society in the Czech Republic and Central Europe. The annual NGO Market in Prague helps civil society actors intensify their cooperation, find partners more easily and operate freely and effectively. Finally, an indispensable part of Forum 2000's mission is outreach to young people through a variety of educational activities.
***
We, participants of the 2012 Annual Forum 2000 Conference, along with members of Forum 2000 governing and advisory bodies, salute the lifelong work of the late President Václav Havel and pledge to uphold his legacy as set out in this declaration.
Hero: 1. a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. 2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
Vaclav Havel, Czech Republic A brief biography of Mr. Havel would be summed up as playwrite, essayist, former dissident, and politician, but there is much more to this individual that bears a closer look. His essays on The Power of the Powerless and Politics and Conscience should be required reading in any civics course and should be read and reread by politicians who aspire to become statesmen. Visit his official website where some of his essays from both his time as a dissident and later as president are available online.
The purpose of this brief profile is to encourage the reader to search further and read Havel's collection of essays and watch the documentaries on the struggle of the Czech people to obtain and maintain their freedom, and in the process learn how to make the world a better place.
Below a selection of images, quotes, phrases, and trailers of documentaries with the aim of better capturing this great person:
The only lost cause
The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle. Quoted in Amnesty International's essay "From Prisoner to President – A Tribute" The significance of a purely moral act
Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance -Letter to the overthrown Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček (August 1969)
How you become a dissident
You do not become a "dissident" just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. The Power of the Powerless (1978) The Pen and the Sword 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. Speech of October 1989, accepting a peace prize On Truth and Love
“The truth and love will always beat the lie and hatred.”
I have noticed that a politician – and this is a general phenomenon – always has a special halo around him, due to the simple fact that he holds a particular office. It has nothing to do with whether he is a good politician or a complete fool: the position itself lends that person a special aura. Interview, Atlantic Monthly November 11, 2009
Documentary: Citizen Havel
"Citizen Vaclav Havel Goes on Vacation" recreates a trip around Czechsolovakia that its future president Vaclav Havel took in 1985 when he was still the country's most prominent dissident. In the course of one week, he was twice thrown into jail for 48 hours of preventive detention and followed by over 300 plainclothed policemen, who would helpfully point out the right way whenever he got lost.
Two positive aspects of being a Dissident
..When someone makes the effort to become a dissident and joins the opposition and runs the risk of being persecuted, that fateful step has two positive aspects to it. The first is that they feel good about being in harmony with their conscience and their beliefs. When you lie a little, or make compromises you shouldn’t, you can have the ugly feeling of being soiled. If you decide to do something good, regardless of whether that advances your cause or not, you at least have the positive feeling of being on the side of truth. And the second aspect – and the experience of my country and of the other post-communist countries bears this out—is that these seemingly pointless, quixotic efforts may rather quickly turn into something important, and may eventually bear fruit. The just may be successful. Interview, Atlantic Monthly November 11, 2009
The Power of the Powerless Documentary (2009)
Narrated by Jeremy Irons, The Power of the Powerless examines the struggle for freedom during the communist era in Czechoslovakia. Featuring Vaclav Havel, who ascended to power during the bloodless revolution of 1989, The Power of the Powerless investigates haunting questions about the communist past, which still linger today.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always. - Mahatma Gandhi
The non-violent implosion of the East Bloc was not inevitable.Although Gandhi is correct in his observation that tyrants and murderers always depart the timing and means of their end are determined by human action guided by free will. There was never a guarantee that the Soviet empire would end peacefully, and predictions taken through the prism of the history of the 20th century promised apocalypse. Adolph Hitler's departure from power was amid ruins and tens of millions of victims and a suicide in 1945. Josef Stalin departed power dying of a stroke and delayed treatment with tens of millions of victims and a totalitarian state intact eight years later. Uprisings in Poland, Hungary in 1956 following Stalin's death and Czechloslovakia in 1968 met with military invasion, mass repression, and death. The world would first witness the building of the Berlin Wall in August of1961 and then come to the brink of nuclear holocaust in October of 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis.The Soviet Union would continue on until 1991 with Kruschev, Breshnev, Andropov, Chernenkov, and the last Gorbachev maintaining the totalitarian state.
Many experts and academics among themArthur Schlesinger, Jr, John Kenneth Galbraith, noted sovietologist Seweryn Bialer of Columbia University, and the Nobel laureate in economics Paul Samuelson in the 1980s believed that the Soviet empire was there to stay and competitive with the West. The press on the ground in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was also reporting that the system was here to stay. For example, New York Times journalist Ferdinand Protzman in the May 15, 1989 Business Day section reported that “East Germany is the Communist world’s vaunted economic success story, hailed as proof that hard work, discipline and thrift can translate Karl Marx’s theories into reality.”
What happened? Why were so many bright people so wrong? Perhaps it was the lack of understanding about the basis of power. Gandhi rightly observed that "Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love." In addition to punishment and love there is also self-interest which although inferior to love is superior to punishment or the threat of force. In other words Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were both right that free market systems were superior to communist centralized planning in generating a stronger economy which also meant the basis for a more powerful military that the Soviet Union could not compete with, but that was true of the previous seventy years. What changed?
A reawakening of conscience
Today activists speak of blogs, twitter, and skype but back then it was Samizdat underground publications challenging the official version of events. There had been an armed resistance in many of these countries and it had been brutally crushed, but then when political violence was no longer an option and individuals had to look elsewhere and found the power of the powerless. In October of 1978 Czech playwrite Vaclav Havel wrote an essay titled The Power of the Powerless which I think explains what happened in 1989, and in which no small part he ended up playing an important role.This essay had a profound impact throughout Eastern Europe. The English translator of this essay describes in an introduction to The Power of the Powerless what Zbygniew Bujak, a Solidarity activist, told him:
"This essay reached us in the Ursus factory in 1979 at a point when we felt we were at the end of the road. Inspired by KOR [the Polish Workers' Defense Committee], we had been speaking on the shop floor, talking to people, participating in public meetings, trying to speak the truth about the factory, the country, and politics. There came a moment when people thought we were crazy. Why were we doing this? Why were we taking such risks? Not seeing any immediate and tangible results, we began to doubt the purposefulness of what we were doing. Shouldn’t we be coming up with other methods, other ways? Then came the essay by Havel. Reading it gave us the theoretical underpinnings for our activity. It maintained our spirits; we did not give up, and a year later-in August 198o-it became clear that the party apparatus and the factory management were afraid of us. We mattered. And the rank and file saw us as leaders of the movement. When I look at the victories of Solidarity, and of Charter 77, I see in them an astonishing fulfillment of the prophecies and knowledge contained in Havel's essay."
Pope John Paul II in 1995 addressing the United Nations spoke of what achieved this change: taking the risk of freedom. In Havel's 1978 essay he concludes with a question: "[W]hether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?" In 1989 the peoples of Eastern Europe answered the question and risked everything and in the process won their freedom.
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