Recovering the Promise of 1989: Take part in the 23rd FORUM 2000 CONFERENCE October 13–15

"If we take the widest and wisest view of a Cause, there is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause." -  T. S. Eliot (1927)

Forum 2000 started today and this 23rd gathering in Prague will focus on "recovering the promise of 1989." Some of the ways to do that are to attend this gathering in person, virtually over social media, and to revisit the writings and thoughts of those who led the struggle that saw freedom spread around the world in 1989.  One of them is Václav Havel and he is also a founder of Forum 2000. 

If you haven't heard of him, then shame on you. He is an important figure to know, to understand how Eastern Europe was liberated in 1989.

Václav Havel was a Czech playwright, who became a dissident, a prisoner of conscience, presided over the Velvet Revolution, became president of Czechoslovakia, resigned in protest over the Velvet Divorce, then became president of the Czech republic and finally citizen and playwright once again. All the while he demonstrated his solidarity with victims of repression in his own country and around the world.

The fruits of his legacy can be seen in the work of Forum 2000, this annual gathering of politicians, philosophers, artists, scientists, and the public to reflect on important issues challenging civilization that is currently underway. 

Ten years ago on October 12, 2009 at another Forum 2000 conference Václav Havel offered the following reflection on President Barack Obama's decision to back out of meeting with the Dalai Lama due to an upcoming trip to China:

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.

Ten years ago on the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Václav Havel also warned of the dangers of appeasement. In an address to the European Parliament in Brussels, Havel issued a challenge to the European Union and warned of the consequences of failure:

"Above all, clear and unequivocal solidarity with all those confronted by totalitarian or authoritarian regimes wherever they are in the world. And economic or other particular interests should not hinder such solidarity. Even a minor, discreet and well-intentioned compromise can have fatal consequences– even if only in the long term, or indirectly. One must not retreat in the face of evil, because it is in the nature of evil to take advantage of every concession. Besides, Europe has already had its own unfortunate experience of appeasement policies. 

The "Velvet Revolution" achieved profound non-violent change without wholesale slaughter and violence associated historically with revolutions. A cursory look would claim that the "revolution" took 11 days in November for the Communists to relinquish power. 

In reality, it began at least in 1976, after the beatings and arrests of the members of the rock band the Plastic People of the Universe, led a number of intellectuals, Vaclav Havel, among them drafting and signing Charter 77.  Charter 77 challenged the Czechoslovak communists to honor the rights outlined in their own constitution and in the Helsinki accords that the communist government had signed in 1975.

This small moral act had big consequences over the long term, and immoral acts such as engaging with Communist China without conditioning relations to improved human rights is now having a great impact in both Europe and America.


On December 9, 1996 President Bill Clinton met with Chinese General and Defense Minister Chi Haotian, in the Oval Office. General Haotian was the military leader who oversaw the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.  President Clinton did not raise the issue of Tiananmen Square in his meeting with the Chinese general. This further empowered the hard line elements in China.

In 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a high ranking center right politician, went to Trier to honor Karl Marx, and celebrate the unveiling of a statue of the communist philosopher paid for by the communist regime in China. The European Commission President also excused and downplayed in his remarks the responsibility of the author of the Communist Manifesto for the 100 million lives lost to impose Marx's ideological project.

Václav Havel 5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011

Havel passed away on December 18, 2011 but in the final months of his life he continued to speak out and take action for human rights.

For example, too many remain silent about the human rights situation in China because of its increasing economic might, claiming that nothing can be done, but Vaclav Havel never held that view. In fact, he protested Western silence. On January 7, 2010, Vaclav Havel walked over to the Chinese Embassy in Prague and rang the doorbell on three occasions before posting a protest letter through the outdoor embassy mail slot defending human rights in China, and the plight of Chinese dissidents. The former Czech president turned to reporters present and explained what he was doing:

“We are here now because we are asking the Chinese president and Chinese government not to repeat what happened to us 33 years ago, where fighters for freedom were pursued and persecuted.”

On January 19, 2010 Havel met with the Executive Director of Human Rights in China, Sharon Hom, and engaged her in a dialogue/interview about Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the struggle for democratic reform in China. When asked about the similarities between China today and Czechloslovakia in 1977 he explained that:

The similarities, I would say, are in the basic structure of human rights reflected in a democratic system, which of course the regime doesn’t want. The regime wishes for the dictatorship of one party. I think this is where Charter 08 and Charter 77 are similar: they have similar targets and similar messages to deliver to the [respective] regimes.

The lessons are clear. There is no end of history, and there are no permanent victories. Liberty and respect for human rights are fragile and require constant attention and care. The threat of tyranny whether through external or internal threats is a constant challenge that requires the vigilance and prudence of free peoples.

Oswaldo Payá and President Václav Havel (2002)

Sadly, these lessons and the legacy of Václav Havel are under assault in the Czech Republic.  In 2014, Czech deputy foreign minister Petr Drulák argued that a "foreign policy with its stress on human rights was wrong and harmful." This abandonment of human rights was not solely confined to Cuba. In February of 2015 the European Union lifted sanctions on the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. This was followed in February of 2016 with lifting sanctions on the Alexander Lukashenko regime in Belarus. 

The European Union's Common Position on Cuba was ended on December 12, 2016 when in a unanimous vote (including the Czech Republic) the European Union claimed to "open a new chapter" in relations with the Cuban dictatorship that dropped human rights as a condition of normalization.

Under the pretext of "normal relations" Cuban dissidents and independent civil society are no longer welcome at events at European embassies, as they were under the old policy. Incidentally in the rest of Latin America European embassies invite dissidents, members of the political opposition to their events. The Cuban government in Washington DC invites opponents of the US government to their embassy functions.

However, these dissidents have not been abandoned, Václav Havel is no longer physically with us, but his legacy and institutions such as Forum 2000 live on and continue to stress human rights and solidarity.

Dissidents and human rights defenders from around the world, including Cuba and China, will be heard at Forum 2000 by world leaders in a space that defends the values and promise of 1989, and seeks avenues for strengthening and expanding them.

True, this is a small moral act by a Czech NGO, but as Vaclav Havel demonstrated back in 1989, in both word and deed, they can change the world for the better.  Whether it succeeds or not  we must continue to hope. In 1990 in his book, Disturbing the Peace, Havel explained a powerful definition of hope that is rooted in truth.

“Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more unpromising the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is. Hope is not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Tonight, we listened to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman deliver a powerful speech at Forum 2000 that painted a negative, but accurate picture, of the challenges facing the international community today.

"Bad choices are made between tyranny and terrorism. We will fight both. Any war against terrorism is also a war against dictatorship. Every dictator is a terrorist and every terrorist is a dictator."

Freedom of expression, of thought, belief in the freedom of travel and solidarity with victims of repression are at the heart of Forum 2000 and are among the values to be defended to preserve and expand free societies.

Hope you will join us in attending Forum 2000, and sending them a donation.