Eleven years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the communist governments in the region crumbled. How do we look back at this great uprising, twenty-five years later? What happened to the dreams and ideals of the dissidents of 1989? We reflect on the events leading up to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the developments within the Czech Republic over the past 25 years.public and leader of Charta ’77, wrote.
Karel Schwarzenberg, chairman of the International Helsinki Committee and former Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, will give a keynote lecture about how the fall of the Iron Curtain has influenced the Czech Republic. Jan Macháček, signatory of Charta ’77, ex-member of the underground band ‘Plastic People of the Universe’ and currently working as political commentator for Respekt, will speak about the role of the dissidents, the ideals of Václav Havel and Charta ’77.
Throughout the programme we bring the thoughts of Vaclav Havel to the stage in three theatrical readings: 1# The Dissident, 2# The President, 3# The Civilian. He questions us about our ideals, the condition of Europe and the dreams of 1989. Václav Havel will be performance by Walter Bart (Wunderbaum).
Yoeri Albrecht, director of De Balie, will moderate this programme.
About the speakers:
Karel Schwarzenberg
As the chairman of the International Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the 1980s, Karel Schwarzenberg pushed for improved adherence to human rights in Europe. He has spoken on issues of human rights in the former USSR, Bulgaria, Kosovo and also in the Czech Republic. In the autumn of 1989 he returned to his homeland, the Czech Republic, where he was named chancellor to the president on 10 July 1990. In 1992 he led the first OSCE delegation to Nagorno-Karabakh after the outbreak of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On 9 January 2007, Karel Schwarzenberg was named foreign minister of the Czech Republic, nominated to government by the Green Party. Karel Schwarzenberg has been Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 13 July 2010 to july 2013.
Jan Macháček
Jan Macháček is a Czech journalist and musician. He is a leading commentator on domestic and international economic political issues within Czech Republic. Macháček writes for the daily Hospodářské Noviny and the weekly Respekt. During communism, Jan Macháček was involved in samizdat publishing and underground music culture and performed with the rock group “Plastic People of the Universe”. In the 1980's, he participated in various opposition movements and signed the petition "Charta 77". After the revolution of 1989, Mr. Macháček co-founded his country’s first independent media outlet, the weekly Respekt. He has received recognition and praise for his investigative and analytical writing. In 2000 he became Respekt’s deputy editor in chief.