Embedded Files
30th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Former Czechoslovakia - H.E. Ambassador Dusan Dacho’s Founders Lecture
By Adam Dacho
Just a few days after the whole world celebrated International Students Day (17 November), Heritage students learned about the 1989 Velvet Revolution: students in former Czechoslovakia helped to end communism and totalitarian regime.
This Founders’ Lecture took place on 20th November in the Library.
For this lecture, our special guest was Slovak Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova H.E. Dr. Dusan Dacho. Ambassador Dacho showed us that freedom and democracy are not free - and even if we live difficult lives in a nasty regime we need to pick up our courage and protest against it. We learned what democracy, human rights and freedom are- and that we must always protect them and fight for them. If possible, in a peaceful and human way. This was the Velvet Revolution.
Dr. Dacho explained to us what the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain were, and how, in 1948, the communist regime started as only one ideology in Central and Eastern Europe (only one belief set by the communists). The secret police arrested anyone who didn't comply with the communists either by believing in something they didn't like or when they didn't want to give away their land, also many churches and monasteries were closed or damaged. As communists didn't like any opponents, everyone who went against them was arrested by the secret police or sent to labour camp. Many people died during those years. Also families that didn't want to give away their land during so called collectivisation were blacklisted and they couldn't study or have a good working career. If any historian or a professor didn't agree with the communism ideology, they would be blacklisted and they could not publish their books or articles. During that sad era, more than 28 million books were destroyed just because the communists did not like what was written there, or because they were written by banned authors.
In 1960, the communist regime was enlightened for a short time, but then in August 1968 military forces from Soviet Block invaded Czechoslovakia and stayed there for the following years--so that any time if they were given the command to they were ready to attack and invade the whole country. Luckily, with many democratic attitudes, and changes all over Europe in the early 1980s, Slovak and Czech students started to oppose the communist authorities and organise demonstrations and protest meetings. That was very courageous because the streets were full of state and secret policemen and they could have been killed. In November and December 1989, there were many massive but peaceful protests around all the country, which caused the communist leaders and authorities to give up. Soon there were the first democratic elections in Czechoslovakia since 1946.
Why was the Velvet Revolution called Velvet?
The reason is that Velvet means light and kind of peaceful--and that's what the protests were like. Nobody was killed during the protests and power in the country was transmitted in a non-violent way.
Ambasador Dacho finished his lecture with words: freedom is not free. Struggle for democracy is not a time-limited process, but a continuous one.
Page updated
Report abuse