whoar.co.nz

News, Opinion, Humour

News / Opinion / Humour
  • Home
  • Ethical Advertising
  • Tips, stories & whistleblowing

‘A tip for Europe’s frustrated young radicals: reclaim the dissident spirit’.. 

13/6/2015 By Leave a Comment

The Czech Velvet Revolution – with Václav Havel at its helm – was brave and principled. Syriza and Podemos should study it.

“Live within the truth”: it may sound slightly lofty now – but that was the core and very powerful message of Communist bloc dissidents in the 1970s and 80s. It is a message that might be worth revisiting in today’s Europe – where there is a dire need for new democratic inspiration – a banner often carried by young leftwing radicals who want to challenge traditional politics.

I recently attended a conference in Prague on the legacy of Václav Havel – the Czech philosopher and playwright who headed the dissident group Charter 77 and then went on to become the hero of the Velvet Revolution and president of his country. Havel died in 2011. The conference gathered civil rights activists and intellectuals from all over Europe – including Ukraine and Belarus. We sat in an alternative cultural centre, with the smiling face of Havel projected on to a screen above us. Adam Michnik – a Polish journalist and former dissident who knew Havel for more than 30 years – gave a lecture on Havel’s vision for Europe. He spoke about fundamental values – pluralism – humanism – tolerance. It was easy to feel somewhat dazed.

The fact is it can be difficult to see how the message of those who led the dissident movements of the Soviet era can possibly carry any kind of weight today. After all once they’d achieved their goals in eastern Europe in 1989 – ex-dissidents were gradually phased out of political life. These days – except perhaps when there is a commemoration – no European leader ever refers to Václav Havel or Andrei Sakharov – or any other leading figure of the fight against dictatorship on the European continent.

The world of the samizdat – the secretly published opposition papers that were smuggled by dissident networks – is hard even to imagine for those who have grown up with the internet – and populism has taken root in Europe.

All the talk tends to be about living standards – security – and keeping foreigners out. The dissidents it seems – belong in the history books.

But do they really? Adam Michnik countered that idea with one sentence: ‘The current European experience’ he said ‘is one of powerlessness’.That was a reference to Havel’s 1978 essay The Power of the Powerless – a seminal text of 24,000 words in which he set out to define the phenomenon of dissent through non-violent civil-society action – based on individual free choice.

This should resonate with the new generation of activists in Europe – from Syriza in Greece to Podemos in Spain – and with all their sympathisers elsewhere who seek an alternative political discourse.

(cont..)

Source: A tip for Europe’s frustrated young radicals: reclaim the dissident spirit | Natalie Nougayrède | Comment is free | The Guardian

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Google

Welcome

WHOAR
Follow @vegandogs50

Recent comments

  • John W on ed: green party co-leader james shaw gives a blinder of a speech..
  • John W on ‘a mixed economic bag in 2019 – by nouriel roubini’.. 
  • John W on ‘plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’.. 
  • editor on ‘the plane(t) has been hijacked by billionaires – and we’re all passengers’..
  • John W on ‘the plane(t) has been hijacked by billionaires – and we’re all passengers’..
  • John W on ‘an alternative to wikileaks – new website says it’ll leak russian oligarch and kremlin emails and documents tomorrow’.. 
  • editor on ‘an alternative to wikileaks – new website says it’ll leak russian oligarch and kremlin emails and documents tomorrow’.. 
  • John W on ‘world’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%’.. (+op-ed..)
  • John W on ‘an alternative to wikileaks – new website says it’ll leak russian oligarch and kremlin emails and documents tomorrow’.. 
  • Mona Lim Go on ‘The man who grew a church from trees’.. 

Articles by Category

andrew little tpp medicinal cannabis brexit jeremy corbyn alcohol donald trump universal basic income stephen colbert green party obama cancer hillary clinton bill maher mueller john key bernie sanders corruption op-ed clinton inequality trump samantha bee sugar cannabis john oliver interview climate change new zealand poverty

Older articles

‘donald trump jr the next target for indictment by robert mueller’..

‘the time mark zuckerberg stun-gunned a goat – knifed it and served it’…

‘drinking water study raises health concerns for new zealanders’

‘jacinda ardern canned film subsidy curbs after meeting peter jackson’.. (+op-ed..)

nancy pelosi: ‘what does putin have on trump – politically – personally or financially?’..(+ op-ed..)

‘our house is on fire’: greta thunberg (16) urges leaders to act on climate’..

‘facebook knowingly duped game-playing kids and their parents out of money’..

‘europe ‘coming apart before our eyes’ – say 30 top intellectuals’..

’70 years of douchebag style’.. 

‘roger stone indictment packed with details that may make trump sweat’..(+op-ed..) 

‘world’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%’.. (+op-ed..)

‘an alternative to wikileaks – new website says it’ll leak russian oligarch and kremlin emails and documents tomorrow’.. 

‘cockatiel sings ‘another one bites the dust’.. 

‘could this community project be the start of a national transformation?’.. 

andrew little to un: ‘new zealand is failing women and our justice system is broken’..(+op-ed..)

‘hep c drug to help thousands’..(+op-ed: my hepatitis story..) 

‘scientists say vegan food can be healthy for pets’.. (+op-ed..)

‘watch miley cyrus belt out temple of the dog’s ‘say hello 2 heaven’ at chris cornell tribute’.. 

‘animals ‘tortured’ pointlessly in depression research’..

forget the planet melting – robbie williams and jimmy page are squabbling..

‘trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with putin’.. 

‘citizen thiel’..

‘pessimists are predicting a global crash in 2020 – you can see why’.. 

‘masters class in dad Jokes’..

interview: angela davis..

‘depression of fathers and their daughters linked’..

‘how some people become just awful’.. 

‘cracking noises trigger evacuation of sydney apartment tower’.. 

‘british pet shops to be banned from selling puppies and kittens’..(+ op-ed: yes – but what about the breeders for the vivisectors..?)

‘beto o’rourke is the new obama – and that’s the last thing we need’.. 

Archives

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2019 · WordPress · Log in