Thank you!
Václav Havel and other members of VPN (Public Against Violence), and OF (Civic Forum) during the Velvet Revolution 1989 celebrate their victory. Photo: vaclavhavel-library.org
Jonáš Jánsky / November 17, 2019
( 3 min read )
As we can see from the date, we are in the middle of November and, to paraphrase one sour, stoic gentleman from a certain T.V. series, "Winter is coming". The weather in Central Europe, at least around November, tends to be predictable, so it is no surprise then that the weather here in Bratislava is getting quite chilly. But not only that. When you look outside the window, you see a dark cloudy sky, as well as that most of the autumn leaves lost their vibrant colors and right now they are just barely more than dirty yellow spots on the already dirty streets. To sum it up, these days look really bleak.
Due to the above-mentioned fact about repeating the weather, it is no surprise that there had been similar weather 30 years ago during this time of the year. But what is surprising is that during this bleak weather, an event took place that gave hope to nearly all people in former Czechoslovakia. Today is 17th November 2019 and 30 years ago, on 17th November 1989, The Velvet revolution started.
On this day 30 years ago, the police of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime has used violence in order to suppress a student demonstration that has started as a celebration of the international students' day. The protesters started to demand from the government to uphold the human rights of all citizens, the freeing of political prisoners, as well as dialogue between the government and various independent initiatives. Due to that, the police tried to dissolve the demonstration. And this forced dissolution turned into a violent fight. Hundreds of people were injured, and, according to rumor, a student died.
Even though this rumor later proved itself false, it started spreading like wildfire. All around former Czechoslovakia, demonstration and strikes started. These resulted in the formation of two massive movements that have opposed the communist regime. In the federal Czech Republic, it was the Civic Forum (Občianske Fórum), and in Slovakia, it was Public Against Violence (VPN- Verejnost proti násiliu).
It took something over a month until these two movements prevailed against the government, whose violent actions birthed them.
I would like to say something more profound concerning this important day, but I cannot. I just do not know enough. I am neither a historian nor a person who can remember these events and so I can only write quite little about it.
But apart from this, I want to do one more thing. I want to thank everyone who took part in this event. All of those who stood against the regime that had shown itself not to be afraid of using violence. All of those who risked everything and fought for their hope of freedom and justice.
I want to say thanks to the people who organized this demonstration. I want to say thank you to my parents who, among tens of thousands of other people, stood there in Autumn’s cold. I want to say thanks to everyone that was involved in this struggle.
All of them were brave. And I admire all of them. I am not sure If I could be as brave as they were.
Thank you.
