High in the mountains on the border of Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1978, a dangerous meeting took place between intellectuals of these two countries, both under totalitarian regimes. Risking arrest, the group of dissidents decided they needed a clear articulation of their movement and commitment. One of the attendees was the banned playwright Vaclav Havel, who wrote an essay called “The Power of the Powerless” as a result of that meeting.
In this essay, Havel, who had many close associates who were Christians, challenged his readers to ‘live in truth’, a concept which Havel himself acknowledged as biblical. The essay was circulated underground and internationally, profoundly emboldening the efforts of many groups fighting for human dignity and freedom under repressive regimes. In 1989, Havel’s essay was brought to life in his own country during the Velvet Revolution. What can we learn from Havel’s essay? How can those living under repressive governments today faithfully, and in community, ‘live in truth’?
On Thursday, 20 October 2022 at 1400 UTC, Dr. Josh Hayden, Department Chair of Social Sciences at Anglo-American University in Prague, Czech Republic and Dr. Monika MacDonagh-Pajerová, a leading personality from the 1989 Velvet Revolution, advisor to Havel for foreign affairs, and lecturer at Charles University and the CEVRO Institute (both in Prague), will discuss the main points and themes of Havel’s essay, how it influenced the Velvet Revolution, and how dissident movements today might be able to ‘live in truth’ under oppressive circumstances.
As background, be sure to read Havel’s essay.
