Prague, Sept 9 (CTK) – The 80th birthday anniversary of former Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel (October 5, 1936-December 18, 2011) will be marked with a rally on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on October 5, Tomas Smetanka, from the VH80 association, told CTK Friday.
He said in addition to music performances, quotes from Havel’s speeches will be read and opinions of known people of why his personality is missing, or not will be read.
“The organisers of the Dear Fellow Citizens event expect all who respect the first president of the Czech Republic and who want his principles and values not to disappear from the life of Czech society and from the international heading of the country to come,” Smetanka said.
Havel, playwright and former dissident, was the post-communist president of Czechoslovakia in 1989-1992 and the first Czech head of state in 1993-2003.
The rally in Prague will be opened by Bishop Vaclav Maly, Havel’s friend and a voice of the demonstrations which were held in November 1989 and which resulted in the fall of the communist regime.
“I believe that Havel’s anniversary is a good opportunity to try to correct the impression as if more and more public space were taken up by fear and hatred, as if citizens do not care about the quality of the political system and as if partnership and solidarity with Western Europe annoys them,” Smetanka said.
“We will be glad if people in other towns and villages will also want to remember Havel in public rallies,” he added.
Smetanka said all organisers as well as those who will perform at the Prague event will do so without claim to any financial reward.
The means for the equipment of the event, such as the construction of the platform, sound equipment, cleaning and security measures, which are estimated at 700,000 crowns, are to be collected through crowdfunding on Hithit portal.
The rally to be held on Wenceslas Square from 19:00 until 21:00 on October 5, is a part of the activities which are held under the aegis of the Vaclav Havel Library, Art for Amnesty-Amnesty International and Vaclav Havel Library Foundation under the name HAVEL@80 and which have continued for the whole year. More information is available atwww.vh80.org and vh2016 Facebook.
The Czech Centres will also mark Havel’s anniversary with exhibitions, theatre performances, film screenings, lectures and discussions with survivors.
Thanks to cooperation with diplomatic missions, Havel’s anniversary is spoken about across Europe and in America, Petra Jungwirthova, spokeswoman for the Czech Centres, said Friday.
Most programmes are held in cooperation with the Vaclav Havel Library.
($1=23.921 crowns)
