The trade union form Gdansk’s shipyard founded in 1980 which transformed into a national movement and came to play a great role in collapsing communism in central and eastern Europe, Solidarity celebrates its 30th anniversary on 29 and 30 August.
Eleven boats, spelling out Solidarność, will sail the Vltava between the Charles and Legií Bridges on Sunday at 5pm.
The happening was inspired by a 1989 event when Czechs dissidents sailed on Vltava carrying an anti-communists slogan “Today it’s you who is at the oars. Tomorrow it’s us.”
“Back then I was a member of dissident organization Freedom and Peace, we arranged a lot of campaigns which were to ridicule the authorities in Poland,” says Krystyna Krauze, participant of the Vltava’s manifesto in 1989 and the organizer of this year’s event. “Still, I was very impressed and surprised noticing that Czech opposition also tried to make fun of their government.”
Krauze notes that some participants 30 years ago will also be present this year, including Vlasta Třešňák, a famous folk singer.
The event will also feature a performance of Svatopluk Karásek – a singer and signatory of Charter 77.
But the Vltava happening is not the only highlight of this year’s celebrations.
On 30 August, the Polish embassy will open an exhibition “Odkaz s lidskou tváří” , to run until 8 September, featuring unique photographs portraying Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity members during everyday life.
On 11 September the Polish Institute will stage a play “Archa”, performed by famous Polish theatrical group Teatr Ósmego Dnia, as part of the Za Dveřmi festival (www.zadvermi.cz).
