What was velvet revolution

Soviet loyalist Gustav Husak replaced Dubcek and returned the country to an authoritarian communist regime — but something had changed. In the past, most Communist countries and parties have either wholeheartedly supported such transgressions — or at least closed their eyes to them — but no longer.

Last week, in one country after another, Communists found themselves on the side of the Czechoslovaks. The following January, Jan Palach , a Charles University student in Prague, entered a suicide pact with several fellow students. They were determined to protest the Soviet invasion and combat growing despondency among citizens after the takeover.

On Jan. There he doused himself with gasoline and lit a match. Amazingly, he still managed to give interviews. He spoke softly , his voice rough and halting. In the decades that followed, Communist rule in Czechoslovakia continued, and the resistance, although forced underground, continued to grow too. By , intermittent uprisings throughout Warsaw Pact countries, the increasing militarism of Soviet governments across the region and slowing economic growth within the Eastern Bloc set the stage for revolution.

Strikes and non-violent civil disobedience tactics employed by Solidarity paralyzed Baltic seaports. Ultimately, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev later said , it was the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl that sounded the death knell of the USSR: as word of the disaster spread, the human cost — already horrific — grew, and the once-content Soviet public no longer believed their government infallible.

There was no going back. Nearly 5, people came out the first evening of that week — an unthinkable number since the Prague Spring. It set the stage for what became known as the Velvet Revolution. That autumn, after a simmering year of protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall , students organized another protest. They chose Nov. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again.

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They enjoy open access to information, the ability to express their opinions and the opportunities to work, study and travel abroad that were not possible before the revolution. But ask them about social values, crime and employment and their answers are very different. There is a certain discontent that stems from a sense that the promises and aspirations expressed during the heady days of November have only partially been delivered.

Some citizens — especially the less virtuous ones — have benefited considerably more than others. It is difficult not to turn on the TV news or open a newspaper in either country without being regaled with the juicy details of the latest corruption scandal. Politicians and businessmen have been able to use their connections — some of which were forged in communist times — to strike lucrative deals that pay well for them but less well for the state.

This suggests a strong sense of disenchantment with the post-communist judicial and legal system. The disillusionment with politicians has fuelled support for a steady succession of new parties.

The message struck a chord with voters and the party was propelled into a coalition government. The victory was short lived though, as Public Affairs crumbled under the weight of its own corruption scandals.

Then in the elections, another new party with an anti-corruption appeal performed well enough to secure prominent portfolios in government. His party seeks to appeal to voters not just by opposing corruption but by pushing the cult of the expert. Babis is an attractive option because he has demonstrated his ability to succeed in business after and might, therefore, be seen as more capable of running the country more effectively than a career politician.

But Babis faced years of criticism over allegations that he acted as a security agent for the Communist regime. And while he eventually cleared his name , his struggle acts as a reminder that while may have marked a change, the slate was not wiped entirely clean. A generation later, for both Czechs and Slovaks, truth and love appear to have gained the upper ground. Lies and hatred remain though — and perhaps more significantly disillusionment persists. This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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