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The Iron Curtain and Czechoslovakia

Like man walking on the moon; most of us have memories of the footage of the Berlin Wall coming down. It is 30 years this November since the Berlin Wall came down. 

It is 30 years since the fall of the iron curtain across Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia.


Following the ground-swell and thirst for change in the other member states along with the demise of the Berlin Wall, between mid-November and the end of December 1989, Czechoslovakian students and older dissidents bravely led peaceful protests which resulted in the peaceful transition to democracy, known as the Velvet Revolution.
The event commenced on international students day[i] (17th Nov) and riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague. The students announced a weekly strike, demanded political pluralism, free elections, the resignation of compromised politicians and a true public information system.

The event sparked further demonstrations. On 20th Nov, it was estimated that 200,000 people assembled in Wenceslas Square. The following day numbers swelled to 500,000. 

On the 27th November there was a two hour general strike involving all Czechoslovakian citizens. 
On the back of the demonstrations and no doubt recognition that the USSR was no longer in a position to "prop up the regime”; leadership of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party resigned and general open elections were called.

 Within six weeks a new government was elected.


                                                        
Today we visited an amazingly powerful photo exhibition of the fall of the Iron Curtain in the Prague Summer Palace.  It included works of some 20-odd photographers from each of these former member nations. We have included a couple of photos that spoke to us. 

We encourage anyone with an interest who can get along to this exhibit to do so. 

For me, this exhibit is yet another reminder that sometimes we need to fight for:
·       free and fair elections; 

·       diversity in all its forms, including ideas and thought;

·       systems to remove compromised politicians;

·       a true public information system (in all forms of media, not just TV).
And if we allow these to erode, there is a social cost. 

[i] International Students Day 1989 was significant because it marked the 50th anniversary (1939) of the student demonstration against the Nazi storming of Prague University. The demonstration was violently suppressed, resulting in the death of nine and the arrest of 1200 students. Those arrested were deported to concentration camps as political prisoners.

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