Vaclav Havel Library

Stories about smuggling books during the dissident era, learning Czech from Rudé právo, the Velvet Revolution, and behind-the-scenes politics, from the differing attitudes of Havel and Klaus to warnings about the current threat to independent media posed by technology and populism.

Another guest on "In Conversation with..." was Misha Glenny, who studied at Charles University and covered the fall of communism, the return of democracy to Czechoslovakia, and the war in the former Yugoslavia for the BBC.

You can watch the entire recording on the Havel Channel here: https://havelchannel.cz/cs/02194/in-conversation-with-misha-glenny
Photo (c) Ondřej Němec, Knihovna Václava Havla

Václav Havel returned to world politics when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney based his acclaimed speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on his essay The Power of the Powerless.

This event was followed by a debate between Tomáš Sedláček, director of the Václav Havel Library, Gabriel Eichler, chairman of the board of trustees of the Václav Havel Library, and Emily McLaughlin, Canadian ambassador to the Czech Republic. They discussed Václav Havel's contribution to contemporary world politics, about the shared democratic values between Canada, Czech Republic, and Europe, and why strong coalitions are crucial today.

A recording of the debate can be found on the Havel Channel website here: https://youtu.be/uPse2Qz6ojg
Photo (c): Ondřej Němec, Knihovna Václava Havla

Professor Ilham Tohti, an Uyghur intellectual and laureate of the Václav Havel Prize, has been imprisoned for 12 years and sentenced to life in prison in China for simply trying to lead a dialogue between the Chinese and the Uyghurs. His family has had no news of him since 2017.
On January 16 at 7 pm at the Václav Havel Library, those who have long been advocating for his release will discuss the fate of the man nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the situation of the Uyghurs: Senior Researcher at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Science Dilnur Reyhan, sinologist Marie Holzman, and activist Teng Biao. The evening will be opened by Senator Pavel Fischer.
The entire program will be in English without Czech interpretation and will be moderated by Magdalena Slezáková from Deník N.
https://fb.me/e/56lCQmy6i