Havel and his cause
Observer December 20th, 2011
First Gorbachev, then Walesa, then Havel. First a trickle, then a contagious flood of protest, leading finally to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The world has a lot to thank these men for. Havel suffered persecution and imprisonment for his convictions and still found the fire to sustain and mobilize dissent. A writer of clarity, and wry with it, he laid out the systemic trickeries for all to see. A cogent voice. And as the international following grew, he saw how that could help from the outside, to forge change inside his country. Many presidents who are loved abroad, are a little less loved at home, and this applied at times in his case too. But still, and despite some controversies, he remained a quietly powerful, deep-thinking, widely respected leader. He and his Charter 77 and Civic Forum colleagues set the model for a peaceful transition of power from communism to democracy. The Arab spring and Russian autumn may still glean and build from the peaceful Velvet Revolution that he led.
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