Celebrating Revolution With Roots in a Rumor (Prague)
PRAGUE — It was a revolution that began with a lie.
Vaclav Havel, the dissident who led the Velvet Revolution that overthrew Communism in Czechoslovakia, once declared that “truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred.” Yet the revolution — its name a reference to the clenched fist in the velvet glove — was set off by a false rumor that remains a mystery 20 years later.
On Tuesday, thousands of Czechs marched through the streets here, to the sound of wailing sirens and the growls of police dogs, eerily replicating a nonviolent student march on Nov. 17, 1989, in which the police rounded on demonstrators and rumors spread that a 19-year-old university student named Martin Smid had been brutally killed. Scores had indeed been violently beaten. But no one, in fact, had died.
Jan Urban, a dissident leader and journalist who helped to disseminate the lie that he, like many others, believed to be true at the time, recalled in an interview that news of the alleged death had spread quickly, helping to wake a nation out of its collective apathy and lighting the spark — eight days after the fall of the Berlin Wall — for the peaceful rebellion that culminated in the regime’s demise.
“Until that day, there had been a deal between the Communist regime and the people: ‘You shut up and we will take care of you,’ ” he said. “But the moment people had the impression that their kids were being killed, the deal was off. As a journalist, I am ashamed of the lie because it was a professional blunder. But I have no regrets because it helped bring four decades of Communism to an end.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Havel, President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer joined the hundreds laying candles at the monument marking the clash. “The demonstration, the march set history into motion,” Mr. Havel said.
Yet two decades after a lie helped unleash a revolution, many Czechs remain uncertain not only about the truth of what unfolded in the heady days of November 1989, but also about the consequences of a revolution that some feel has failed to live up to its promises...
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Vaclav Havel, the dissident who led the Velvet Revolution that overthrew Communism in Czechoslovakia, once declared that “truth and love must triumph over lies and hatred.” Yet the revolution — its name a reference to the clenched fist in the velvet glove — was set off by a false rumor that remains a mystery 20 years later.
On Tuesday, thousands of Czechs marched through the streets here, to the sound of wailing sirens and the growls of police dogs, eerily replicating a nonviolent student march on Nov. 17, 1989, in which the police rounded on demonstrators and rumors spread that a 19-year-old university student named Martin Smid had been brutally killed. Scores had indeed been violently beaten. But no one, in fact, had died.
Jan Urban, a dissident leader and journalist who helped to disseminate the lie that he, like many others, believed to be true at the time, recalled in an interview that news of the alleged death had spread quickly, helping to wake a nation out of its collective apathy and lighting the spark — eight days after the fall of the Berlin Wall — for the peaceful rebellion that culminated in the regime’s demise.
“Until that day, there had been a deal between the Communist regime and the people: ‘You shut up and we will take care of you,’ ” he said. “But the moment people had the impression that their kids were being killed, the deal was off. As a journalist, I am ashamed of the lie because it was a professional blunder. But I have no regrets because it helped bring four decades of Communism to an end.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Havel, President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer joined the hundreds laying candles at the monument marking the clash. “The demonstration, the march set history into motion,” Mr. Havel said.
Yet two decades after a lie helped unleash a revolution, many Czechs remain uncertain not only about the truth of what unfolded in the heady days of November 1989, but also about the consequences of a revolution that some feel has failed to live up to its promises...