These days Wałęsa is a non-person even if his face pops up on television from time to time. In today’s Poland the erstwhile Polish leader has been turned into an instrument in the war of politics. Wałęsa can be used to lash out at the Kaczyńskis or to compromise Tusk’’s team. Very few people care about who Wałęsa was or who he is today.  Only one hard question is heard in Poland today: Are you on Wałęsa’’s side, i.e. on ours, or are you against Wałęsa, i.e. against us? Or: Are you on Wałęsa’’s side, i.e. you are against us, […]

In the storm unleashed by the article Denounced by Milan Kundera published by Respekt, one voice that sounded loudest and clearest. It was the voice of Czech writers and intellectuals born around 1930, my father’s generation. They share a common history and have exerted an influence over Czech society that is completely unprecedented in Central Europe. They have also exerted a decisive influence over my own thinking – and through my father, also over my life. Today, to my great surprise, I find myself embroiled in a row with this generation, which is something I have never thought possible. Among […]

Neoliberalizmus je v kríze. Nezodpovedne konajúci politici a menedžeri izolovaní od sveta zdiskreditovali liberálne hospodárenie. To však neznamená koniec liberalizmu. Víťazstvo Baracka Obamu v amerických prezidentských voľbách nie je len obyčajné striedanie moci v jednej krajine, hoci aj superveľmoci. Na celom svete sme sa ocitli na prahu zmeny paradigmy. Končí sa éra, ktorá sa začala Ronaldom Reaganom a Margaret Thatcherovou pred tromi desaťročiami. Hovorím to ako človek, ktorý sa považuje za liberála: čaká nás obrat doľava. Ruskí mocipáni nemohli ignorovať logiku obratu doľava ani objektívne výzvy, ktoré realita pripravila vládnucej elite. Surovinový boom v skutočnosti ukázal, že poburujúca priepasť medzi […]

Existuje spôsob opisovania skutočnosti, ktorý zodpovedá vážnosti sveta a súčasne aj jeho absolútnej ľahkomyseľnosti, pretože aj tie najnáruživejšie precítené zážitky, alebo práve tie najnáruživejšie, nemajú žiadnu váhu. Nedávno som si prečítal zbierku esejí o literatúre Psychologický román od Leona Edela, na ktorú som narazil v antikvariáte. Leon Edel sa preslávil predovšetkým ako životopisec Henryho Jamesa. V tejto knihe sa však venuje teoretickejším problémom: pokúša sa rekonštruovať dejiny zvláštneho útvaru, zvaného psychologický román. Hneď na začiatku cituje dvoch románopiscov 19. storočia ako dôkaz, že spisovatelia sa už v tých časoch trápili s otázkou myšlienkových pochodov. Tušili, že tu ide o čosi […]

  I could never really believe there was such a thing as an absolutely clear conscience. After all, if for generations you were raised to believe that there are some absolute  truths, like white being legally more worthy than black,  you would betray your principles if, for example, you shook hands with someone who is black. You would betray everything that makes up our Great Inherited Values: Father, Mother, Cradle, Solidarity, a Festive Table, the Graves of Our Fathers. You would betray their and your own traditions, and would have to live with the burden of a sullied conscience. And now a true story that […]

V bouři hlasů, která se zvedla po zveřejnění článku Udání Milana Kundery v týdeníku Respekt, zněl jeden hlas zřetelněji než jiné. Byl to hlas české generace spisovatelů a intelektuálů s ročníkem narození těsně kolem roku 1930, do níž patřil také můj otec. V bouři hlasů, která se zvedla po zveřejnění článku Udání Milana Kundery v týdeníku Respekt, zněl jeden hlas zřetelněji než jiné. Byl to hlas české generace spisovatelů a intelektuálů s ročníkem narození těsně kolem roku 1930, do níž patřil také můj otec. Pojí ji společný osud a velký vliv na českou společnost, ve střední Evropě naprosto výjimečný. Zásadním […]

Adam Michnik: I would like to begin by looking back 40 years, when the Warsaw Pact armies invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Do you think the invasion could have been prevented if Czechoslovakia had pursued different policies? Václav Havel:  I believed then, as I believe today, that there was a way of preventing this threat but the country’’s leadership was not even aware of the threat. Of course I do not mean military resistance but some sort of moral mobilization. Our country had experienced something similar once before, following the [1938] Munich Agreement. At that time Czechoslovakia made it clear that […]

The charge by the police on the crowds at the Dunajská Streda/Dunaszerdahely football-match came, for both Slovak and Hungarian extremists, like manna from heaven.  The conflict could well spread further, both internally and externally.  The Slovak and Hungarian narratives being spun of them (respectively: the Hungarian fascists want to take over our country and the Hungarian minority is in cahoots with them and the police of the fascist Slovak state have beaten up innocent Hungarians for expressing their national etcetera) are spreading like wildfire through both Slovak and Hungarian public opinion.  They will reach even into the far corners of […]

  There is a long tradition, particularly strong since the middle of the past century, of  writers making use of the power of their words in defence of  good causes, including their own colleagues whose life and freedom have been under threat of dictatorship of every ilk. This laudable tradition has recently taken on a new dimension, with eleven renowned writers speaking out in defence of their colleague Milan Kundera. Although he lives in a free country, France, they feel his honour is under threat from a campaign of defamation. Sadly, their expression of solidarity bears a striking resemblance to […]

The new US President is an exceptional politician the like of which is seen once in a lifetime. His election is also a response to three of America’’s worst legacies. It is no exaggeration to say that Barack Obama’s election as US President is a historic event. Apart from anything else it is a response to three of America’’s worst legacies, its burdens from past and more recent history. While his victory does not automatically transcend them, it presents a way of coming to terms with them. The first legacy is skin colour, the race issue. The second is 11 […]