ABSTRACT

This chapter tells the story of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, in which the communist regime collapsed almost without a fight over the course of a few weeks, and close with the assurance that they all lived happily ever after. In the real world, the Velvet Revolution was only a preface to the time-consuming work of reconstructing institutions and mindsets that would allow democracy to function effectively. The slogans of the day invoked the universal values in the current context, demanding variously free elections, academic freedom, and "genuine perestroika". The form that the Velvet Revolution took would have been inconceivable without the engagement of committed intellectuals who in effect volunteered to focus their energies on the political task of negotiating the transition and consolidating the new regime. In Czechoslovakia, the rebuilding of open channels of public information began with the Velvet Revolution.