VÁCLAV HAVEL, the dissident playwright who led the Czechoslovakian “velvet revolution” and was one of the fathers of the east European pro-democracy movement that led to the fall of the Berlin wall, has died aged 75.
Reports quoted his assistant, Sabina Dancecova, as saying Mr Havel died at his weekend house yesterday morning, and the news was announced on Czech television during an interview with prime minister Petr Necas.
Mr Necas called Mr Havel “the symbol of 1989” and said he did “a tremendous job for this country”.
Mr Havel’s state funeral is likely to draw a crowd of leaders, artists and intellectuals from around the world. He was a renowned playwright and essayist who, after the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, was drawn increasingly into the political struggle against the Czechoslovakian communist dictatorship, which he called Absurdistan. His involvement in the Charter 77 movement for freedom of speech won him admiration around the world.
His commitment to non-violent resistance helped ensure the velvet revolution was bloodless. It also help ensured that the “velvet divorce” three years later, when the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was equally peaceful. Mr Havel opposed the split and stepped down from his position as president in 1992 rather than oversee the process.
However, he stood for the presidency of the Czech Republic early the following year and won. It was a non-executive position but Mr Havel brought to it both moral authority and prestige on the world stage.
He stayed in the position, despite bouts of ill health including lung cancer, until 2003.
His role in the east European revolutions of 1989 was considered second only to Lech Walesa’s in Poland. As the twin inspirations of the pro-democracy movement, they were strikingly contrasting figures: Lech Walesa a flamboyant, brash, working-class union agitator; Mr Havel a soft-spoken intellectual from a well-to-do family, who was a reluctant politician.
He was one of a generation who came to political consciousness in the 1960s. Rock stars such as Frank Zappa were among his heroes and late in life he continued to sign his name with a small heart-shaped flourish.
His motto was: “Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate.”
– (Guardian service)