| SVU |
CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES |
President
Havel's Speech
on the Occassion of SVU Conference, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
April 26, 1999
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Early in the evening yesterday, I came to Minnesota, a place which is famous for, among
other things, a significant and a very active Czech-American community. This morning I was
honored to open, in Macalaster College, a Symposium concerning civil society in which some
of you participated.
I am very delighted that I can meet with you, both Czechs and Slovaks, the Americans of
Czech and Slovak descent who have lived for many decades here in the mid-West of the
United States of America. Many of your predecessors were the first to come to Minnesota
and to neighboring states, and they helped to establish the basis for an advanced civil
society.
I deeply appreciate the fact that official representatives of several Czech-American
associations and organizations have also accepted invitations to this meeting. Many of
those representatives have come from various parts of the United States, for example from
Chicago, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cedar Rapids, Philadelphia, and even as far away as
Texas, Florida, and California.
Please allow me to greet also those of you who were forced, under the pressure of
circumstances, to leave your native land during the trying times of communist
totalitarianism - a time which was very difficult for Czechoslovakia. Many of you
sacrificed years of your lives in prison in order to restore freedom to our nation. There
are those amongst you who were literally expelled from your native land and thus lost
those closest to you. There are people amongst you who fought, for years, to regain human
rights in our country and in the whole of the former communist Europe.
I am very pleased that I can meet the participants of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and
Sciences Conference and it is my honor to be a member of that Society. The topic for the
Conference concerns relations between Czech-America and the Czech Republic, as well as
other issues which we perceive as crucial, and the solutions of which I consider of utmost
importance.
Dear Friends,
We are meeting at a time which is very significant for the Czech Republic. Last month our
country became a member of NATO, an organization which deserves credit for the end of
communist totalitarianism in Europe, as well as for the fact that we, the Czech Republic
and other countries of the former Soviet bloc, are able now to share in the defense of our
common values. Sixty years after Hitler's forces invaded our country, and thirty years
after the occupation of the Warsaw Pact army, the security of the Czech Republic has
become an essential part of the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic world.
The danger that we could become, once again, a victim of some aggressor is thus irrevocably receding into the past. On the 12th of March of 1999, fifty years after the establishment of NATO, the Czech Republic and the United States of America have became allies, and thus our nation finally achieved what it had been striving for. I am very well aware of all your support in helping our country to enter NATO. Therefore, please allow me to thank you once again. I would like you to know that the Czech Republic is fully aware of your help and we greatly appreciate it.
During the last three days I have taken part, as Head of the delegation from the Czech Republic, in NATO's historic Summit in Washington D.C., for the first time as a representative of the Alliance's member state. This culminating meeting of the prominent representatives of NATO member states occurred at a time which is immensely dramatic both for the Alliance and for Europe. I believe that the documents adopted will help the Alliance to better prepare itself and to face, effectively, the new dangers that threaten those values on which the Alliance is based.
This
November it will already have been ten years since the former Czechoslovakia set out on
its way to achieve democracy and to pursue a challenging and an on-going process of change
within all areas of our society. Please allow me to take this opportunity to reflect upon
the relationship between the Czech Republic and the Czechs who live abroad. I would like
to assure you that I am aware of, and very much appreciate the fact that a vast majority
of you have done a great amount of work for your native land, both before November of 1989
and since.
I believe that the Czech Republic still owes a great deal to its fellow countrymen, to
both its former and current citizens who live abroad. There are still some problematic
areas to be resolved. I refer mainly to the right to vote for citizens of the Czech
Republic who live abroad, and the possibility of obtaining dual citizenship for certain
groups of our former citizens, issues which unfortunately have not been given much
attention by Czech political representatives. As such, I have welcomed steps that the
Czech government has taken during the last few months in order to improve this deplorable
situation. I firmly believe that the Parliament of the Czech Republic fully realizes the
importance of this legal necessity, and that the Parliament will assume this task as
responsibly as possible.
Debates
concerning these legal regulations often address their unpropitious consequences, which
might influence the reputation of the Czech Republic internationally. Personally, I
perceive the relationship between the Czech Republic and Czechs both at home and abroad in
a wider context. I think that the quality of this issue will also contribute to the way
our country develops in the future, because there is a debt that the Czech Republic feels
towards its former citizens which the Czech Republic should reimburse in order to gain a
clear conscience and achieve a good moral atmosphere in our society.
We must not forget the enormous efforts that the Czechs living abroad extended during
totalitarianism in order to help us at home, both financially and morally. Equally
important was your help during the restoration of democracy and freedom after November of
1989, when the majority of you sought to resolve our common concerns with great enthusiasm
and natural interest. I am aware of the fact that our country has not always shown
appreciation for your work. This is one of the reasons why I would like to thank you
again, most sincerely, for your efforts and for your help during the establishment of the
new democratic Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic.
For our country, the relationship with Czechs living abroad is also a test of our own
maturity and of our European-ness. Ten years after the return of democracy and freedom to
our country, at a time when we have become a member of NATO and are striving to enter the
European Union, it is difficult to understand that many of us find it problematic to look
beyond our own worries and self-interest, or beyond political and party benefits. If we
are unable to open ourselves to our former fellow countrymen, emigres, and exiles who in
many areas often have the advantage of a broader or somewhat different perspective we will
have a difficult time acclimating to the unification of Europe.
I would like to refer to another dimension of your activities - your role in the
preservation and development of Czech cultural heritage. It is admirable that even in a
dynamic and versatile society, such as the United States of America, you have continued to
preserve those traditions which we now rarely practice in our country. This morning, when
I spoke about civil society and about the significant role that various associations,
communities, and social groups play here, I realized that, undoubtedly, your varied
cultural and social activities have helped to maintain a good reputation for our country,
as well as to preserve our national traditions and our culture. As a writer, I
would also like to give credit to those of you who have tried to preserve a continuity of
Czech 'free-thinking' and Czech spiritual life as a whole. I also admire you for the fact
that Czech, this beautiful and rich language, continues to be cultivated here, and that it
simultaneously creates a unique bond between you and the Czech Republic, and also amongst
yourselves.
Dear Friends,
I have always, very carefully, observed the lives of the Czechs and the Czech
organizations abroad. Beginning in the 60's, during my trip to the United States of
America, I met with people who were forced to leave their native land, and who dedicated
the rest of their lives to the restoration of democracy and freedom in Czechoslovakia. I
vividly remember meetings and discussions with such personalities as Mr. Peroutka, Mr.
Zenkl, Mr. Majer and Mr. Lettrich. I will never forget the welcome that I received, as the
President of Czechoslovakia, from you, Czechs and Slovaks in America, during my first
official trip across the Ocean in February of 1990.
To conclude, please allow me to thank you, once again, for everything that you have ever
done for the Czech Republic. I would like to assure you that I will make every effort to
guarantee that your work for our native land will be appreciated at home, and that there
will be no more injustices, primarily against those who suffered enough during
totalitarianism. Allow me to wish, for all of us in the future, great mutual understanding
and cooperation that will strengthen the recognition of our country abroad.
Thank you for your attention
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