Word: czechoslovakias
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...surrealist paranoia turned out to be the right moral optic through which to see the Communist world clearly, and Havel had keen eyesight. Constricted as a playwright, he became a dissident. Imprisoned as a dissident, he became a symbol. Communism was brutal and stupid and corrupt. Havel was Czechoslovakia with brains -- the country's better self, its idealist, its moral philosopher, the visionary of "living in truth." When the Communist state fell away in November 1989, it made some giddy, noble sense to install Havel as the first President of Czechoslovakia...
When Havel resigned the mostly ceremonial office last week, the ground beneath him was shifting. Czechoslovakia may soon split in two -- the Slovaks in the eastern half of the country breaking off to form an independent state, the Bohemians and Moravians in the Czech lands to the west organizing a faster-moving, more entrepreneurial state that might soon integrate with the European Community. In some ways a breakup would be logical. The Slovaks and those in the Czech lands were pieces of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire knit together in 1918, but they have deep differences of background, outlook...
...case, Havel's moral importance transcends Central European politics. His ideas aim toward formation of a kind of global civil society. The breakup of Czechoslovakia might be a sort of rehearsal for the problems involved in larger rearrangements of the world order. Havel asserts values not often advanced in world politics -- courtesy, good taste, intelligence, decency and, above all, responsibility. He asserted them against the Communist regime. , Anyone who thinks Havel's values are charming but useless in the real world must consider that the Communists are now gone...
Countries represented in this graduating class include Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungry, Latvia, Poland, Rumania, Russia and Yugoslavia...
When the "velvet revolution" brought democracy to his country in 1989, Vaclav Havel hoped a strong and unified Czechoslovakia would help anchor a peaceful postcommunist Central Europe. Last week Havel's vision finally faded when Slovakia's parliament split the country by declaring its sovereignty. Moments later Havel stepped down as President of Czechoslovakia, giving up a long struggle to broker a federal power-sharing agreement. He may well be the leading candidate when the separate Czech Republic establishes the new office of president...