Word: hards
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...members of Ecoglasnost were later released, but the crackdown was a crude warning to Bulgarian political activists to watch their step. It was one more indication of just how nervous Eastern Europe's remaining hard-line regimes have become as a result of the year's dramatic political changes elsewhere in the bloc. The obdurate rulers in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Rumania refuse to imitate their reformist neighbors but can't help looking anxiously over their shoulder. "They are all worried about the fallout from change elsewhere," said a Western diplomat in the region. A Bulgarian proverb captures the fears: "When...
That does not mean that any of the remaining hard-line governments will necessarily be toppled anytime soon. Nor do they show signs of making more than minor changes in their orthodox programs. And there seems to be a flip side to Gorbachev's repudiation of the Brezhnev Doctrine: it also means that Moscow will not intervene to force reform. Intriguingly, though, some Soviet officials are debating whether it might be wiser to give a shove to the recalcitrant leadership in Czechoslovakia, where popular pressure for change seems ripest...
...Separate Party from State. Add opposition parties and free elections to State. Briskly mix in press, speech and travel freedoms. Top with rights to assemble, strike and form labor unions. Bake in oven turned to Free Enterprise setting. Then hope that the inevitable spillover of chaos -- including the inevitable hard economic times -- doesn't cause the Democracy Souffle to fall...
...problem, of course, is that there is no fail-safe recipe for democracy. While Hungary and Poland have successfully evicted the old chefs from the kitchen, they are having a hard time settling on who will help concoct a different mix. After years of popular revolt, the Poles have installed a Solidarity-led government, but that new leadership is brushing up against its own lack of experience. Within the Sejm, Solidarity is having problems enforcing party discipline. Out in the provinces, the government is having an even tougher time persuading Communist officials to relinquish their privileges, let alone their posts...
...Left Foot, Brown's autobiography about his hard-won emergence as a painter and author, could be meat for good drama or the sap in a TV-movie treacle pudding. This Irish film is mostly meat. Knowing that the audience will embrace Christy, the filmmakers are free to make him as stubborn as he is courageous. For Christy everything begins with will: the will to be understood, to do well things he would not be thought able to do at all and, later, to be loved by the pretty doctor who would only admire and inspire...