Former Czech President Vaclav Havel stops to visit and support CzechTek protestors
As I was flying across the Atlantic on Monday to return home, the CzechTek protests continued to grow. Jer took this photo on Monday of former President Vaclav Havel at the demonstration protesting police brutality against the ravers. Havel came all the way from Spain to visit the protest in front of the the Ministry of the Interior. Jer reports that the current Prime Minister may have to resign because of the way the police treated ravers at this year's Czechtek free outdoor concert and that the rave protest has been one of the largest outpourings of people power in the Czech Republic since the revolution of 1989.
This is very inspiring and important to me. Havel and I were among a handful of older people that were there to oppose the abuse of power. When I participated in the demonstration on Sunday, I was aware that I was conspicuous as an older (61) person among thousands of young people. Now that I have return to my home country (the United States of America) and my home community (Bismarck, North Dakota on the Missouri River), I am resolved to be ever more active. Older activists like myself need to explore ways to learn from the young and also ways to share our experience and knowledge. I plan to continue this blog, and the close of the Prague Journey of July 2005 has opened up the new field for the next phase. I can see in my commentaries the combination of the themes of love and friendship, art and creativity, spirituality, and the political work for peace and justice. ...People united will never be defeated.
