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Vaclav Havel died yesterday in the Czech Republic at the age of 75.
I have spent some (small amounts of) time in Prague, but was never intriuged by Havel till I was states-side, and studying the intersection of human rights and the arts on my own. Havel is the most fascinating of case studies because although he died the former President of the Czech Republic, he was built by being a playwright.
Havel wrote plays that illuminated the need for meaning and truth in the bitter and sterile communist Czechoslovakia. In the underground meeting halls, his plays were produced with the hope that they could awaken a need for life and depth and hope. And it worked. His art stirred amongst the people, and for it he was imprisoned and prosecuted.
But his art still existed amongst the people, pulsing and growing underneath the Communist rhetoric and the forceably disengaged collective consciousness. His art was a reminder of what they could be and what they are, despite what they have lost.
And what came of it? A Velvet Revolution, or a gentle revolution. One that overturned oppression and upended Communism through peace and nonviolence, art and an engaged people who fought for their hope.
Its all a beautiful depiction of the power in the arts, a power that if harnessed correctly moves kingdoms and revolutionizes societies.
Whew.
(for more: read Havel’s Disturbing the Peace; a convicting, stimulating and shockingly relevant book I wholeheartedly recommend)
