The Velvet Revolution and Václav Havel

Welcome to the first ever episode of The Liberty Exchange!

No matter what your thoughts may be on any particular topic, it can be hard to feel comfortable expressing those ideas in today’s highly charged social climate. But, as dangerous as words can seem, they are a powerful tool as well, one we should all be more willing to utilize over more coercive means, especially in the face of actual totalitarian threats.

Here at The Liberty Exchange, we want to speak across ideological boundaries, and one of the figures that inspired our that mission is Václav Havel. Havel was a Czech dissident who modeled courageous opposition to totalitarian power and argued for the necessity of talking across ideological lines in the struggle for individual freedom. To discuss Havel's influence, Libertarianism.org Director Jonathan Fortier is joined by Milan Babík from Colby College.

They discuss Milan's childhood experiences growing up in Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution, the importance of language in shaping politics and reality, and what we can learn from Václav Havel’s fight for greater freedom and the necessity to live authentically in the midst of totalitarian threats.

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Milan Babík - Colby College

The Power of the Powerless - Václav Havel

The Garden Party - Václav Havel

Václav Havel Library - Prague, Czech Republic

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