Search results

1

40 Years After the Birth of Religious Samizdat in Slovakia. Characteristics of the Slovak Samizdat and its Impact

100%

Rončáková T.

Biuletyn Edukacji Medialnej

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2012

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issue 1

129-139

EN

This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of samizdat periodicals in Slovakia. It provides a definition of the term and presents the history of samizdat with a focus on social and historical context. As part of a detailed examination of samizdat publications, the paper deals with topics such as circulation, authorship, audience, as well as technical issues related to production – from the acquisition of paper, printing technologies or forms of distribution, circulation or periodicity, to editing and content. The study also examines the attitudes on samizdat of the official Catholic Church structures, i.e. the Vatican, as well as local government authorities.

2

What form of existentialism is there in Havel’ concept of dissent?: Hejdánek’s critique of Havel

100%

Hejduk T.

Filosofický časopis (Philosophical Journal)

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2022

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vol. 70

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issue Special_issue_1

14-34

EN

The Czech dissident movement included thinkers who searched for a morally pure, parallel polis, and who felt comfortable within its isolation. The philosophers of Charter 77 (Jan Patočka and Ladislav Hejdánek especially), by contrast, rejected the idea of being morally superior to their opponents. It is interesting to consider where Václav Havel stands at this crossroads. Havel very much cooperated with the above-mentioned philosophers and was inspired by them in his own writing and agency. On the other hand, Havel undoubtedly performed a certain moral-existential concept of dissent. In this paper I examine Havel’s existential concept. In particular, after distinguishing between two existential approaches in Havel’s writings, I analyse two fundamental philosophical critiques of Havel in the work of Ladislav Hejdánek. According to Hejdánek, Havel 1) identifies intellectuals with non-politicians, i.e. he is governed by the incorrect dualism of the political versus the non-political, and 2) is self-focused and moralising, i.e. he keeps too much within his own self (subjectivity) and “a given” (existent, objective) world. Given this critique, I will systematise Hejdánek’s objections and suggested solutions. In the first case, I see the solution in a more detailed distinction: we should distinguish between politics and non-politics (intellectuals) but also non-political politics. In the second case, we should look for the essence (focal point) of man not in his morality but outside it: man should orient himself “out of his self”.

3

MIEJSCE I ROLA POLSKIEGO ZWIĄZKU KATOLICKO-SPOŁECZNEGO W RZECZYWISTOŚCI SPOŁECZNO-POLITYCZNEJ LAT OSIEMDZIESIĄTYCH W POLSCE – PROBLEM OPOZYCYJNOŚCI KONCESJONOWANEJ

100%

Tasak A.

Polityka i Społeczeństwo

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2016

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issue 1(14)

123-141 (19)

EN

The main subject of the analysis was the activity and political concepts of lay Cath-olics who operated on the Polish political scene in the 1980s. This group of Catholic activists had been active in the public sphere for many years; in the 1980s, they orga-nized themselves in a Polish Catholic-Social Union. This community was not among the most important political parties of the then political system; it was not a major factor stabilizing the system or a major source of change. Nevertheless, it did have a prominent feature – it had a parliamentary representation and participated in political practice; it also had a limited impact on political decisions. The main motive of their actions was to promote Catholic values in the public sphere, but also an attempt to create a Catholic party, in the right circumstances. Still, there is a disagreement, both among researchers and actors of the political scene of the time, about the clear-cut assessment of their politi-cal commitment. Nonetheless, it probably can be said that their attitudes are within the concept of semi-opposition and paralegal opposition, and, to some extent, in what we understand by the term of opposition of value systems.

4

Odpor, reflexe, tvorba a drobná práce v životě nejen filosofickém

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Hejduk T.

Filosofický časopis (Philosophical Journal)

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2022

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vol. 70

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issue 3

519-536

EN

The concept of dissent as it is articulated in the work of Ladislav Hejdánek is investigated in the article. The author first utilizes Pithart’s schematic division of dissent into the protesting and the reflective in order to subsequently, in Hejdánek’s conception, distinguish yet a third, creative type of dissent. This the author then analyzes in more detail in a systematic interpretation of Hejdánek’s attitudes and thoughts (including comparisons with the texts of other dissidents and thinkers). Nevertheless, he primarily focuses on the Chartist discussion on courage, in which he clarifies Hejdánek’s position, along with a search for a possible shielding, or more precisely in the context of a civilly disobedient position of an admissible and convincing concept of morality.

CS

V předloženém textu je zkoumáno pojetí disentu v díle Ladislava Hejdánka. Autor si nejprve pomáhá Pithartovým schematickým dělením disentu na protestující a reflektující, aby následně v Hejdánkově koncepci odlišil ještě třetí, tvůrčí typ disentu. Ten následně detailněji analyzuje v systematické interpretaci Hejdánkových postojů a myšlení (včetně komparace s texty dalších disidentů a myslitelů). Soustřeďuje se přitom především na chartistickou diskusi o statečnosti, v níž vyjasňuje Hejdánkovu pozici, ovšem spolu s hledáním možného zaštiťujícího, respektive v kontextu občansky neposlušného postoje přípustného a přesvědčivého pojetí morálky.

5

В „утробата на кита”, или „тихият вик” на българските поети през 60-те и 70-те години на ХХ век

87%

Кръстева Г.

Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne

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2014

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issue 6

EN

This article entitled unassumingly aims at reminding – just in a cursory way, but with a substantial degree of certainty, too, in their literary and historical justification – of a specific list of names of Bulgarian poets, whose „discontent” and/or „disappointment” with the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria create the history of the dissent, which found its expression in the alternative lyrical thinking and writing in the period of socialist realism during the decades of the sixties and the seventies of the twentieth century.

6

KOR and Its Model of Resistance. Study of Dissent and Opposition in the Communist Poland

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Skórzyński J.

Kwartalnik Historyczny

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2018

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vol. 125

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issue 2

PL

Social attitudes toward communism in Poland encompassed the whole spectrum of attitudes, from affirmation, through adaptation, to resistance and dissent. The most developed and institutionalized form of dissent was the opposition movement. Komitet Obrony Robotników (Workers’ Defence Committee), later transformed into the Social Self-Defence Committee ‘KOR’ was a new of type opposition against the communist regime; it created a political alternative and new methods of system contestation, which were followed by other groups in the democratic opposition in the 1970s. The main features of the KOR opposition model are: openness, acting without violence, absence of hierarchic organization, decentralization, legalism, solidarity, specified social objectives, political self-limitation, ethical radicalism, pluralism and civic virtue.

7

Modes and Moves of Protest

75%

Paladin N.

Review of International American Studies

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2019

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vol. 12

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issue 2

103-118

EN

The role of mass protest has been recurrently central yet controversial in the American culture. Central because American history presents a constellation of significant collective protest movements, very different among them but generally symptomatic of a contrast between the people and the state: from the 1775 Boston Massacre and the 1787 Shays’s Rebellion, to the 1863 Draft Riots, but also considering the 1917 Houston Riot or anti-Vietnam war pacifist protests. Controversial, since despite-or because of-its historical persistence, American mass protest has generated a media bias which labelled mobs and crowds as a disruptive popular expression, thus constructing an opposition-practical and rhetorical-between popular subversive tensions, and the so-called middle class “conservative” and self-preserving struggle. During the 20th century, this scenario was significantly influenced by 1968. “The sixties [we]re not fictional”, Stephen King claims in Hearts of Atlantis (1999), in fact “they actually happened”, and had a strong impact on the American culture of protest to the point that their legacy has spread into the post 9/11 era manifestations of dissent. Yet, in the light of this evolution, I believe the very perception of protesting crowds has transformed, producing a narrative in which collectivity functions both as “perpetrator” and “victim”, unlike in the traditional dichotomy. Hence, my purpose is to demonstrate the emergence of this new and historically peculiar connotation of crowds and mobs in America as a result of recent reinterpretations of the history and practice of protest in the 1960s, namely re-thinking the tropes of protest movements of those years, and relocating them in contemporary forms of protest. For this reason, I will concentrate on Nathan Hill’s recent novel, The Nix (2016), and focus on the constant dialogue it establishes between the 1968 modes of protest and the Occupy movement.

8

Термін „конфлікт” серед інших понять негармонійного ускладненого спілкування

75%

Wojcechiwśka N.

Studia Ucrainica Varsoviensia

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2016

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vol. 4

53-63

PL

This article deals with the basic terms and concepts that are used to refer to non-cooperative dialogue, their relationship and compliance with current trends in the study of discourse. Dissociation of the term “confl ict” to the concepts of “dispute/debate/controversy”, “confrontation”, “clash”, “disagreement”, “dissent”, “denial”, “discord”, “collision”, “opposition” etc. is carried out. Thus, the analyzed terms are present not only in confl ict communication, but also in other kinds of dialogical speech. According to the analysis conducted based on material from Modern Ukrainian explanatory dictionaries, under certain conditions these concepts have a direct/indirect relation to conflict interaction: spores/quarrel/controversy – as a form of conflict; dissent/negation – as a statement-response in the dialogue; confusion/misunderstanding as well as disagreement – as some of the possible causes of the conflict; opposition, confrontation and collision between the participants – as a component of the conflict discourse etc.

9

Two concepts of a lie: Václav Havel on living in a communist regime

75%

Krása O.

Filosofický časopis (Philosophical Journal)

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2022

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vol. 70

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issue Special_issue_1

50-67

EN

According to Václav Havel’s famous essay The Power of powerless life within a lie is at the core of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Life within a lie is characteristic for the great majority of people and is contrasted with life within the truth which is characteristic of dissent movement. In this paper, I will try to shed some light on the concept of “living within a lie.” I will show that Havel develops not one but two concepts of a lie: on the one hand, lie is deliberate pretence; on the other hand, lie is seduction by consumerist values. The first meaning of a lie is derived from Havel’s analysis of the specifics of the Soviet sphere of influence, namely central role of ideology with omnipresent demands on public support of the regime. The second meaning of a lie is heavily influenced by a critical assessment of modern society from the leading figure of the Czech underground movement Ivan Jirous and leading Czech philosopher Jan Patočka. This double meaning of a lie enables Havel to capture both specific problems of living under the communist regime and general problems of living in modern society anywhere in the world. In the final chapters of this paper, I will show that Havel is not clear about how these two meanings of a lie are connected and that there are problems resulting from these unclarities both for Havel’s analysis of the communism and his proposed solution of the crisis.

10

Kulturní politika po 20. sjezdu Komunistické strany SSSR: reflexe v sovětské Ukrajině

75%

Mokryk R.

Slovanský přehled: historická revue pro dějiny střední, východní a jihovýchodní Evropy (Slavonic Review: Review for Central, Eastern and Southeastern European history)

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2020

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vol. 106

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issue 3

501-524

EN

The article covers the main attributes of cultural policy in Soviet Ukraine after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956. It analyses the official literary concept of the socialist realism, focusing on the internationalist principle in wider political context. The study presents the gradual formation of an alternative discourse in the Soviet culture, represented in Soviet Ukraine by works of the younger generation of so-called “Generation of the sixties”. The two discourses interlinked under the specific conditions of the Khrushchev Thaw gave birth to a curious phenomenon of a hybrid culture of National Communism. The article defines the main phases of the development of the alternative discourse of Soviet culture in Ukraine during the Thaw and the gradual development of the „Generation of the sixties“ from Soviet class identity towards a national one that later took form of anti-Soviet and anti-Imperial opposition.

11

The Nationalizing Processes in Slovakia 1969–1988. The Case Study of Hungarian Minority

75%

Marušiak J.

Central European Papers

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2015

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vol. 3

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issue 1

88–107

EN

The paper deals with the situation of Hungarian minority in Slovakia in the period of the regime of so called “Normalization” after the suppression of “Prague Spring” in 1970s and 1980s. The issue of minority policy of Czechoslovak / Slovak government is discussed as a speciﬁc aspect of the nationalizing policy. The paper is based on the archival research of the documents provided by Charter 77 and the Committee for Protection of the Hungarian minority rights in Czechoslovakia. The research question is, whether the Slovak Socialist Republic, established after the federalization of Czechoslovakia in 1968, was still a nationalizing state. Paper brings an analysis of the oscillation of the political initiatives within the Hungarian minority environment in Slovakia and the Slovak-Hungarian debate between the national and civic-democratic agenda. According to the conclusions, the Slovak Socialist Republic applied some nationalizing practices and policies, however due to the deformations of the Czechoslovak federation after 1969 it couldn’t become a uniquely nationalizing state. The debate on the minority rights and on the Slovak-Hungarian relations in the dissident environment and later, since 1988-1989 in the wider public space has a signiﬁcant impact on the shaping of the political cleavages in Slovakia after the political changes in November 1989.

12

Aksamitna rewolucja i upadek reżimu komunistycznego na Słowacji

75%

Jašek P.

Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość

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2019

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issue 33

230-251

PL

A utor opracowania analizuje sytuację polityczną i społeczną na Słowacji w latach osiemdziesiątych XX w. oraz zmiany historyczne w 1989 r., które doprowadziły do upadku reżimu komunistycznego. Opracowanie przedstawia zarys najważniejszych wydarzeń historycznych: stopniowe osłabienie reżimu, zmiany w partii komunistycz- nej i nasilenie działalności opozycyjnej. W artykule autor koncentruje się na tym, co stało się w listopadzie i grudniu 1989 r. oraz na przebiegu upadku reżimu. Uwagę spo- łeczeństwa pochłaniała działalność ruchów młodzieżowych i studenckich na Słowacji, w szczególności manifestacja studentów w Bratysławie dnia 16 listopada. Manifestację tę można uznać za wstęp do łagodnej rewolucji na Słowacji i trampolinę dla uczestniczą- cych w niej studentów, którzy zachęceni wydarzeniami praskimi podjęli otwarty protest na uniwersytecie, tworząc pierwszy w historii Słowacji komitet strajkowy studentów. Autor analizuje także powstanie i rozwój ruchu Społeczeństwo Przeciwko Przemocy w listopadzie 1989 r. i prowadzone przez nie rozmowy Okrągłego Stołu z przedstawi- cielami partii komunistycznej. Rozmowy te stały się początkiem procesu przejścia od totalitarnego reżimu komunistycznego do systemu demokratycznego.

EN

T he author of the study analyzes the political and social situation in Slovakia during the late 80s as well as historical changes in 1989 that led to the fall of the communist regime. The study provides overview of the key historial events: gradually brought weakining ofthe regime, changes within the communist party and increase of the opposition acti- vities. Focus of the article are the events of November and December 1989 and crucial events that led to the fall of the regime. Special attention is devoted to the activities of the youth and student movement in Slovakia, especially the march of the students in Bratislava on 16 November. This march can be considered as a prologue of the Gentle Revolution in Slovakia and a springboard for the involved students. They, bolstered by the Prague events, undertook an open protest at the university and creation of the stu- dents strike committee, first at the Slovakia. The author also deals with the establishing and development of the movement Public against Violence in November 1989 and to the discussions of the round table between the representatives of the communist party and Public against Violence. This discussions started the process of transformation from the totalitarian communist regime into the democracy.

13

Hungarian Dissent in Romania during the Ceauşescu Era

75%

Šisler F.

West Bohemian Historical Review

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2016

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vol. 6

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issue 2

323-338

EN

The article aims to show a little-known chapter in the history of the Romanian communism, the anti-regime activities of dissidents from the Hungarian minority in Transylvania. It argues that the growing repressions of the Romanian authorities against ethnic Hungarians caused the protest activities of their representatives not only within the RCP structures, but also from the intellectual environment. The particular dissidents from the Hungarian community performed their opposition attitude in the beginning mainly at the domestic level. After they did not meet any constructive reaction from the Romanian state, they tried to draw attention on their situation abroad. However, none of these activities met any real success, especially because it was almost impossible to develop any form of organized and coordinated dissent in such a harsh political environment, like the one existing in Ceauşescu’s Romania.

14

Psychologové a Charta 77: československá zkušenost angažovanosti psychologů za lidská práva

63%

Preiss M., Heissler R., Doubková N., Roubalová V., Uhmannová M., Lefeuvre I.

Československá psychologie (Czechoslovak Psychology)

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2023

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vol. 67

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issue 5

332-348

EN

The article focuses on Czechoslovak dissent in the context of the activities of 25 psychologists who signed Charter 77 until 1989. The purpose of this text is to summarize basic information about these individuals, their life, work and attitudes. The authors draw on archival materials and personal testimonies. The pressure to adapt to the demands of state power and the efforts to expel inconvenient signatories from the country are described. The contribution focuses on the activities of psychologists-signatories during the normalization in the 1970s and 1980s and after 1989. The signatories are interpreted as active, civically engaged, resilient and humanistically oriented.

CS

Článek se zaměřuje se na československý disent v souvislosti s aktivitami 25 psychologů, kteří podepsali Chartu 77 do roku 1989. Smyslem tohoto textu je shrnout základní informace o těchto jedincích, o jejich životě, díle a postojích. Text vychází z archivních materiálů a osobních svědectví. Popsán je tlak na adaptaci podle požadavků státní moci i snaha o vypuzení nepohodlných signatářů ze země. Stať se zaměřuje na aktivity psychologů-signatářů během normalizace v 70. a 80. letech 20. století i po roce 1989. Signatáři jsou interpretováni jako aktivní, občansky angažovaní, nezdolní a humanisticky orientovaní.

15

Jak si disidenti připomínali holokaust : nezávislé připomínání ''noci pogromů'' v NDR a povstání ve varšavském ghettu v PLR

63%

Stach S., Dvořáček P.

Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)

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2016

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vol. 23

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issue 3

347-370

EN

This is a Czech translation of ''Dissidentes Gedenken: Unabhängiges Holocaustgedenken in der DDR und der Volksrepublik Polen'', in Peter Hallama and Stephan Stach (eds.), Gegengeschichte: Zweiter Weltkrieg und Holocaust im ostmitteleuropäischen Dissens (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2015, pp. 207-36). The article is concerned with commemoration ceremonies on Holocaust Memorial Days - the ''Kristallnacht'' of 9 November 1938 in the German Democratic Republic and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 19 April 1943 in the Polish People´s Republic - organized by dissidents in both countries in the 1980s. These commemorations were both an attempt by emerging civil society to reclaim interpretations of history which were different from the master narratives produced by the State-Socialist regimes and were also part of the oppostion movements´ political struggle with their governments. In a comparison of these events, the author concludes that despite all their differences they constituted an often overlooked but important contribution to public memory in Poland and Easter Germany and also motivated the two societies to reflect on the meaning of the Shoah.

CS

Původní verze tohoto článku vyšla pod názvem ''Dissidentes Gedenken: Unabhängiges Holocaustgedenken in der DDR und der Volksrepublik Polen'' ve sborníku pod redakcí Petera Hallamy a Stephana Stacha Gegengeschichte: Zweiter Weltkrieg und Holocaust im ostmitteleuropäischen Dissens (Leipzig, Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2015, s. 207-236). Autor pojednává o vzpomínkových akcích konaných u příležitosti dnů památky obětí holokaustu - takzvané křišťálové noci z 9. listopadu 1938 v Německé demokratické republice a povstání ve varšavském ghettu z 19. dubna 1943 v Polské lidové republice - pořádaných příslušníky disentu v obou zemích v osmdesátých letech minulého století. Tyto vzpomínkové akce měly dvojí význam - na jedné straně byly pokusem vznikající občanské společnosti protestovat formou vlastní interpretace dějin proti metanarativům produkovaným režimem státního socialismu, zároveň pak byly součástí politického boje opozičních hnutí proti vládnoucí moci. Autor ze vzájemné komparace těchto událostí v obou zemích vyvozuje, že přes všechny odlišnosti tvořily často přehlížený, nicméně důležitý přínos k historické paměti v Polsku a NDR, a navíc podněcovaly tamní společnosti k přemítání o významu holokaustu.

16

"Dílna" Charty 77

51%

Suk S.

Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)

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2023

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vol. 30

|

issue 2

385-413

EN

The subject of the article is the hitherto unexplored process of the creation and publication of the Charter 77 documents - documents that fundamentally presented the opinions and analyses of this most important dissident initiative in Czechoslovakia between 1977 and 1989. They covered the state of human and civil rights in the country, various other social and political issues, and the situation of dissent itself. The author refers to this process as a "workshop", which he understands figuratively as a thinking and creative environment in which ideas, proposals and suggestions are born and implemented. In order to analyse the functioning of the Chartist "workshop", he chooses six documents with different content, for the creation of which we have diverse historical sources. Using the examples of the basic document "Declaration of Charter 77" of 1 January 1977, the "Communication of Charter 77" (on the conclusions of the internal discussion on the further work of the Charter from September of the same year), and the position of the spokespersons of Charter 77 (on the discussions on the mission and activities of the Charter from October 1978), the author shows how appropriate ways of further activity were sought within this community and how the written "workshop" rules were enforced. Using a document on the situation of the Roma in Czechoslovakia from December 1978, a so-called "economic" document from May 1979 (known as "Theses on Consumption"), and an analysis of the state of Czechoslovak official historiograpghy from May 1984 (known as "The Right to History"), the author illustrates the Chartists' problems in adhering to the agreed "workshop" rules, their ability to overcome these problems, and the fact that they "produced" Charter documents in two ways. In the first case, the interested parties created an informal group to work on a topic, then incorporated - selectively - the received comments, and then submitted the text (by themselves or through intermediaries) to the speakers for their signature on behalf of the entire Chartist community. In the second case, the Charter spokespersons "produced" the document by signing their own text or a text they had received without consulting anyone. This was precisely the case with the document "The Right to History" (Právo na dějiny), which provoked widespread controversy among Czechoslovak dissenters.

17

The Pre-History of the Hungarian and Romanian 1968ers

51%

Matus A.-G.

Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej

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2020

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vol. 10

70-103

PL

Artykuł ma na celu zrozumienie, w jaki sposób doświadczenia z dzieciństwa rumuńskiej i węgierskiej młodzieży późnych lat 60. XX w. różniły się od doświadczeń ich rówieśników na Zachodzie, a także w innych krajach bloku sowieckiego, i jak to wpłynęło na ich działalność opozycyjną. Relacje historii mówionej przedstawiają bardziej złożony obraz niż zwykła luka pokoleniowa między pokoleniem 1968 r. a ich rodzicami. W niektórych przypadkach ci pierwsi kwestionują autorytet swoich rodziców, podczas gdy w innych kontynuują ich walkę.

EN

This paper focuses on the Romanian and Hungarian youth of the late 1960s. More specifically, it aims at understanding how their childhood experiences differed from those of their counterparts in the West and even in other Soviet Bloc countries, and how this influenced their tactics of opposition. The oral history interviews present a more complex picture than one of a simple generation gap between the 1968ers and their parents. In some cases, the former challenge the authority of their parents, while in others they continue their struggle.

18

Anatomie jedné další zdrženlivosti: dokumenty Charty 77 k zemím třetího světa

45%

Holečková M. E., Pehe V.

Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)

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2023

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vol. 30

|

issue 2

414-442

EN

Although Charter 77, as the most important Czechoslovak human rights initiative of the second half of the twentieth century, focused mainly on upholding human rights in Czechoslovakia, in its universalistic conception of human rights issues, the initiative was also interested in human rights abroad. The article examines the hitherto unexplored relationship of Charter 77 with the countries of the "Third World", thus pointing to its global dimension. It asks why Charter 77 expressed itself rather sporadically and reticently about events in these countries and why a number of contemporary international political events did not resonate at all within the Charter community. Specifically, it analyses the motivations and factors that led the Charter, or rather specific signatories of Charter 77, to comment on events in Nicaragua, South Africa and selected other countries. The article shows that the interest in international events and, specifically, the Global South was not the result of a coherent strategy. On the contrary, it stemmed rather from the unsystematic personal interests of a narrow group of people who brought international issues into the Charter community. The Chartists' interest in the "Third World" was motivated by a mixture of factors, including an authentic need to stand up against human rights abuses worldwide. But opinions on the given issues were formed on the basis of limited access to information, or instrumental attempts to relate the foreign situation to specific problems of domestic dissent.

19

Existoval chartistický environmentalismus?: Charta 77 a reflexe životního prostředí

45%

Andělová K.

Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)

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2023

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vol. 30

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issue 2

351-384

EN

a2_An exception was represented by the dissident and later Minister of Environment Ivan Dejmal (1946–2008), who attempted to combine "small ecology" with the Charter 77 critique of modern rationality and to formulate a positionm of philosophically grounded political ecology within Czechoslovak dissident movement.

20

Charta 77 v americkém "překladu": obraz československého disentu v americkém tisku v roce 1977

32%

James P.

Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)

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2023

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vol. 30

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issue 2

443-492

EN

The study traces how the American press covered Charter 77's appearances in the first year of its existence, a subject hitherto unstudied. Czechoslovak dissent attracted international attention after major Western newspapers published the constitutive "Charter 77 Declaration" of January 1, 1977. The subsequent prosecution of the Charter's spokespersons and other signatories sparked a wave of protest and support in the West. The interest of the Western media was crucial for the dissidents, as it was the main way to inform the international public about their activities, and often the only way to get some protection against domestic repression. The situation in Czechoslovakia in the early months of 1977 was also monitored by the media and government authorities in the United States. The author finds, however, that of the major American newspapers, only The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, and, to a lesser extent, The Washington Post reported on the Charter on a regular basis. She introduces five journalists who reported on the subject more consistently on these platforms (and in some magazines, too). These were Eric Bourne (1909-1999), Malcolm W. Browne (1931-2012), Michael Getler (1935-2018), Paul Hofmann (1912-2008), and Charles W. Sawyer (born 1941). She examines their professional careers and their engagement in Czechoslovak affairs, introduces their reflections on dissent and the conditions in the Eastern Bloc countries, and characterizes their typical approach and point of view in the context of the American journalism of their time. She chronicles their trips to Czechoslovakia and meetings with dissidents in the first months of 1977, which usually ended with their expulsion from the country, and juxtaposes their journalism and memoirs with State Security documents. In doing so, she shows the problematic contexts in which they reported on Czechoslovakia and Central Europe, and suggests certain shifts and distortions to which the ideas and activities of Czechoslovak dissent were subjected in their mediation and "translation" for the American press. It was this "translation", complicated by the limited contacts American journalists had with dissidents, that mattered more to the media image of the Charter trought the United States of 1977 than the original ideas of Jan Patočka or Václav Havel. It can be concluded that American journalists represented the dissident movement in the long run as a continuation of the Second World War conflict, which the dissidents had shifted to a field of competing political, economic, ethical, and philosophical ideas and visions.

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