The President
Human Rights in the World - Human Rigts at Home (1989 - 2003)

We have to uncover all these shows of chauvinism, racism, intolerance and fanaticism. Condemn all appeals for national sentiment which would like to see the nation become nothing more than a band of aggressive football fans. Reject the demonising of any nation or community as well as the inciting of fear or hatred of anyone. Only he who does not believe in himself fears and hates.

Václav Havel, 1992

Lecture´s Summary

The lesson aims at following the steps taken by Vaclav Havel as a human rights campaigner in his new role as President of the state. Drawing on the examples of several personalities from various parts of the world, such as the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi and Salman Rushdie, it is demonstrated that Vaclav Havel never ceased to protect human rights even when he was the country’s highest-ranking statesman and politician. He continued to take an interest in the situation of countries with a totalitarian regime whose opponents fought for freedom. He tried to support them by openly meeting them and showing an interest in their destiny. There are also two examples of Havel’s interest in human rights issues on the home front. In the video lesson students also learn about the “velvet” breakup of Czechoslovakia into two sovereign states and, in contrast, of the long civil war the in former Yugoslavia, about which Vaclav Havel was also concerned. Madeleine Albright remembers Vaclav Havel as a politician who consistently advocated human rights on the international scene.

Lesson 5 - The President

Aims of the Lecture

Understand the type of politician that Vaclav Havel was – a politician who did not forget about his past and defended human rights even as the highest-ranking representative of the country
Understand that human rights are violated in various countries for various reasons, whether ethnic, religious or economic, and that it is important to be sensitive to these issues even if they do not relate to the country we live in