Vaclav Havel R.I.P.

 

"Dime Store Mystery" - Lou Reed

Very saddened to hear of the passing of Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president, playwright, essayist, dissident, and human rights activist.  Havel's improbable trajectory from frequently imprisoned and banned artist to president first of Czechoslovakia, and then the Czech Republic was one of the great stories of my lifetime.  (Probably neck and neck with that of Nelson Mandela on the political improbability meter.)

Havel became a hero of mine (and I don't really have a lot of heroes) in 1988 when I read his book Letters to Olga, a series of letters that he wrote to his wife while imprisoned by Czech authorities from 1979-1982.  The letters are tremendous works of humanity, exquisite dissections of a totalitarian society in which no one, including its leaders, actually believes in its foundational myths.  I would still recommend reading this work, as well as later compilations Open Letters and Disturbing the Peace.  There is a fascinating combination of profundity and humility in these works, a man speaking plain and audacious truths to his oppressors, while at the same time remaining conscious of his own limitations. 

Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Havel was transformed from dissident to president in a stunning turn of events.  (I think it is a little difficult to describe now just how unlikely this would have seemed to anyone first encountering Havel's works both as a political essayist and playwright.)  Despite ascending to political power, Havel remained an artist at heart, one who enjoyed the spirit of rebelliousness always.  Among his earliest acts as the Czech president were meetings with Lou Reed and Frank Zappa -- really not the sort of thing one expects from the average chief of state.

Havel demonstrated what it means to be a real dissident and man of political courage -- hint, it doesn't mean exchanging one set of cocktail party friends for another -- someone who was willing to face artistic banishment and the constant threat of forced exile or imprisonment.  One thing that struck me in reading his works was the fact that he always had a little kit packed containing necessities in the event that any given day might prove to the day that the authorities imprisoned him, something that happened multiple times throughout his life.  Throughout it all, however, Havel maintained his humanity, his abhorrence of political violence, and a certain kind of equanimity that is hard to fathom.

His was an extraordinary life.         

Comments

[Lex]

Indeed, so the story goes, he named the Velvet Revolution after Reed's band, the Velvet Underground.

I read somewhere once that 1) he didn't especially want to be presient at all, and 2) if he had to be president, he wanted to be the kind of president who would settle disputes over beers in a pub.

My kind of politician.

[low-tech cyclist]

Meanwhile, Kim Jong Il has bitten the big one. We can only hope that his son isn't particularly adept at hanging onto power.

[Paula B]

Can anyone imagine a writer winning the presidency in the US?

[big bad wolf]

i see a paradox in my agreement with what lex says. i also am inclined to say my kind of politician, but aren't we on this side scornful of those who would pick a president that they'd want to have a beer with? or is the emphasis on my pick?

did the czechs elect as president a writer or did they elect as president a prominent activist and brave dissident who happened to be a writer? i concede that it is difficult to imagine the u.s. electing as president someone who is a writer, but that may be because here (so far) writer is an occupation (an artist too, of course!), as is politician and one rarely moves from writer (or most other professions) to politics without it being a conscious change in careers

enough contrariness. i am off tomorrow for the holidays. i am fortunate to have both family and in-laws who offer pleasant and happy havens. i hope y'all do too. i wish everyone a joyful and happy holiday season.

[oddjob]

aren't we on this side scornful of those who would pick a president that they'd want to have a beer with?

There's a bit of a difference between having a beer with a thoughtful writer who's gone to prison repeatedly for daring to publicize ideas that criticize the state and having one with an incurious, spoiled, good for nothing grandson of a rich grandfather.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

Indeed.

I can't really imagine a writer like Havel becoming a successful politician in the U.S. His work is just too filled with humility and indefiniteness to work in our circus like politics.

And I would definitely have loved to have had a beer with the man -- but it would not have been on the basis of his becoming president.

[Lex]

@big bad wolf: It's not a question of wanting to have a beer with him. (He smoked, for one thing.) It's a question of his being willing to set people with disputes, or just differing priorities, down at the table as equals and hash the thing out on the merits, rather than letting the side with more money and lawyers win all the time.

Sorry. I was being a little less literal and more metaphoric than it looked like on the page.

[jeanne marie]

Oh goody.

Make no mistake. You don't write an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal at this point in the Republican primary process unless somebody, somewhere wants to make people think you're an legitimate option.

[kathy a.]

jeanne marie -- i'd be startled, but hell, he does fit right in. "i'm not the embarrassment my brother was" is a bit of a hard sell all around, though. don't see this getting a lot of traction at this point, but one never knows.

[kathy a.]

i am absolutely horrified. just got a draft hillary robocall. if dick cheney thinks it's a good idea, that's one signal it is a bad idea. she didn't win the nomination the last time around, despite her competence, formidable experience, and intelligence, because she still carries a lot of baggage from her husband's terms. clinton has been very effective in her role as secretary of state, whereas she would face exactly the same obstacles obama does as president.

i have no idea if this bubbled out of frustration with president obama, or is a bald and well-funded attempt to build division in the ranks of democrats and progressives, or if there is some strange meeting of minds between leftie purists and the forces of evil -- but it should be evaluated for the harm that would result.

the fact that i got a robocall suggests some serious money behind this effort, and i never even heard of the effort before today -- even though i pay some attention. this makes me deeply suspicious.

[jeanne marie]

These are strange times indeed.

[Sir Charles]

kathy,

Sounds like Republican dirty tricks. I don't think there is any serious effort to push Obama aside.

In fact, I think he is in good shape with the base as reflected in today's poll numbers.

This sounds like rat fuckery from people who realize that the primary season is shaping up to be a disaster for the Republicans.

[nancy]

re Republican dirty tricks. Sifting through my browsing history, I can't find the link, but I did read in the past few days that the Texan Swiftboaters have geared up and are back in action. Will John O'Neill ever let go of his humiliation on Cavett? I guess not. But one can imagine them paying for a robocall campaign right about now. Easy-cheesy ratfuckery.

Bush family: Wow. Jeb! Woo and hoo. Can one imagine being a 'respectable' string-of-pearls wearing old-fashioned Republican attempting to pass the mantle to the next generation. How to explain? Jeanne Marie -- thanks for the link of the day. And Lex -- the beer-with-Bush silliness. Responsible press persons should forever regret that embarrassing and damaging cavalier *crock*. But, yes, let's raise a glass to Havel. May we see his like again. `a l'engagement (I don't know the Czech phrase) and the good fight.

bbw - Rest up and imbibe sensibly. ;-)

[Crissa]

Yeah, mom got that robocall.

Disgusting. Who do these guys think? Where does this money come from?

From what I hear, Hillary has reason to be pissed to be used as a tool. As much as I think she'd make a great Pres, she was running against Obama, who had down a great patter. His speeches have never let me down, at least in delivery, and he runs a really tight shift.

Did anyone see the whining on Fox about the no yule tree in the Obama's Christmas card?

[oddjob]

the whining on Fox about the no yule tree

:)

[oddjob]

The solstice occurs tonight at 12:30 AM (Eastern Standard Time).

Good Yule to all. :)

[Sir Charles]

I actually have the White House Christmas card and it features a festively decorated fireplace, a table with wrapped presents on it, and Bo the dog reclining in front of the fire.

It's about as Christmasy as you can get.

These people will stop at nothing to try to stir the pot of resentment and hatred.

[kathy a.]

apparently a LOT of people got that robocall.

[Paula B]

open thread?

So this is Christmas...

Here it is Christmas and the best present of all may be our gift from the Vermont and Massachusetts highway departments -- reopened roads. A full six miles of road had to be built IN a river that once was road, in order to reopen Route 2. This busy mountain road reopened this week linking, for the first time since August 28, North Adams and points east (to Boston). All but a handful of major roads in Vermont are now open or will be by New Years. We haven’t had much snow yet, so crews have been working 24/7 (minus a few hours off for the Halloween blizzard) to accomplish this monumental feat.

The two states didn’t wait for federal dollars, they just went ahead and did the work, hiring crews from nearby New Hampshire, where flooding was minimal. FEMA money is just now coming down to towns, and it will be used to make more permanent repairs to bridges, culverts and other infrastructure lost under 20 or more feet of water, in some places.

For those in other parts of the country who think New England is full of rich, snotty folks who don’t want, need or deserve any help from anyone else, here are links to a few local stories. Check out the photos:
http://bit.ly/w1n1Sa
http://on.fb.me/ullIbA
http://bit.ly/vHberL

The NYT recently ran a story (@http://nyti.ms/tEogvd) about the miracle in Vermont, where the state completed major road and bridge reconstruction in record time for far less $ than anyone expected (in spite of Eric Cantor):

…the state repaired and reopened some 500 miles of damaged road, replaced a dozen bridges with temporary structures and repaired about 200 altogether.
Vermont’s success in repairing roads while keeping the state open for tourism is a story of bold action and high-tech innovation. The state closed many damaged highways to speed repairs and it teamed with Google to create frequently updated maps showing which routes were open. Vermont also worked in cooperation with other states, legions of contractors and local citizens.

While many Americans have come to wonder whether the nation has lost the ability to fix its ailing infrastructure or do big things, “they haven’t been to Vermont,” said Megan Smith, the state’s commissioner of tourism and marketing.

[kathy a.]

paula -- great news!

[nancy]

Paula, that's truly impressive. Be glad you don't live in southeastern Michigan where the Tea Partiers may have put the brakes on all that New England planning and expenditure. Short version -- elections matter.

[Paula B]

Thank you, kathy, and nancy, you are exactly right. All that participatory democracy stuff smells a bit like socialism.

[Lex]

@nancy: What you saw was probably the swiftboater guy donating a half-million to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to help him fight the recall effort there.

Here's how much that pissed me off: My car died last weekend, so I had to get a new(er) one, something I'd been hoping to put off until I finish grad school in two years. And I STILL sent $100 to the recall effort.

[kathy a.]

go, lex!