The Velvet Revolution was a non-violent uprising in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government. On November 17, 1989, police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague. Among the protesters were many young employees of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Based on the November events, civil forums were created at worksplaces. In consequences of the political evolvement, some of the compromised directors from institutes left their positions and during the following six months all directors had to be evaluated. Scientific committies began to form. On November 6, 1989, the entire presidium of ČSAV resigned and December 12, the Chamber of elected representatives of ČSAV was established. This organ became a carrier of fundamental changes, for example the first Czech science foundation was set up and proposals for evaluation of the institutes formed. The new organization structures of Academy were created. and Antonín Kostlán.
a1_Tento esej je mírně dopracovanou verzí textu, který zazněl jako závěrečná přednáška velké mezinárodní konference „Evropa mezi válkou a mírem 1914-2004: Základní mezníky evropské historie 20. století“, uspořádané ve dnech 9. až 11. dubna 2014 v Praze. Belgický historik se v něm kriticky zamýšlí nad současným fenoménem, který by se dal označit jako hypertrofie historické paměti. Podle něj je dnes typické, že se zájem o minulost zdůvodňuje jejím významem pro současnost. Autor oceňuje přínos historiků, kteří v sedmdesátých a osmdesátých letech minulého století v zemích západní Evropy sváděli boj o to, aby historie, uzurpovaná vládnoucími elitami a jejich politikou oficiální paměti, byla navrácena zpět k demokratické diskusi. Historické kontroverze, které zde dříve politicky rozdělovaly společnost, však dnes namnoze ztratily svůj osten a nahradil je konsenzus, sloužící k sebeujišťování o dosaženém morálním pokroku. Dále autor přechází ke vztahu národních rámců historické paměti a nadnárodní evropské politiky. Evropská integrace bývá často vydávána za univerzální lék na její tragické historické konflikty a problémy, přestože se jedná primárně o ekonomický proces spjatý s budováním sociálního státu a spojovat jej přímo s prosazováním míru a lidských práv je mylné. Sebeoslavný a samolibý tón provázel i západní vzpomínání na události roku 1989 po pětadvaceti letech, třebaže je k tomu povolaní odborníci vůbec nepředpokládali. Autor si klade otázku po důvodech tak bezprecedentního selhání sociálních věd a v souvislosti s rokem 1989 vybízí k tomu, aby si historie opět uvědomila svůj kritický náboj., a2_S ním by se měla přičinit, aby se z evropského vzpomínání na dvacáté století stal politicky relevantní diskurz, který by nebyl jen všeobecně přijatelnou a sebeutvrzující oslavou v duchu nadřazenosti světlé současnosti nad temnou minulostí., b1_This essay is a slightly revised version of the closing lecture given at the international conference ‘Europe between War and Peace, 1914-2004: Turning Points in 20th Century European History’, which was held in Prague from 9 to 11 April 2014. In this essay, the author, a professor of history at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, critically considers a contemporary phenomenon that may reasonably be called the hypertrophy of historical memory. According to the author, it is today typical that an interest in the past is justified by its significance for the present. The author appreciates the contributions of the West European historians who, in the 1970s and 1980s, struggled so that history, which had been usurped by the ruling elites and their policy of official memory, would be returned to democratic debate. Historical controversies had previously divided society here, but many of them have now lost their sting and have been superseded by consensus, serving to provide self-assurance about the moral progress that has been achieved. The author then considers the relationship between the national frameworks of historical memory and supranational European politics. European integration is often presented as a panacea for the disastrous historic conflicts and other problems that have beset Europe, even though this integration is primarily an economic process connected with the building of the welfare state, and it is therefore erroneous to link this process directly to the promotion of peace and human rights. A self-praising, self-satisfied tone has also been present in Western recollections of the events of 1989 twenty-five years later, though the experts on the topic did not expect the great changes at all. The author asks what the reasons were for the social scientists’ unprecedented failure, and, in connection with 1989, he calls upon thinkers to recall the critical role of history., b2_They should thereby seek to make European recollections of the twentieth century part of a politically relevant discourse, which would be more than merely a generally acceptable self-confirming celebration in the spirit of the superiority of the bright present over the dark past., Pieter Lagrou, Oldřich Tůma ; z angličtiny přeložila Marzia Patonová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Questions concerning the 1989 democratic revolutions and the collapse of "real socialism" in East Central Europe were a highlight of an international conference in Prague organized by two AS CR Institutes. The conference’s aim was to historicize the democratic revolutions of 1989, moving beyond the dominant "transitological" understanding of these revolutions in terms of the "End of Communism" and the "Beginning of Democracy." These were questions discussed: "Did these revolutions and the end of "real socialism" signal the end of revolutionary regimes and the beginning of a "restoration," or rather the replacement of worn-out communist revolutions with a new, neoliberal revolution? Or, considering the nonviolent character of the events, did they really constitute a revolution at all?" It was observed that modern political identities and ideological currents are marked by their attitudes toward the pheno-menon of revolution and toward various historical revolutionary models. Other themes were, "Democratic, Liberal, or Neoliberal Revolution? Dissent, Post-Dissent, and the Ideas of 1989. The End of History or the End of the Future? Theories of Soviet-type Society. The Second Life of the 1968 Prague Spring in 1989." Hosting the conference were the Department for the Study of Late Socialism and Post-Socialism of the Institute of Contemporary History ASCR and the Department for the Study of Modern Czech Philosophy of the Philosophy Institute ASCR, held October 2-3, 2014 at the Villa Lana. and Petr Kužel.