The
Velvet Revolution is unquestionably one of the most significant moments in
Czech history. Twenty-five years on, we asked a group of Czech millenials – the
first generation to grow up since the fall of Communism and therefore with no
direct experience of life under socialism – one key question: “What does it
mean to you to be Czech?” We received a broad range of answers but all agree on
one thing: deciding what it means to be Czech in a globalised world is no easy
task…
Mišha
Žaloudková, 1st year MA student
“Living
abroad and travelling have made me more aware of how Czechs are gradually
managing to satisfy the needs of the new generation. We are now growing up in a
country completely different from the one of our parents and it's a big weight
upon our shoulders. Now that we have this power, what kind of Czech Republic do
we want for our children? More smiles, less anger, bitterness and jealousy,
more gender equality, the ability to be flexible, worldly, and multicultural?
To me, being Czech now is a balancing act: Choosing a Caesar salad instead of
the traditional and fatty knedlo, vepřo, zelo but keeping the beer.”
Tomáš Balvín, 2nd
year BA student
“Rumour has it that when journalists in Ukraine during the ongoing conflict wanted to avoid persecution, they claimed to be Czech – that way nobody would take them seriously. Twenty five years after the Velvet Revolution which seemed to promise so much, Czechs still want desperately to amount to something, to make up for the 'stolen' time. A quarter of a century later, they have failed to do so, and are laughed at for the attempt. Therefore, what being Czech means to me above all is witnessing our reckless, pathetic efforts to rank among the 'western elite' while very often forgetting and condemning what there was before. On a positive note, I'm sure that once nearly Czech identity barely exists at all, tourists from all around the world will still exclaim in elation "Czech Republic? Ah, Prague! Cheap beer!" and we, the addressees, will laugh about it – bitterly.”
David Koranda, 3rd year MA
“To me,
being Czech means that I get to lead a fairly good life but fortunately I am
still able to grumble about some fairly insignificant things. It means that
when I complain about these things there's luckily always someone who's got it
worse. It means that in my life I get to bemoan the astonishing number of
idiots I have to put up with, and at the same time refuse to acknowledge that a
lot of people must inevitably feel the same about me. It means that while I'm
aware of how beautiful some parts of our country are, when it comes to
vacations I'd rather go abroad.
It means that I get to criticise other nation's sins and offences and then completely disregard our own; that I get to brag about how wonderful and complex the Czech language is, and then complain when I go see a movie and it's dubbed; that I get to look crossly at tourists who come in the National Theatre dressed in T-shirts and jeans even though I'm far from a diehard patriot and the idea of wearing comfortable clothes actually appeals to me.
It means that I was raised an atheist, that I like beer, that I still hear the word 'communist' at least once a day, that I like to berate politicians I never voted for, that I also like to berate politicians I did vote for, that I'm actually not big on voting, that I have firm opinions on matters I know nothing about, that I'm set in my ways and don’t like change. Yes, I'm Czech and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Josefina Formanová,
3rd year BA student
I would
rather go directly to Prague Castle and shout out all the words which represent
what our current president is harming; "democracy",
"honour", "loyalty", "politeness",
"respect", "tradition", "empathy", "dignity”
and many others. It is not meant to be implied, however, that my "being
Czech" is defined only through the disagreeable personality of our current
head of state.
I’ve been
studying at University College Dublin for almost two months now and I realised
after a very interesting debate with our local lecturers, that one of the
treasures of the Czech nation is our language. We preserved our own language
for centuries, though occupied by Germans, Russians and others. There is also
the great barrier of language that cannot be overcome by any other nation. It
is not a boundary of any kind of territory – we all know this is a term that
does not even have any kind of referent when looking back to the Ukrainian
crisis which has unfold during the past six months. More ridiculously, once I
traveled to Austria, a country that our nation was previously part of, being a
more or less respected part of the great Habsburg monarchy. It was the moment
when the police stopped me and asked me to see my passport that I understood.
There is no space for trust yet.
Trust is
something that will lead my country to democracy. A vital trust that there are
people who were capable of being more than people, who were able to fight for
those words mentioned above, and not sink into a political river Lethe. These
forgotten words, "freedom", "dignity" and
"democracy" were our legacy of the Revolution in 1989.
As a Czech
person, despite everything I will reply to the question with a hopeful
imperative: "May words such as "shame" and "doubt" be
forgotten; may the words "freedom", "dignity",
"democracy" and "loyalty" be rediscovered."
Answers
were collected by Lisette Allen and the original article was published on
Expats.cz on 11th of November, 2014.
