First Hitch now Vaclev Havel gone. I’m sad but by god I’m so happy men like Havel tipped communism into the dustbin.

Actually Vaclav Havel has surprisingly little to do with tipping communism into the dustbin. I think you’ll find the internal politics of the Soviet Union had much more to do with that. Still, let’s not get bogged down with minor details, he was indeed a very influence post-communist politician.

Unfortunately the legacy which he left behind doesn’t entirely meet with the approval of the majority Czech people. According to the Financial Times only last month, a surprising two-thirds of Czechs think that the current political class is even more corrupt than the communists were, which is depressing to say the least.

I’m not sure if the cached version goes through the FT paywall :

Czech sleaze stymies investment, business warns

Quote :

“An opinion poll by SC&C, a research firm, shows that almost two-thirds of Czechs think that the current political class is even more corrupt than the communists who ruled before 1989.”

Which I guess must to an extent explain this :

Czech communists (KS?M) gaining in polls

.

EDIT : Yes, the cached version does go through the FT paywall, although I feel bad, as they quite rightly state : “High quality global journalism requires investment”. I might just go out and buy a copy of the FT tomorrow to make up for it 🙂

yunkl.. I’m sorry chum, never reported a bloody forum post in my life before, but ffs.

Havel was a handmaiden of the Communist collapse in Europe but not its father (can you be a handmaiden to a collapse? am I mixing metaphors there?). The inherent structural weaknesses of the Commie system meant it was doomed already.

Havel was a more important figure in the transitional period, which went pretty well for the Czech Republic all in all. Mostly peaceful decommunisation, mostly orderly split of Czechoslovakia, even if there were plenty of dodgy privatisations and scumbags like Viktor Kozeny thrived for a while. And, of course, the position of Roma was pretty much undiscussed and marginalised. But things certainly worked out better in CR than in Slovakia under Meciar, for example, which is at least partly because of Havel.

As an aside, both Havel and Hitchins were in favour of a US invasion of Iraq.

What bikes did they ride?

What bikes did they ride?

Havel rode a 3-speed Turist folder. Hitch was more known for his high horse…

aww, what did I miss ? 🙁

anyhow, this week’s started badly for the old dictator gang, hey ?

Now Kimmy’s gone aswell 🙁