One World

The Poster for One Word 2009

Babies are crying.   A nurse pushes a stroller of newborns down a long hall.   Stopping, the nurse places each infant in its own crib and removes his gloves.

The nurse is Vaclav Havel. And it is he who states, “Twenty years ago you were born into freedom, now is your time.” He’s calling to the audience from a promotional film trailer for the Czech “One World 2009”, the Film Festival of Human Rights Documentaries that just opened in Prague.

The Velvet Generation has come of age.

On opening day of “One World 2009”, Terez Pestova, 19, a One World organizer, said from behind the ticket counter in Prague’s Lucerna Cinema, “I work with the film festival because I want to help people who can’t help themselves.” Pestova, born the same year as the fall of communism in the Czech Republic said, “ I have never lived under the regime but my grandfather was a political prisoner”. Pestova is currently working with the largest Czech Republic human rights non-governmental organization, People in Need, on a campaign to provide money to the families of Burmese political prisoners.

While only 214 political prisoners were executed under the communist regime in the Czech Republic, 250,000 people were imprisoned, 8,000 people died doing hard labor, 600 died under police interrogation, and 500 died trying to cross border to flee the country. With the current population of the Czech Republic just over 10 million, under communism, two of every 10 adult citizens would be imprisoned.

So far, my experience in the Czech republic has allowed me to see the complicated and intrinsic connections contemporary Czech culture has it with its former communist self.  A popular term used to discuss the current climate is the“communist hangover”. This term, in my experience, does sort of accurately describes the joint denial and understanding of the communist regimes repercussions.

On the one hand, between Prague’s shopping malls, supermarkets, and capitalistic enterprises, communism seems to be a thing of the past, however, with quiet hours starting at 10pm, cars that aim for pedestrians, and a government recently given a vote of no confidence, the past and the present political atmospheres within Prague are very closely connected.

And as the one world film festival shows, this connection can sometimes lead to a heightened awareness and sensitivity towards other nations currently facing difficulties with those in power.

People in Need’s co-founder Jaromir Stetina explains such a phenomenon when he states in his organization’s mission statement, “When the Czechs needed a helping hand from the world, we got one. Now that we are better off this is our moral responsibility.” As Pellsova says, “for those of us have grown up in a democracy, it is our responsibility to take advantage of the freedoms our parents and grandparents gave us.”