Vaclav Havel

The Telegraph ^ | December 18, 2011 | The Telegraph (Obituary)

[No One Special]

Vaclav Havel, who died on December 18 aged 75 , was President of Czechoslovakia and later of the Czech Republic, but enjoyed his finest hour before he attained office when, in December 1989, he led “the Velvet Revolution” which toppled the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

In those crucial days Havel was able to draw upon the moral authority which he had built up over two decades as a dissident playwright. By contrast, as President of Czechoslovakia between 1990 and 1992 he could not prevent the disintegration of the Czechoslovak federation into its two constituent parts. And after he became President of the Czech Republic in 1993 he was little more than a titular head of state.

Havel, who had always been sceptical of the political process and who had never aimed at office, did not repine at the inevitable limitations of power. To the end of his life he commanded respect — even devotion — as a man who had suffered for his convictions. During the 1970s and 1980s he served several jail sentences, the longest of them four and a half years’ hard labour.

[No One Special]

Well worth the read. Talk about your patriots; inspiring.

[familyop]

There's much more. Use Vaclav Havel with the phrase, "nonpolitical politics" for a keyword search, or find the book with the following title.

Philosophy and politics of Czech dissidence from Patočka to Havel

There are many plutocrats of various political parties and other labels, who would not like to have many others learn about nonpolitical politics.

[RobbyS]

A living rebuke to those politicians to whom power over others is everything. This includes out fearless leader, however feckless she may seem.