RIP Vaclav Havel
The BBC has reported the passing of Vaclav Havel and included a short obituary.
While he was primary a writer, playwright, and director, the world knows him best as the first democratically elected leader of Czechoslovakia since the 1930s, and then the Czech Republic, after the country split on ethnic lines.
While he was, perhaps, the leading Czech dissident, he was a very reluctant candidate, and actively disliked the pomp of being the leader of his country. He was the best kind of candidate, one who didn’t really want the job.
His works fall into the absurdist genre and don’t translate readily. The bulk of them are political satire aimed at the Communist rulers of Czechoslovakia, who were finally ousted by the non-violent Velvet Revolution.
He made a difference.
2 comments
A sad loss. He was one of the true greats in my view. At least karmic has evened things up by casting that scumbag Kim to the grave too.
He went out at the top of his game, and succeed where so many had failed by virtue of being right. He was a natural leader that people followed, rather than the Western variety who simply rush to the front of the march and act like it was all their idea.