About the conference
The conference Europe without the Iron Curtain: 30 Years of Freedom, organized by Czech Radio Plus on November 11th, 2019, brings to Prague important participants in 1989 revolutions as well as sociologists, political scientists and historians who have something to say about the development of liberal democracy in Central Europe and the Western world.
Former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa, former Czech Prime Minister and President Václav Klaus, former diplomat and candidate for Slovak President Magda Vášáryová, American political scientist, author of the book The People vs. Democracy Yascha Mounk, close associate of Václav Havel and diplomat Michael Žantovský, professor Jiří Přibáň of Cardiff University, co-founder of Fidesz and Member of the European Parliament Tamás Deutsch, historian, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza Adam Michnik and others will be discussing the context of the 1989 events, the following 30 years in Central European countries and the state of democracy in the early 21st century.
The partners of the conference are the National Museum (the conference is held in its New Building), Charles University (sitting in the auditorium will be mostly students of Czech universities), the City of Prague, Czech Academy of Sciences, Václav Havel Library, Embassy of the United States to the Czech Republic and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The conference will also present the principal results of the unique research commissioned by Czech Radio, Divided by Freedom: 30 Years of Czech Society. They will be presented by one of the co-authors of the research, Paulína Tabery from the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
With the financial support of the City of Prague.
The project is supported by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Prague.
Czech Radio thanks all partners of the conference.