The 13th edition of the annual Forum 2000 Conference was opened at Prague Crossroads

This year’s Forum 2000 conference entitled “Democracy and Freedom in a Multipolar World” was opened at the Prague Crossroads by former Czech president Vaclav Havel and Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa with contributions from a renowned American philosopher, theologian and writer Michael Novak.

Oldřich Černý, executive director of the Forum 2000 Foundation, began the ceremony by welcoming all the guests and by expressing his hope not to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism, but rather to enquire what comes “after”, what lessons we could draw for the next 20 years to come and whether we can learn from our mistakes without repeating them.

After looking back on the origins of the Forum 2000 Conference, Vaclav Havel reflected on the sense of conferences in general, which is often being questioned. The value of conferences such as Forum 2000 lies, according to President Havel, in the fulfilling of the basic human needs to think about the world and to engage in dialogue and exchange with other human beings, where every such exchange can be enriching to the individual. This exchange then may or may not have concrete results, it is, however, reflected in the behavior of individuals and their actions in the long run. According to Havel, no conference, not even ten conferences can change the world, but they can contribute to the positive changes to come.

Yohei Sasakawa began his presentation by highliting the significance of the Velvet revolution, led twenty years ago by president Havel, as a historical event that sent a series of important messages to the whole world. It showed, for example, that historical change can be achieved “not through violence, but through the peaceful pursuit of liberty by its people”, and that moral leadership can “make all the difference”. However, he than stated that this ensuing optimism brought about the collapse of authoritarian regimes in general, has began to fade towards the mid 90s. The world, according to Sasakawa, is no longer divided the way it was two decades ago, but is facing other problems such as religious conflicts or environmental degradation. It is therefore all the more important for venues such as Forum 2000 to take place for the thinkers and to meet and to enforce the sense of responsibility together.

The strong bond between religion and democracy was the central theme of Michael Novak’s speech. For the beginning of his presentation, he used the words of Habermas, a German philosopher, who declared the end of secularism in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, seeing it as “an island in the midst of a very turbulent ocean of religion”. Drawing from the social thinker de Tocqueville, Novak mentioned the various ways religion contributes to democracy and the upholding of human rights and how it even forms the very basis of its existence. According to Novak the political and religious consciousness in humans is intertwined, however, institutions belonging to either the state or religion have to be separated, as their role in the life of individuals differs. He called on societies of modern secular states to redefine their position towards the link between religion and democracy, stressing the right balance.

The ceremony was closed by a music performance of Tonya Graves, an American-born singer of a Czech band “Monkey Business” who came to the Czech Republic after 1989 and who, as Oldrich Cerny noted, represents the reverse phenomenon of Czechs leaving Czechoslovakia for the United States prior to 1989. Tonya Graves performed three songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar, “God Bless the Child”, “One” and an Anglo-Czech version of “Jude”, dedicating the latter to the Czech singer Marta Kubisova.

The conference continues on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th October in the venues of Žofín Palace, Goethe Institute, Laterna Magika, and many others of Prague. Many of important thinkers, current and former politicians and businessmen well known around the world will contribute with their speeches. It will be among others, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and minister of defense Ehud Barak, Czech economist Jan Švejnar or French philosopher André Glucksmann. 

Please, find the complete program of the conference on the official website of the conference:
http://www.forum2000.cz/en/projects/forum-2000-conferences/2009/program/