Today we celebrate the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution

Today, without hesitation and overconfidence, we celebrate the most important anniversary of our
modern history. The dramatic events of November 1989 in Czechoslovakia are a part of European
development which crushed the communist ideology responsible for millions of victims over last 100
years.
The experience with totalitarian regimes of the 20 th century is still important today, as the victims
remind us the horrific images from the past. Nowadays, the guarantee of peace and freedom is
represented by Slovakia’s membership in the European Union and the NATO.
However, it’s upon Slovak society to stay vigilant against populism and simple fixes. At the same
time, the society has to stand firm and actively defend our democratic values. To be successful, we
need to remind ourselves of lively and joyful atmosphere of the Velvet Revolution, and the hope it
represented. As the economist Tomáš Sedláček puts it, “Democracy is not a regime, in which the
society settles and the democracy parks on its own, when we let the steering wheel.”
The 17 th of November of every year should be essentially the celebration of free life.