[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 27, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN HONOR OF VACLAV HAVEL AND THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHARTER 77

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 27, 2007

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, this year marks the thirtieth annivesry of 
the Charter 77 movement. Along with other colleagues from the Helsinki 
Commission, which I had the privilege of Chairing and Co-Chairing from 
1985 to 1994, I rise today to commemorate Charter 77's extraordinary 
accomplishments, and to praise Vaclav Havel, a founding member of the 
Charter 77 movement and Czechoslovakia's first President after the fall 
of communism.
  Twenty years ago this month, I led a Congressional delegation to 
Czechoslovakia--my first trip to that country. At that time, I was 
assured by Czechoslovak Government officials that Charter 77 was only a 
small group, and there was no need to have a dialogue with its members. 
In an apparent effort to underscore their point, the regime detained 
several Chartists to keep them from meeting with our delegation: Vaclav 
Havel, Petr Uhl and Jiri Dienstbier were all arrested in Prague; Miklos 
Duray was prevented from traveling to Prague from Slovakia; and 
although Petr Puspoki-Nagy made it to Prague, he was also immediately 
detained on his arrival.
  Although I was deprived of the chance to meet these individuals in 
person, I was already well aware of their work. In fact, the Helsinki 
Commission's second hearing, held in February 1977, published the full 
text of the Charter 77 manifesto at the request of one of our 
witnesses, Mrs. Anna Faltus. We owe a special debt of gratitude to the 
late Mrs. Faltus, who worked tirelessly for decades as an advocate for 
a free Czechoslovakia. To this end, she made sure that the documents of 
Charter 77 and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted 
were quickly translated and widely disseminated to policy makers and 
human rights advocates. Her effort made it possible for the Helsinki 
Commission to publish (in 1982 and in 1987) selected and 
representatives texts of the Charter 77 movement.
  Looking back, the breadth of those documents is truly remarkably, 
touching on everything from the legacy of World War II to the country's 
economic situation; from contemporary music to nuclear energy. But the 
common thread that bound these diverse statements together was a 
commitment to promote and protect ``the right of the individual to know 
and act upon his rights.'' This right was freely adopted by the 
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic when Gustav Husak fixed his signature 
to the Helsinki Final Act in 1975.
  It was, of course, with great interest that I discussed Charter 77, 
first with Czechoslovak officials during my February 1987 trip to 
Prague, then with Czechoslovak parliamentarians visiting Washington in 
June 1988 (a delegation which included Prague Communist Party boss 
Miroslav Stepan), and then with the Czechoslovak delegation to the 1989 
Paris Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension. In these 
meetings, as well as in correspondence with the Czechoslovak Ambassador 
to the United, I was told that Charter 77 didn't represent public 
opinion. I was warned that siding with Charter 77 would not help 
bilateral relations, and I was assured that democracy was coming soon 
to Czechoslovakia--``socialist democracy.''
  Needless to say, I was not convinced by my interlocutors: I was not 
convinced that Augustin Navratil was actually being treated for a 
mental health condition, rather than being persecuted for his religious 
activism. I was frankly disgusted when the Czechoslovak delegation to 
the Paris meeting baldly lied about Jiri Wolf, telling us he had been 
released early from his prison sentence as a ``humanitarian'' gesture, 
and then shrugging with indifference when they were caught in their 
lie. Most of all, I did not believe that Vaclav Havel was a criminal 
and Charter 77 merely an ``insignificant'' group.
  In fact, in 1989 Senator Dennis DeConcini and I nominated Vaclav 
Havel for the Nobel Peace Prize. As Senator DeConcini said, ``[i]n 
spite of relentless harassment by the authorities, including 
imprisonment, repeated detentions, house searches, and confiscation of 
property, Havel has remained active in the struggle for human rights. . 
. Havel is now in prison, but he is not alone in his cause. In a 
dramatic move. . . over 700 of his colleagues--playwrights, producers, 
artists, and actors--signed a petition calling for his release and the 
release of others [similarly imprisoned]. For these people, like many 
others in his country, Vaclav Havel has become a symbol of an enduring 
and selfless commitment to human rights.''
  Madam Speaker, on this 30th anniversary of the founding of the 
Charter 77 movement, I rise to commend and remember the courageous men 
and women, signatories and supporters, who paved the way for the 
peaceful transition from communism in Czechoslovakia and restoration of 
Europe, whole and free. On this anniversary, I give special tribute to 
Vaclav Havel, playwright and president, and his singular role in 
leading his country to freedom.

                          ____________________