Written by Tamara Patajová
It’s the 28th of October 1939, in Prague. At the dawn of Nazi rise to power the former Czechoslovak Republic was split into Czechia and Slovakia, making citizens of both countries suffer the consequences of the Nazi regime established in these two newly formed states. Czech students take the streets of Prague to manifest their discontent and opposition to all the violence that came with the change in power, they calmly march through the streets calling for justice and peace. However, their peaceful protest soon turns into tragedy as the Nazi officials start pushing the crowd back. A student of medicine at Charles’ University named Jan Opletal gets shot multiple times by an unknown shooter which subsequently results in his passing on the 11th of November 1939. His funeral, which was held four days later, caused outrage and a general tragedy to the wide public, the underlying message was clear – innocent people using their right to protest are dying. This event turned into another anti-Nazi demonstration which led to the closing down of universities on the Czech territory on the 17th of November, the arrest of students and professors amongst which nine were executed without a trial and over a thousand were sent to concentration camps. Two years later, multiple countries are involved in the process of creating a proclamation that marks the 17th of November as International Students Day which is supposed to stand as a reminder for all nations to fight for and uphold the core values of democracy during the difficult times of the Second World War. The proclamation was as follows:
‘We, students of Great Britain and its territories and India, North and South America, the USSR, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, China, Holland, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia and all free nations, to honour and commemorate the tortured and executed students who were the first to raise their voices to reject Nazi oppression and condemn the occupation of 1939, proclaim November 17 as International Students' Day.’
Fifty years later, on 17th November 1989, the streets of Prague witnessed another historical event taking place. Once again, students unite in a peaceful protest commemorating the death of Jan Opletal, their predecessor who signifies the importance of a peaceful expression of disagreement with oppression and violation of human rights. The social climate in Czechoslovakia was difficult – characterized by no academic freedom, no freedom of speech nor movement, political reprisals, manipulated trials and inhuman conditions for political prisoners. Young people who start to recognize all this feel supported by the geopolitical background of the ‘Autumn of Nations’ and the spreading liberation from the Soviet regime, thus they start to openly express their discontent. During the memorial students take turns in publicly communicating their objections against the communist regime which results in a violent police interference where multiple students get beat up by the officers. All parents in Czechoslovakia were thinking, ‘Our children are getting beat up by the police’ which made them take to the streets to support their children, they peacefully demonstrated their disagreement with the police violence against innocent young people. Slowly the whole country joins with general strikes and peaceful demonstrations led by the cultural figures and dissidents. They sing in the streets and ring with their keys to signify to the politicians that the time of oppression has come to an end. And while this all sounds cartoonishly idyllic, this is how it actually happened, the change came without any excessive violence. That is, after all, why this revolution deserves the attribute of being ‘Velvet’ – people united in peace, almost unbelievably calmly overturning the oppressive regime.
You might be asking, how is this relevant to us?
First of all, we as students, should respect and reflect on the past, on the lives of our predecessors who were not as privileged as we are today. This is not to say that the past should be the only source for provoking our reflection, quite the contrary. Especially given the fact that even in our present world people are suffering from the scarcity of resources. All around the world, some young people would strongly desire to be able to acquire education but they simply just cannot due to external factors that are out of their control. I would therefore suggest that we take this day, maybe even more than any other day, to acknowledge the privilege we have and think about those who aren’t as lucky.
Second, we shall take this day as a symbolic representation of the power that we hold. Amnesty International sees the right to protest as an indispensable way to manifest your opinion and uses this as an essential tool to peacefully unite people in the name of human rights. The aforementioned events paint us a clear picture, both were started by a peaceful student initiative, and both resulted in significant change in social climate. The students of the past were not scared to express their disagreement with oppression and violence, and we should feel inspired and empowered by the change that was brought by their actions. Personally speaking, I did have doubts about my personal impact on important issues. The societal structure that we live in makes us question how much we can actually influence the course of events. Whilst I think questioning our actions and their impacts should be always encouraged rather than discouraged, it can become harmful and paralyzing to us if we exclusively stick to criticizing and doubting our power. Put in perspective with history we can be affirmed that indeed we can make real change in a peaceful way, united and active we should strive for a more peaceful and just world.
If you wish to learn more about Amnesty’s view on protesting, visit the following article:
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