10 Years After The Reovlution :: essays research papers

The so-called"Velvet revolution " ended the communist control ofCzechoslovakia in late 1989. On November 17 the formal presidential term allowed a demonstration, where flockcommemorated the 50th anniversary of a cruel suppressionof a disciple demonstration in German-occupied Prague.However, history repeated itself and the students werebrutally beaten by police. As a result a large protest endeavor developed. Demonstrations and strikesoccurred across the whole outlandish under the leadership ofObcanske forum, which was leaded by Vaclav Havel, adissident playwright and Charter 77 signer. Following the policy-making turmoil he became the new president ofCzechoslovakia. Ten years later on the Velvet Revolution some political and social changes have occurred in spite of appearance theformer Czechoslovakia. The first major change was thepeaceful split of the country to form two separate introduces,the Czech Republic and Slovakia as we notice it today.Following this split mu ch of the former communistinfrastructure was disbanded including many state offerindustries in an attempt to make them more effectual andencourage investment. Former communist legislationpreventing the freedom of speech was similarly passed out oflaw allowing plurality to express their political views andcriticize government policies. For many people thesechanges introduced a great improvement in their bannerof living. A wide variety of goods soon appeared inprivately devolve shops which previously had only beenavailable in western shops. People were withal allowed totravel freely, which had been banned under the communiststo prevent the breeding of discontent when people sawwhat was available in other countries. The country alsoprospered sideline increase foreign investment as westerncompanies keen to go new markets entered thecountry for example the takeover of Skoda by the Germanrun Volkswagen. However, the Velvet revolution did havesome negative effects. The rationaliza tion of state runcompanies meant that many people were put out of work