This year’s Forum 2000 conference, with the subtitle “Demonstrating the determination and resilience of democracy”, began in Prague yesterday and will run until tomorrow.
Former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is attending the conference, and was welcomed in the conference hall by Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil (ODS).
The first speaker was Vladimir Kara-Murza, a critic of the Russian regime. He spoke of the thousands of political prisoners in Russian jails, and his vision of a peaceful and democratic Russia.
“Today’s Russia holds more political prisoners in its prisons than the former Soviet Union,” said Kara-Murza. In 2022, he won the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award, and last year, he received the Forum 2000 Award for Courage and Responsibility, which was accepted on his behalf by his wife, as he was in prison at the time.
Yesterday, the journalist and activist said he considered the award a recognition for all Russians who had the courage to stand up to the current Russian regime and protest against the attack on Ukraine. Russia, he said, is not the country of Vladimir Putin, but of murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and regime critic Alexander Navalny, who died in prison. Kara-Murza mentioned hope in a “peaceful, democratic Russia of tomorrow.”
Former President Tsai arrived at the opening of the conference. She wrote on social media yesterday that she had come to Europe to visit friends of Taiwan and strengthen relations with friendly democracies. She described the Czech Republic, her first stop, as “one of Taiwan’s most stable partners in Europe.”
Tsai is on her first trip to Europe since leaving office in May. Her visit to European countries has provoked a reaction from Beijing, which views Taiwan as a rebel province and considers political forces close to the former president to be separatists.
The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize for 2023 was awarded to imprisoned Venezuelan lawyer Rocio San Miguel at the opening of the conference. Her representative accepted it on her behalf. The glass sculpture was presented to her by Vystrcil.
“For over eight months, this courageous woman has been behind bars. This fact proves how dangerous the Venezuelan regime considers her ideas and actions to be,” said Vystrcil.
“Courageous and responsible people, courageous and responsible communities are the greatest hope for those who live under oppression and unfreedom,” he added. “At the same time, they are also the greatest danger and threat – and rightly so – for those for whom bullying and violence are tools to gain power.”
Vystrcil also said that to raise the hope of change in a time of growing autocratic regimes, it is necessary to stand consistently behind “European values”.
President Petr Pavel will also attend the conference, delivering an opening speech and participating in a panel discussion on global democratic partnerships. Other participants will include Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and former Polish President and union leader Lech Walesa.
Forum 2000 was founded in 1997 by Czech President Vaclav Havel, author Elie Wiesel and Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa. The intention was to provide a space for public figures from various fields to analyse the challenges of the new millennium.
