To commemorate

NOVEMBER 17, 1989

VELVET REVOLUTION

The VELVET REVOLUTION refers to a non-violent revolution in former Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government. The Velvet Revolution was a start of a democratization process in the country. Czechoslovakia held afterwards its first democratic elections in summer 1990 after more than 40 years of a totalitarian regime.

The VELVET REVOLUTION refers to a non-violent revolution in former Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government. The Velvet Revolution was a start of a democratization process in the country. Czechoslovakia held afterwards its first democratic elections in summer 1990 after more than 40 years of a totalitarian regime.

On November 17, 1989, riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague. That event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from November 19 to late December. By the end of November the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swelled from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated half-million. The peaceful protests seized the all country A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was held on November 27.

With the collapse of other Warsaw Pact governments and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on November 28 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December.

On December 10, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the federal parliament on December 28 and Václav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on December 29, 1989.

In June 1990, Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946.

23 years LATER...

on November 16, 2012

…IN NEW YORK

Slovaks and Czechs

come together to

celebrate the 23nd

anniversary of the

triumph of

democracy in former

Czechoslovakia…

@ A SPECIAL PLACE

Hudson Terrace, the Salon and Winter Garden 621 West 46th Street, New York, NY, 10036

From 9PM-12AM

ORGANIZING PARTNERS

SPONSORS

SPECIAL SPONSOR

RSVP till November 15, 2012 at rsvp@plus421.org