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 formalgovernment allowed a demonstration, where peoplecommemorated the 50th anniversary of a cruel suppressionof a student demonstration in German-occupied Prague.However, history tell itself and the students werebrutally beaten by police. As a result a large protestmovement developed. Demonstrations and strikesoccurred across the whole arena under the leading ofObcanske forum, which was leaded by Vaclav Havel, adissident playwright and Charter 77 signer. Following thepolitical turmoil he became the new president ofCzechoslovakia. Ten old age after the Velvet Revolutionmany political and social changes have occurred within theformer Czechoslovakia. The first major change was thepeaceful split of the country to form two separate recounts,the Czech Republic and Slovakia as we know it today.Following this split much of the former communistinfrastructure was disba nded including many state runindustries in an attempt to make them more efficient andencourage investment. Former communist legislation countering the freedom of speech was also passed out of law allowing people to express their political views andcriticize government policies. For many people thesechanges introduced a great improvement in their standardof living. A wide configuration of goods soon appeared inprivately run shops which previously had only beenavailable in Hesperian shops. People were also 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 following increase foreign investment as westerncompanies keen to exploit new markets entered thecountry for example the takeover of Skoda by the Germanrun Volkswagen. However, the Velvet revolution did havesome negative effects. The systematisation of state runcompanies meant that many people were put out of work