Tonight in Beirut (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Tonight’s “Czech Gypsy & World Music Concert” at the American University of Beirut was presented by the Czech Embassy in Lebanon to mark the 25th anniversary of the “Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia. Because of my personal and academic Czech background, I got a real thrill out of hearing Czech spoken and sung in Beirut. I was very grateful for the opportunity to join with Czech diplomats and other members of the academic community to commemorate the Velvet Revolution and the legacy of Vaclav Havel in Beirut…
Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans, and the catastrophe toward which this world is headed — be it ecological, social, demographic or a general breakdown of civilization — will be unavoidable…We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine backbone of all our actions, if they are to be moral, is responsibility…
— Vaclav Havel
