Scholarly record

THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO PUBLIC SPACES AND THEIR RELEVANCE FOR AN INTERPRETATION OF THE CZECH STUDENT MOVEMENT IN 1989

L. Cviklova

Abstract

When analyzing three theoretical frameworks of public spaces, the contributions have highlighted relevant aspects of the course of the Velvet Revolution in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989. The collection of empirical information from interviews with former striking students focused on the activities of students and teachers at the Faculty of Arts at Charles university, as well as the sudden renewal of various parallel public spaces, characteristic to liberal societies. These unique forms of public action, and the emergence of horizontal public domains, occurred not only due to students' and teachers' efforts, but also thanks to the interest of those representatives of Czech cultural and political life who, under the totalitarian regime, had been deprived of their professional lives, and in November 1989 made the decision to join the umbrella group Ob?anské Fórum (Civic Forum). Czech researchers, specifically historians, collected substantial information regarding the course of national students' mobilization against the last stage of the Czechoslovak post-totalitarian regime. Nevertheless, insufficient attention has been attributed to a theoretical explanation of the November protestations, as well as to a elucidation of genealogy and mechanisms of the alternative public realms. Tens of interviews with former striking students revealed that the emergence of liberated public spaces at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University was launched by unsatisfied students and later joined by activists of diverse informal networks as well as by ordinary citizens. In November and December 1989 a substantial part of the Czech population showed their interest to interact with striking students and initiated fruitful informal debates combining generational, political, and professional perspectives. METHODS Employing distinct conceptualizations of 'private sphere', 'public sphere' and 'public action', the article aims to clarify the role of students' participation in the Velvet Revolution and inclusion of the phenomenon in the Czech collective memory. To put it more precisely, it aims to clarify students' involvement in the Velvet Revolution at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in November and December 1989 through several theoretical perspectives: (1) Jürgen Habermas's conception of the ideal public space and the importance of the educational component, (2) Hannah Arendt's agonistic approach to the public realm and her understanding of action, (3) Seyla Benhabib's conception of deliberative democracy and feminism. The explanatory force of the theoretical frameworks is illustrated by tens of interviews with male and female participants and eyewitnesses - former students of various fields of study at the Faculty of Arts in November 1989. The semi-structured questionnaire included items such as involvement in students' activism several months before the Velvet Revolution, experiences with police intervention in the demonstration on November 17, 1989, participation at strike committees and at ad hoc constituted departments at the faculty level, personal memories of diverse public speeches, students' revolutionary actions outside the university such as agitation, etc.

Publication details

Back to publication list