In the span of less than a hundred hours, during December of 2011, something akin to a pre-volcanic shudder shook the human scene upon the departure of Christopher Hitchens (13 Apr. 1949-15 Dec. 2011), Kim Jong-iI ( 16 Feb 1942 - 17 Dec, 2011), and Vaclav Havel (5 Oct. 1936-18 Dec. 2011).
At one extreme was a despot, Kim Jong-iI, whose father cemented into place an Orwellian nation, virtually sealed off from the rest of the world. Kim Jong-iI - a self appointed god-king over twenty-four million North Koreans, for decades beaten into total subservience to a single human, perversely labeled as The Dear Leader.
At the opposite extreme were a pair of outstanding intellectuals whose lives were styled as humanists, committed in parallel paths to fight for human dignity, fairness, and opportunity for fulfillment without constraint - Vaclav Havel and Christopher Hitchens.
Vaclav Havel was a playwright, author, poet, essayist under the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, whose interest in politics took him into a dissident role. His view of communist regimes was that they require people to “live within a lie,” accompanied by demanding rituals of loyalty. On October 9, 1989 Havel was sent to prison for the fourth time for his counter-cultural activity. Four months later the Velvet Revolution resulted in a bloodless collapse of the communist regime and Havel rose to the presidency of the new republic. This major transition occurred as the consequence of exposure of communism as a confidence game, a gross degrader of humanity. Havel’s stand was that living within the truth was a singular, powerful weapon that oppressive regimes could not withstand. Havel was president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and then president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. Havel hosted Forum 2000 beginning in 1997, an annual conference to identify key issues facing civilization and explore ways to prevent conflicts and escalation of conflicts that have origins in religion, culture and ethnicity. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize but was not selected, possibly because administrators were not aware that his influence was more than local. It was global. Havel wrote 22 plays and ten books, as well as producing a 2011 film. He was honored by the governments of many countries, including the United States.
Christopher Hitchens, author, journalist, essayist, lecturer, was born and educated in England. In 1981 he emigrated to the United States and assumed dual citizenship. Alongside Havel, he has been ranked among the top five intellectuals in the world. He was columnist for The Atlantic, Free Inquiry, The Nation, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair and World Affairs. He lectured frequently on various topics. Hitchens welcomed controversy and more than once disappointed his followers as when he dared to take on Mother Teresa and when he spoke and wrote favorably on the war with Iraq. At various times he was called a Trotskyite, a left wing liberal, a conservative. As a self proclaimed “antitheist,” Hitchens attacked what he termed totalitarian religions in parallel with Vaclav Havel taking on the despots of the world. Hitchens argued that the concept of a God is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom. His book, “God is not Great” received wide popular acceptance and not surprisingly has provoked much discussion.
These two intellectuals did not necessarily settle anything, but their appearance (not to the exclusion of other intellectuals) came at a time when something quite exciting is occurring - something coupled to the remarkable accomplishments of technologists over the past two decades. Communications satellites, the Internet, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission, and availability on a vast scale devices like iphones and blackberries have produced a sea change in the processing and exchange of information. Information from the thinkers of this age is now available to almost everyone. Despots and religions have little more to offer than rote, intimidation, fraud and unrealized dreams. They are running out of gas. What we see occurring is manifested in Arab Spring and now in the Occupy movement here in the United States. There will be no stopping it because the information exchange possibilities are now limitless as opposed to what oppressive regimes and entrenched religions have to offer. At last, in our faltering system, there appears to be possible a robust counter force to the self serving forces that have led our legislators astray.
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