Twenty years later

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, Czechs are struggling as much as ever with the issue of whom to hold accountable for the Communist era. Some people welcome the gradual release of the names of StB tattletales and foreign intelligence officials, while others argue that this means nothing if those who created and built the Communist system from the inside aren't unmasked. Václav Havel sent the message this week that a distinction must be made between harmful and harmless Communists, but he gave no workable moral guideline for how to do this. Havel also said that the global community must not retreat in the face of evil, because it is in the nature of evil to take advantage of every concession. It's ironic that when Havel was sitting across the table from evil in Nov. 1989, he apparently made concessions that are still weighing on Czech society 20 years later.