Episode 5: Torch Number One, Prague Spring and he Velvet revolution

Over 30 years ago Czechoslovakia staged he Velvet Revolution. So named because from the outside looking in the revolution - resulting in expulsion of the USSR and renewed free open elections - looked peaceful. And for the most part in 1989 it was. But the movement for a free, liberal, democratic Czechoslovakia stretched back decades to the Prague Spring which was anything but peaceful. 

 

This is the article I wrote over a year ago for TIME for the 30 year anniversary

https://time.com/5730106/velvet-revolution-history/

Audio from Jan Palach's last interview Radio Prague International:  https://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/czech-martyr-jan-palachs-enduring-legacy-50-years-after-his-self-immolation