From Thoreau to Havel: Chapters in Czech and American Struggle for Social Justice

The course reacts to current polarization of political life both in the United States and the Czech Republic. It discusses important U.S. and Czech writers, artists, and activists who have believed in the indivisibility of freedom ("Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison" - Thoreau) and entered in dialogue with the powerful as well as the powerless in face of dogmatism, fear, and indifference. These writers, artists, philosophers and activists have been broadening the notion of democracy and have been keeping the precious "fragile democratic experiment" alive - by fighting for ballot for women and African Americans, by fighting anti-Semitism in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, by fighting injustice and complacency in Socialist Czechoslovakia, by helping children "of the Enemy," by confronting ongoing racial injustice in the United States and the Czech Republic, or by fighting the environmental destruction of our planet. The course will foster dialogue between American and Czech humanistic thinkers, artists, and activists. The course draws inspiration from African American philosopher Cornel West who understands truth "as a way of life" that "allows suffering to speak".