Czech Republic: Living Havel's truth in the Arab world - by Mark Levine

During the last year of revolutionary protests across the Arab world, one of the things that most surprised me was how little Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution he helped to lead, was mentioned by activists or even commentators as a model for understanding, or engaging in, the present revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. In so many ways, Havel was a harbinger of the young revolutionaries who have pushed Arab countries towards the brink of freedom.

He was liberal and cosmopolitan, an artist and a writer. No doubt, he would have been one of the most interesting bloggers of his generation if the medium existed during his dissident days (although it's hard to know whether the absurdist aesthetic that informed his philosophical and artistic production would have translated well to Twitter). He was also a lover of great rock music; indeed, the rock 'n roll soundtrack that helped propel the Prague Spring in 1968 is not that different in attitude and substance from the soundtrack of the revolutionaries of Tehran, Tunis or Tahrir.

Indeed, the Iranian Government, for one, recognised the potential for the Velvet Revolution model to be applied to the Middle East, which is why it derisively referred to protesters of the Green Movement as "velvet revolutionaries". It well understood what a threat a culturally grounded rebellion against the political status quo can be, which is why it used anything but velvet gloves in repressing the movement in 2009.

For more: Living Havel's truth in the Arab world - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Vaclav Havel: Thousands honour late Czech leader

Thousands of people have accompanied the coffin of late Czech leader Vaclav Havel to Prague Castle where he lies in state.

The procession marked the start of three official days of mourning for Havel, who died on Sunday aged 75.

Many applauded as the hearse carrying the dissident playwright, who led the 1989 overthrow of communism, passed through Prague's historic centre. The procession through the heart of the medieval Old Town following what is known as the Royal Route - used by kings and emperors for centuries.

For more: BBC News - Vaclav Havel: Thousands honour late Czech leader

Václav Havel: the other Europe

Vaclav Havel's death is a reminder of something which parts of modern Europe – and perhaps Britain in particular – are in danger of taking for granted, at best, and, at worst, of forgetting altogether. We live in a time in which an increasingly introverted and fearful Europe is becoming synonymous with failure and impossibility, in which political leadership is treated with contempt and exasperation, and in which politics is all too often dismissed as corrupt, craven and irrelevant. Havel's personality and career, though, were the antithesis of all of these gloomy current prejudices.

At his best, President Havel was a genuinely national leader with a dynamic understanding of Europe, a politician whose vision and wit embraced not just the art of the possible but of the impossible too, and a civic leader whose sense of what is worthwhile in life transcended materialism – massively important though that was for eastern Europeans whose aspirations had been denied for so long – to embrace the imaginative and intellectual. In an era in which Europe is now so often spoken of with a sneer, he is a reminder of a very recent time when Europe embodied something noble and liberating which was eagerly shared – even here.

For more: Václav Havel: the other Europe | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian