Kamila Bendova and Martin Palous will discuss the pivotal role of women in Charter 77 and the broader Czech dissent movement. Their discussion will delve into how the experiences of the past can help us build bridges between our present and future.
A short film screening will proceed the conversation, providing a contextual backdrop.
Free and open to the public. Seats are limited, on first-come first-served basis. RSVP through Eventbrite.
About
KAMILA BENDOVA nee Neubauerova was born in 1946. Her father Zdenek Neubauer was a professor of constitutional law and her brother Zdenek Neubauer Jr a well-known microbiologist and philosopher. In 1963 she met Václav Benda - the two married in 1967. They both graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in Prague. In 1968 the Bendas considered emigrating, but in the end, they decided to stay. In the atmosphere of so called “normalization” that was poisoning the atmosphere in Czechoslovakia in the early 1970s, they converted to Catholicism and as many others among their friends were searching for the possibilities of free life under the given circumstances. In 1977 - the Bendas already had five children at the time - Vaclav Benda decided to sign Charter 77. Their flat at No. 18 Charles Square became one of the center places of the dissident scene in Prague and thus one of the most State Security-scrutinized objects in the capital. In 1979 Vaclav Benda accepted the role of Charter 77’s spokesperson and was one of the founders of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted (CDUP). In reaction to this, the government took the CDUP members to court, where Václav Benda was sentenced to four years of prison. In the period of his imprisonment Kamila Bendová had to take all things to her hands – exhanging letters with her husband, visiting him with five kids every three months in jail, running and overseeing all family matters, includying „politics “– The Benda’s flat at No. 18 Charles Square kept its central role as a dissidents’ meeting place under her leadership. Upon Václav’s return from prison in 1984, he became the spokesperson of Charter 77 again, published the samizdat philosophy magazine Paraf. He participated at the activities of the Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution and remained publicly active until his death in 1999. After he passed away, Kamila Bendová became principal guardian of his legacy and the Bendas family tradition.
From 1991, she taught at the Department of Logic at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. In 1999-2007 she led philosophy seminars at the Faculty of Arts. For ten years (2003–2013) she worked as an inspector of the Office for Personal Data Protection. Till today, the flat at No. 18 Charles Square, where she still lives, is the same open space as it used to be in the years leading to the Velvet Revolution. She organizes there regular reunions not only of her former fellow dissidents but also invites the interested members of younger generations – the colleagues and friends of her children and grandchildren - to take part in these debates. Principal theme of Kamila Bendová thought and research, besides her academic discipline (mathematical logics), is the involvement of women in the fight against communism – mapped, for instance by the Women in Dissent project of the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, on which she closely cooperated (crf. the book Housing Revolt: How Women Made Dissent, published by Academia.). She is, however, not just an aging “housewife.” She doesn’t hesitate to speak up, bringing her stands and opinions of a conservative Catholic to all sorts of public forums - not only in the Czech Republic, but also here in the United States. And, of course, she has clear and effective bonds and channels of communication with high echelons of current Czech politics. Her oldest son Marek is the longest serving member of the Czech Parliament and currently the chairman of the club of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in the Chamber of Deputies.
MARTIN PALOUS is Director of Vaclav Havel Program for Human Rights and Democracy at Florida International University in Miami and President of Vaclav Havel Center in New York. He was one of the original signatories of Charter 77, served as its spokesperson in 1986, and participated at the creation of Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution. After the fall of Communism he was a member of Parlament, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States and to the United Nations.
This event is organized by BBLA.