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The Prague Freedom Foundation will present US Senator Roger Wicker with its first Defender of Freedom Award on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism in Czechoslovakia. The Senator is being so honoured for his support for maintaining Radio Free Europe broadcasts to the western Balkans. The award is to be presented on November 17th at a concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Washington. It will be attended by the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, and the former US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, among others.

A new public perceptions survey by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM), conducted on the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, has revealed that around a sixth of Czechs still long for a return to communism, while they are equally split on whether their country’s current politics is moving the country forward.

The Velvet Revolution which toppled the communist regime in then Czechoslovakia began on November 17, 1989 with a student protest at Prague’s Národní třída. But a full week earlier, unrest was brewing in the northern Czech city of Teplice over poor air quality. Finally, one young student decided enough was enough.

Czech universities are organizing a gathering at Prague’s Albertov on November 17 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and the 75th anniversary of the Nazi oppression of Czech university students in 1939. The event is to be attended by President Miloš Zeman and his counterparts from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Germany. The event will be followed by a debate with the four heads of state at the building of the Law Faculty. A series of other events are scheduled to take place on November 17 across the Czech Republic to mark the fall of communist regime.

They call themselves a carnival. Hundreds of performer-activists seeking to mark the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution with a twist: less wreath-laying and somber recollections, and more masks, costumes, parades, workshops and countless other events highlighting pressing issues, whether environmental or social. This is the organisation's third year, operating out of a provisional headquarters in the heart of Prague's Old Town. I spoke with Marie Knapp, public relations director for the Velvet Carnival and began by asking her to describe the

In this week's Panorama, I am joined by Vilém Prečan, the chairman and founder of the Czechoslovak Documentation Centre. Along with photographer Karel Cudlín, he is the co-author of a new Czech-German book called Německý podzim v Praze 1989, or The German Autumn in Prague, 1989. This book chronicles a very particular set of events, namely the 1989 exodus of East Germans via the West German embassy in Prague, which ultimately led to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

As the 25th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution approaches, the Czech foreign ministry is putting its full weight behind a series of events taking place across the world to celebrate the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

The Czech Philharmonic, under the direction of renowned conductor Jiří Bělohlávek, will perform Antonín Dvořák’s “From the New World Symphony” at Carnegie Hall in New York on November 16th – the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Czech cultural representatives, part of a delegation led by the head of the Chamber of Deputies Jan Hamáček, are bringing to the US the original handwritten score which Dvořák wrote during his time in the United States. The score has not left the country in more than 100 years. The composer’s grandson will also be travelling to the US for the occasion.

Two communist-era secret police officers, Petr Beran and Kamil Líbal, have received suspended sentences for beating up a youth of 17 during an interrogation in January 1989. The incident occurred in connection with demonstrations in Prague marking the anniversary of the death of Jan Palach. The two StB men allegedly aimed to force a confession out of David Kabzan that would be used in a case against Václav Havel, at that time a leading dissident. One of the two has appealed the verdict. Mr. Beran told the court that he had merely being fulfilling the orders of politicians, adding that he regarded his prosecution as political persecution.

A cultural space named the Velvet Centre is set to open in Prague’s Malá Strana district on Wednesday ahead of 25th anniversary celebrations of the Velvet Revolution, which brought communism to an end in Czechoslovakia. The centre on Cíhelná St., a short distance from Charles Bridge, will host workshops, lectures and debates centred on the revolution, which began on November 17 1989.