Czechs have moral obligation to help people in totalitarian regimes, Dalai Lama s












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            December 11, 2011; By: Lucie Kettnerová; Section: i-Forum Informs

            Shortly after 10 am on Sunday December 11th, a crowded lecture hall at the Faculty of Arts
            Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in Prague at the invitation 
            and the Forum 2000 Foundation to take part in a round table debate titled One Year After a

            Oslo. The Dalai Lama and other participants of the discussion were welcomed at the faculty
            PhDr. Michal Stehlík, PhD., and Charles University Rector Prof. RNDr. Václav Hampl, DrSc.
            The meeting focused on the current state of democracy and human rights in Asia and among o

            to address the issues of further perspectives and how the international community should a
            The director of the Forum 2000 Foundation Oldřich Černý briefly greeted the attendants on 

            the former president Václav Havel who was ill. Other debaters included Jianli Yang, dissid
            founding president of the Initiatives for China, Stéphane Hessel, diplomat and co-author o
            Declaration of Human Rights, Bernard Kouchner, former French minister of foreign and Europ

            Shirin Ebadi, lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
            His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the first to take the floor saying he was pleased to have 
            Republic again to meet his friends. “You have a moral obligation to help people in totalit

            because you have your own experience with fighting against it,” he said. To their surprise
            the audience that he was not opposed to socialism or Marxism. As far as social economy is 
            Buddhist monk he is in favour of a more even distribution of wealth. “But I’m definitely n

            he said.
            The current situation in China was a topic addressed by all the speakers. According to the
            first of all a large political reform has to take place for a change to occur. As Jianli Y

            the majority of the country’s political elite, corrupted by economic advantages, was not i
            and had a vested interest in preserving the status quo.