Albright recalls that many people helped build Czech democracy

Fotogalerie: Konference Forum 2000

She indirectly reacted to the current political situation in the country after the recent regional elections, in which the Communists (KSCM) strengthened their position.

She, however, refused to comment on the rise in the Communists' support in the polls.

Albright attends the 16th Forum 2000 international conference, co-fathered by former Czech president and her friend Vaclav Havel, who died last December, aged 75.  

She presented her latest book Prague Winter at the conference, which focuses on the role of media in society this year.

Her autograph session in a bookshop in Prague´s Wenceslas Square this afternoon attracted hundreds of people.

In her memoirs "Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948" she returns to her childhood she spent partly in Prague and London. She was prompted by the need of making order in her family history.

She said the book has actually three levels: the first deals with her family and the career of her father, a Czechoslovak diplomat, the second is about the war events and the third about the difficulty of making moral decisions.

Albright, 75, also recalled the legacy of Havel, playwright, thinker, dissident and the leader the democratic changes in society after the collapse of the communist regime in November 1989.

"People must think of it and remember what is important for this country to be democratic because so many people were working on it and Havel actually led it all," said Albright, who was the first woman in the post of U.S. state secretary (in office in 1997-2001 in the administration of Bill Clinton).

Havel was the last Czechoslovak president (December 1989-1992) and the first Czech president (1993-March 2003) when the Czech Republic was seeking EU and NATO membership. It entered NATO in 1999 and became an EU member in May 2004.

In the interview Albright also commented on the upcoming presidential elections in the United States.

She said as a Democrat she hopes that Barack Obama will defend the post and that she thinks he will succeed in it. She criticised his Republican rival Mitt Romney for his ignorance of foreign politics.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz