„Zkoušel jsem různé věci, protože jsem se snažil o některých věcech nemluvit, když jsem měl pocit, že o tom nic nevědí. Naopak když se mi zmínili, že o něčem (vědí), tak o tom jsem vypovídal. Ale moc pyšný na to, jak jsem tím prošel, nejsem. Nakonec jsem se naštval, všechno, co jsem řekl, jsem odvolal. Takže u soudu jsem to odmítal pak potvrdit. (Nicméně máte pocit, že jste jim řekl víc, tenkrát, než bylo nutné? Já jsem to z toho tak trochu pochopil.) Mám. Ale na druhou stranu zase to nebylo o tom, že bych se sesypal jako někteří a říkal všechno, případně si to napsal a pak to šel říkat.“
„Ten leták, který byl k tomu 21. srpnu, ten nejmenší s těmi deseti body, tak to byla aktivizace letáku z roku 1939, které se rozdávaly před těmi demonstracemi, které skončily tím zásahem německé policie a vlastně pak popravou těch studentských vůdců. My jsme pak k tomu ještě vymysleli, tuším že s Ivanem Dejmalem a s Pavlem Šremerem, ten leták, který se tvářil jako nějaké prohlášení mladých a tvářil se, že je tam nějaká revoluční socialistická strana – který končil tím, že ‚příští jaro už nezadusí tanky, protože mezi námi jsou taky tankisté‘ a takovéhle. Jeden čas všechny tyhle letáky byly vystavené v Muzeu SNB na Karláku, teď občas se dají najít v nějakých odborných publikacích.“
„Studentský radikalismus se tam neprojevoval tolik v odporu proti tomu komunismu nebo něčemu podobnému, ale v odporu proti okupaci. Takže jsme hledali nějaké alternativy, protože prostě ten pojem ‚demokratický socialismus‘, který byl součástí pražského jara – tak nám tenkrát ještě nedocházelo, že je to protimluv. Že takhle asi to úplně skoupit nepůjde. Takže jsme hledali nějakou docela radikální cestu, a protože v té době se začaly publikovat některé věci od Isaaca Deutschera a Milovana Djilase a další, což vycházelo taky v těch Literárkách a v dalších novinách. Navíc tam byl příklad té Jugoslávie, těch Rad pracujících, které měli v těch podnicích – prostě tahle alternativa – takže jsme o tom začali uvažovat a nakonec někdy, to bylo, tuším, 2. prosince 1968, na koleji, dokonce u nás na Větrníku, jsme se rozhodli, že něco podobného založíme.“
“The way it happened was that, between the time when I stopped with the bridges, that was in late February, and the job audition, which was on my birthday on 15 May 1990, I was asked by Ivan Dejmal - who was in the lustration committees at the Ministry of the Interior for the Civic Forum - if I would be willing to take his place, because he was on the line to be moved to the post of director of some institute. So I agreed, and then I got quite hooked by it, and finally, the day after I won the audition, I was asked by Honza Ruml, who had been made Deputy Minister of the Interior in the meantime and was in charge of the Institute for the Protection of the Constitution and Democracy, whether I might stay there and join on as the director of the anti-terrorist department. So in the end I reckoned that archaeology is a science for calm, peaceful times, and that right now I should be doing something for my country, so I accepted.”
“When I was there, two things were still in effect, especially in the regions. First, the Soviet Union was slowly dying there with regard to personnel choices and policies and the such, and second, they were still running on a kind of Yeltsin model of ‘take as much independence as you can manage’, which often led to extreme situation, like in the case of Chechnya. This disputes appeared elsewhere as well. And then there was a third aspect, which was most prominent on the regional level but was also sometimes apparent in state-wide politics. Namely, a somewhat unfortunate system of direct elections. Because at the time, the Russian Federation used direct elections for voting in city mayors, governors - and the president. Most of them didn’t dare go straight up against the president, but during the time I was there, there wasn’t a single region with good cooperation between the elected mayor of a large city, or of the capital of the governorate, and the governor. Because they both felt that they had am equally strong mandate because they had been elected directly by the people.”
Jaroslav Bašta was born on 15 May 1948 in Pilsen. He graduated from primary school in Žatec, where his family moved. He continued his studies at the secondary general education school (gymnasium) there. After graduation he worked from 1966 to 1967 in Elektroporcelán Louny as an educator of apprentices and after this intermediate stage he was admitted to the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague. There he studied historical archaeology from 1967 to 1970. For his activity in the student Revolutionary Youth Movement he was arrested in 1970 and sentenced to two and a half years in prison in 1971. Until 1988, he worked for the state enterprise Stavby silninic a železnic (Road and Railway Construction), first as a worker and later (1988 to 1989) as a technician. He signed Charter 77 in December 1976 and actively participated in dissent. In the 1980s he was scientifically active in archaeology, writing over 130 scientific articles and studies. Soon after the Velvet Revolution, he won an audition for the directorship of the District Museum Pilsen-North, but then joined the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Democracy as director of the department. From 1990 to 1991 he was deputy director of the secret service and from 1991 to 1993 he was chairman of the Independent Commission of the FMV (the so-called lustration commission). At the end of 1994 he became a member of the ČSSD (Czech Social Democratic Party ). In the 1996 elections he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies on behalf of his party. He sat on the Committee on Defence and Security as its deputy chairman and on the Organising Committee. He was also Chairman of the Commission for the Control of the Security Information Service. He defended his seat in the Chamber of Deputies in the 1998 elections. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Minister without Portfolio in the government of Miloš Zeman. After leaving the ministerial post, he served for several months as a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security. He resigned from the parliament in September 2000. From 2000 to 2005 he served as Ambassador to the Russian Federation and from 2005 to 2006 as Deputy Foreign Minister. Subsequently, he was Ambassador to Ukraine from 2007 to 2010. After retirement, he began writing political commentaries and historical novels. In addition to his literary work, he has spoken at various seminars and political debates, including on platforms that have been described as disinformation. In 2019, he ran unsuccessfully in the European Parliament elections as the head of the Security, Responsibility, Solidarity (BOS) candidate. He left Social Democracy and then in the 2021 parliamentary elections he led the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) candidate in the Pardubice Region and became a Member of the Parliament of the Czech Republic again after many years. In 2023, he ran unsuccessfully for the same party in the presidential elections. Jaroslav Bašta died on 8 April 2024.
