Luboš Rychvalský

"That was one of those jokes... Some initiative, I think it was Children of the Earth, organized a kind of quiet, inconspicuous, very nice demonstration: a promenade in Na Příkopech Street. We decided to disperse it. That we would imitate a police intervention. In a conspiracy, we created a security unit whose members made helmets out of melon rinds, batons out of cucumbers or salamis, baguettes, in short, anything that could be eaten, because we assumed that we would consume it afterwards. And we set off in a number of about six or seven policemen armed in a such way. I had borrowed a megaphone from the theatre fair - or Bára had borrowed it from the theatre people. It was just a theatrical prop. We called on the demonstrators to disperse. After which the demonstrators decided to beat us. So they overpowered us, they ate our batons. The only thing they left us was our helmets. And the police was watching and didn't stand up for us. We were actually doing their job for them, voluntarily, going to disperse these subversives. But they didn't stand up for us and let us get beaten up. Even our dog handler unit failed because the dogs were plastic. The demonstrators didn't get scared of them and didn't obey our call to stop the unauthorized demonstration. They kicked our asses. This was such a successful action where we imitated the intervention of the police force to bring public attention to the crazy injustice here."

"The most interesting and most secret event, which probably took the State Security quite by surprise, was in August [1989]: launching of a whale on the Vltava River. As a symbol of a calming down. At that time, that August 1989 smelled of a kind of tragedy, armies of policemen were preparing for a massive crackdown, they arrested dissidents before 21 August, they surrounded Prague. It seemed that if anyone dared to demonstrate, they would be severely and cruelly punished. There was even talk of shooting demonstrators. We were very worried and wanted to distract the security forces, to ease the tension with such a peaceful action. I think we probably had advertised it in advance because there were foreign TV crews waiting on the Charles Bridge. They were waiting to see how the whale would float down the Vltava. But I don't know how they found out about it. Whether we had announced it in advance... I know I built it in the garden out of wires, sticks, wire mesh and paper. I spent a week building it, the mock fish. Then I transported it on a cart past buses full of those white helmets [policemen]. That was one of the most remarkable events I can remember. Even the sad end of the model fish and the funny ending: I got a 100 crowns fine from the Fishermen's Union for... It came to a halt because of a completely senseless procedure. From the original charge of common endangerment, that if there had been a steamer on the Vltava... They threatened to charge me with common endangerment and it ended up at the Fishermen's Union. It was an amusing ending. The way the cops chased the fish down the Vltava and ended up trampling on it on the embankment, it was all comical. It served its purpose, it lightened the media tension. Such news was laughable compared to the bloody clashes with the police that were expected."

"We used to meet a few people, but we were quite critical towards them, we had clear opinions. We didn't like the fact that they were taking themselves too seriously, forming themselves into these structures, everyone was pushing through their own views... We showed that with one of our activities. That was really meant seriously. We thought that these initiatives should unite, not split. And at that time the split in the dissident scene was already considerable, they were quarrelling among themselves about who had the more refined political opinion. We kept ourselves more in the distance as sort of independent observers. If we wanted to express something... They didn't count on us either, they used to say: 'Now is not the time for fun. You're such jokers, there's no point in talking to you, you're just making fun.'"

"The Society for the Merrier Present (SVS) was founded completely spontaneously, out of a sense of futility. The SVS was founded a long time ago, or rather it has never been really founded. It was my idea, my copyright on the name Society for the Merrier Present, from the old days when I hadn´t even been in dissent, nor had I known there was any dissent. At that time, my friend from Karlovy Vary and I were corresponding, he ran a Society for the Slow-Witted, or something like that, and I had a Society for the Merrier Present. And as 'leaders' of these societies, we sometimes exchanged some post card, I titled myself as president of the SVS, Jindra titled himself as 'president of the Society for the Slow-Witted'. So the platform had already existed, but it had no rules at all. Then, when I met Bára and Petr Payne by chance on May 1, 1989, [we were] frustrated that nothing significant had happened, because we had wanted to stir up the society more, because we had expected something to happen in May, I put the idea on the table, that I had in my mind a continuous protest that would be uninterrupted and uninterruptible. We were working out a form of the protest. Then, I don't know which one of us, together we agreed that the ideal was to do... Originally I was thinking of a permanent bike ride around Prague. That there would always be cyclists with banners or t-shirts with slogans. The primary goal was the continuous, unstoppable protest. Which would be unstoppable based on the fact that the communist power wouldn´t have the tool to stop it, because riding bicycles is not a crime. That's the way we agreed on it on 1 May in Slavia Café. We set it in motion very quickly. From there, we went straight to Political Prisoners´ Street and there we started something that we had no idea what a huge response it would cause at that time. People were joining in massively. At that time and in that fear. So on 1 May 1989, we ran along the Political Prisoners´ Street and immediately we came up with the famous slogans 'Today we run for you, tomorrow you will run for us'. That was our spontaneous idea. We were supported and promoted by Free Europe and Voice of America [radio stations]. They announced it there, and because of that we expected that they [State Security] would break our door right away. It didn't happen. And based on the fact that they announced it, the next day we met other people who came running there."