Civic Democratic Union (Slovakia)
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Public Against Violence
Verejnosť proti násiliu |
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| Leader | Fedor Gál, Ján Budaj |
| Founded | 19 November 1989 |
| Dissolved | 1991 |
| Succeeded by | HZDS, ODÚ |
| Headquarters | Bratislava, Czechoslovakia |
| Ideology |
Liberalism Liberal democracy |
| Political position | Centre |
Public Against Violence (Slovak: Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN) was a political movement established in Bratislava, Slovakia in November 1989. It was the Slovak counterpart of the Czech Civic Forum.
Public Against Violence (VPN) was founded during the Velvet Revolution, which overthrew the Communist Party rule in Czechoslovakia. After riot police cracked down on a student demonstration in Prague on the 17 November 1989 a growing series of demonstrations were held in Czechoslovakia. On the 19 November Civic Forum was founded in Prague as a coalition of opposition groups demanding the removal of the Communist leadership. The same evening a meeting was held in Bratislava, Slovakia attended by about 500 people where Public Against Violence was founded. The following day a first meeting of the coordinating committee of Public Against Violence took place.
Public Against Violence was similar to Civic Forum in being a broad movement in opposition to Communism. The founders of Public Against Violence included actor Milan Kňažko, dissident Ján Budaj and sociologist Fedor Gál, and the movement included cultural figures, religious and intellectual dissidents. Other early leaders included Catholic dissident Ján Čarnogurský whose trial was stopped during the revolution,František Mikloško and Miroslav Kusy,Vladimír Mečiar and the ex-leader of the Communist Party during the Prague Spring Alexander Dubček. Like Civic Forum, Public Against Violence called for the dominant role of the Communist Party to be ended, with a provisional government composed both of Communists and the opposition, leading to free elections. However Public Against Violence also called for relations between the Czechs and Slovaks to be altered in a new democratic federation.
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