Consciousness precedes Being, and not the other way around, as Marxists claim. For this reason, the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else t… - Václav Havel

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.

If every day a man takes orders in silence from an incompetent superior, if every day he solemnly performs ritual acts which he privately finds ridiculous, if he unhesitatingly gives answers to questionnaires which are contrary to his real opinions and is prepared to deny his own self in public, if he sees no difficulty in feigning sympathy or even affection where, in fact, he feels only indifference or aversion, it still does not mean that he has entirely lost the use of one of the basic human senses, namely, the sense of humiliation.

In quanto tale, quel «dissidente» ha l’opportunità e anche il dovere di riflettere su questa esperienza, di testimoniarla, di lasciarla in eredità a coloro che sono abbastanza fortunati da non doverla subire. Così anche noi possiamo ricambiare, in qualche modo, l’aiuto che ci viene offerto, possiamo aiutare in nome del nostro profondo e condiviso interesse, nell’interesse dell’umanità.

As the interpretation of reality by the power structure, ideology is always subordinated ultimately to the interests of the structure. Therefore, it has a natural tendency to disengage itself from reality, to create a world of appearances, to become ritual... Increasingly, the virtuosity of the ritual becomes more important than the reality hidden behind it.