4-Part Series to Study the Tyranny of Communism

In collaboration with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Ashbrook Center, the Ashland University College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference will host a 4-part series designed to inform and create awareness about the tyranny of communism including:

• A viewing and panel discussion of The Lives of Others, an Oscar Winning Film about a member of the East German Secret Police who conducts surveillance on a writer and an actress
• A lecture on Czech dissidents under the Soviet Union’s Satellite State of Czechoslovakia by Dr. Flagg Taylor, an expert on Totalitarianism
• Talks by two victims of communism:
• Grace Jo who escaped the horrors of North Korea
• Enrique Altimari, an advocate for the Venezuelan Republic and a vocal critic of the Socialist Party’s rule under Chávez and Maduro

All four programs are free and open to the public.

The series begins on Wednesday, Mar. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Myers Convocation Center with a film screening and panel discussion of The Lives of Others. The movie follows a member of the East German Secret Police (Stasi) who is conducting surveillance on a writer and an actress, and finding himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives. It is a beautiful, tragic story about life under tyrannical government. The film will be followed by an audience discussion of the film with Maura Grady, Department of English; Rene Paddags and Greg McBrayer, Department of History & Political Science.

On Thursday, Mar. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Room of the Myers Convocation Center, Grace Jo, a defector of the brutal Kim regime in North Korea, will share her personal story of survival with the campus and wider Ashland community. Grace was born in North Korea and lost most of her family to tyranny and starvation before escaping to China, later resettling in the United States. “My life completely changed after I came to America,” she said. “I think that’s called freedom. It’s a very cherished thing for my family and for me.” Grace became a U.S. citizen in 2013. 

On Monday, Mar. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Myers Convocation Center, Enrique Altimari, a dissident and critic of his native Venezuela, will explore the downfall of the Venezuelan democracy and will describe the coordinates of the regime’s ideology. He will focus on lessons learned from the process and warn against the use of reductive ideologies and populist-messianic politics.

The series will conclude on Thursday, Mar. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium with a lecture by Dr. Flagg Taylor about Václav Havel, one of the leaders of the Charter 77 movement in Communist Czechoslovakia. Havel was an astute analyst of how an ideological tyranny sought to dissuade its inhabitants from being truth seekers in their everyday lives. Taylor will consider Havel’s arguments, discuss how he sought to encourage truth seeking through his essays and plays, and consider what lessons Havel’s writings might have for us today.