I think you heard about what is happening in Czechoslovakia and so I want to explain to you what is really going on here. Can you believe that for the first time in my life, after 24 years, I touched something that people call freedom. The word freedom seems like something without content, without shape, but believe me it is bigger than anything you can imagine. Freedom is everything. You and I did not know much about this word, only how to write it. Some days ago in Czechoslovakia, all the people screamed for freedom, and they didn't stop until they got it.

How did this happen? On a Friday afternoon, the seventeenth of November, high school students assembled in the Albertov district at four o'clock for a state-sponsored 50th anniversary memorial of the students who were killed by the Nazis when they invaded our country. The Union of Socialist Youth had arranged for the students to march from the Albertov district to Vyshehrad, the oldest castle in Prague. From the very beginning of this march the students carried anti-government posters and began chanting anti-communist slogans. After reaching Vyshehrad, they decided to march towards the heart of Prague, Vaclavske Namesti, or what is now well known in the West as Wenceslas Square.

This part of the march was not arranged by the government. The students were openly venting frustrations - theirs, and those that their parents kept in their hearts for over 40 years. Five thousand strong, the students suddenly found that they were no longer afraid. They chanted: "The Time For One-Party Rule Is Finished!", "Break With Communism Forever!", "We Want To Lead Ourselves By Ourselves!", and "Today Or Never!" At this point, the government was quickly organizing, on nearby National Street, a 2,500-man force comprised of Special Forces, Commandos for Fast-Attack, Paratroopers, and the Red Berets. Armed with truncheons and riot gear, these security forces were eager to teach the students a lesson they would never forget.

Among the student demonstrators were some plainclothes agents of the secret police who began directing the students to National Street, saying "Go in this direction because the direct route is filled with police." Just before arriving at National Street, the students felt encouraged as groups of actors from the grand balcony of the National Theater began cheering "Students Go Ahead!" But this enthusiasm was quickly dashed when the government security forces encircled the students. At this moment the students raised their arms in the air and cried, "We have naked hands. We don't want any violence. We want freedom. Give us our freedom!"

It is here that Czechoslovakia witnessed the most dramatic event in its struggle for freedom. The students sat down facing the riot police, and in the space that separated them they placed candles and their greatest treasure, the flag of Czechoslovakia. Some girls tried to give flowers to the riot police and convince them to join the students' cause. The students' voices then united in a slow, poignant rendition of the Czechoslovakian national anthem. This stand-off lasted one hour.

The soldiers received orders from the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Milos Jakes, and the Mayor of Prague, Miroslav Stephan, to destroy the flowers, the candles, and the songs. The special security forces moved in and began beating the students mercilessly with tlieir clubs. During this conflict, the secret police rounded up several hundred students, dragged them out of the circle, and handed them over to the Red Berets, who beat them into unconsciousness. People witnessing the melee from surrounding apartment buildings noticed that some of the students lying on the ground were motionless and failed to fend off repeated beatings. The secret police then took some of these critically injured students away in army vehicles. Nobody knew what happened to these students. The walls around this section of National Street were covered with blood; five hundred students were admitted to area hospitals. The director of performances at the National Theater, who witnessed this atrocity along with all the actors of the National Theater, declared, "This Theater will be closed until our country is free." Thus began the first day of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution.

The following day, on Saturday, I began walking along the section of National Street where the beatings occurred. Everybody who walked along that section was in shock. Candles were placed everywhere. It was no longer a street - it was a cemetery. Crowds formed in front of blood-stained walls - this was the blood of their children, the blood that was shed the day before for their freedom and for the freedom of the whole country. Although they had sorrow in their hearts, they felt proud of their children, and they began to sing the national anthem.

Afterwards I walked back to my dormitory. On the sidewalk an old man looked at me, and with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face he took my hand and pressed it. He said: "Tomorrow at four." I didn't understand what he meant, but in a few days everybody in our country would know exactly what it meant - the continuous and unflagging struggle for our freedom. I reached my dormitory, the entrance of which was now draped with the Czechoslovakian flag. There were flowers and candles in front of the door; some girls were crying. Our attention turned to a student hobbling through the entrance. He had a broken leg and a black eye. His words to us were: "I have one more eye, one more leg, and a big heart; so we can make it, and we will make it."

Everyone who lived in Prague knew what had happened on Friday. Some people said that it would end like the Prague Spring of 1968; but most of them also knew that it was now or never. Outside of Prague no one had heard of the demonstration and the massacre because the television, radio, and newspapers were controlled by the Communist government. The media had simply announced that some anti-socialist elements in Prague were trying to create trouble.

On Sunday afternoon I walked with a friend to the center of Prague, Vaclavske Namesti, which was crowded with over 100,000 people clutching candles and flags. They began shouting the same demands the students had voiced on Friday. The crowd marched to National Street and when they reached the section where the students were beaten, they began to scream: "This Is The Place Where It Happened!"; "Today All Prague, Tomorrow All Czechoslovakia!" People took their key chains and jingled them like bells. "This Is The Last Toll For The Government," they chanted. The crowd then marched towards the bridge in order to reach the Castle of Prague and the Presidential Palace. They were met with armored personnel carriers and special riot forces, poised to block their crossing. The crowd retreated peacefully, singing the national anthem as they departed. One man climbed up a lamppost to tear down a government sign proclaiming the achievements of the Communist Party, but the crowd demanded that he stop. To me, this incident demonstrated the strong reserve of peacefully-directed "people power" during the heady days of Czechoslovakia's non-violent struggle with the forces of repression; it is what distinguished this nation's "Velvet Revolution" for freedom.

In the evening when I returned to campus, I found out that the students arranged a meeting for 10 p.m., and that at this meeting - just as at similar meetings at other colleges all over Prague - the students would call for a strike! They wrote a list of seven demands which called for the resignation of the Communist government and the abandonment of its role as the sole leading party in the country, the creation of a multiparty government, and bringing to trial those officials who ordered the beating of the students.

That same evening leaders of the opposition panics and dissident circles met in the auditorium of Prague's Cinohemi Theater Club to found Civic Forum (Obcanske Forum) and establish its two initial goals: to articulate the urgent demands of the Czechoslovak public for an immediate change of government, and to support the students' declaration for a general strike on November 27th. Civic Forum demanded the immediate resignation of all Communist officials responsible for helping the Soviets crush the 1968 Prague Spring and establishing a repressive totalitarian state. They also demanded the immediate resignation of those officials responsible for police repression and 'violence and the release of all political' prisoners. Vaclav Havel emerged as the leader of Civic Forum, which drew into its ranks people who wanted a radical change from the old regime and its dictatorship, hatred, and misery to a multiparty system which would provide new opportunities for freedom, love, and happiness.

On Monday, the students of my college took over an assembly hall to hold a meeting. In front of the building some students stood guard and would admit only fellow students. We wrote on the door "STRIKE," and this word was on the door of every school and theater in Prague. Inside the hall the scene was unbelievable. All the students were toiling away as diligently as if they were taking exams. Some were copying by hand the seven demands on numerous slips of paper because we didn't have any means to print them. Many students were calling all over the country to spread the news about the strike and waiting to receive calls from those who pledged to join in. Some students were assigned to verify official and unofficial news reports because government agents were busy trying to spread false rumors among the students.

Students went in groups of three to schools, factories, offices, hospitals, and anywhere people could be found, to tell them what had happened and what they were demonstrating for. They explained to the people that the time was at hand and to not be afraid, for it was now possible for them to make all their dreams come true. Help your children, they need you now! Suddenly, the people awoke. Everywhere one could see signs opposing the government - the seven demands prominently displayed. I couldn't imagine that these students could do all these things. They worked continuously, and the feelings they kept inside for years were suddenly transformed into organized revolutionary activity. I went with two other students to the dormitories and collected 600 crowns from the foreign students. It was a small contribution, but when we took it back to the assembly hall and conveyed the support of the foreign students, there were smiles all around and the news spread quickly. It was then that we felt a strong sense of solidarity among our student ranks.

At 4:00 p.m. we went to Vaclavske Namesti, and this time there were over 200,000 people crowding the town center. Together we marched to National Street. Some of our friends in the Army told us that the armed forces were on full alert. They were waiting for orders to come from the government to reestablish control in Prague. The orders never came because the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Milos Jakes, did not receive the support from the Soviet leadership for a crackdown. The Soviet Embassy had closed during the demonstrations and had severed all communications with the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In the meantime, students huddled around the soldiers and explained what they were demonstrating for. We returned to the college, whose buildings were now occupied by students standing vigil day and night to work for freedom.

On Tuesday, the students decided to form small groups which would visit cities outside of Prague and spread the news about what was happening. Many cities, towns, and villages had not heard of the events which had taken place. This same day Vaclav Havel met with Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec and presented the demands of Civic Forum, which now included the students' points. At 4:00 p.m. we returned to the town center and heard for the first time Vaclav Havel speaking to the crowd from the balcony of the Socialist Party newspaper's office. He asked the people to stay and follow the revolution to its end.

At night I drove several other students to the cities north of Prague to inform more and more people of our demands, even though it was very dangerous since we had heard that other groups were apprehended by the police. We posted our list of grievances everywhere - on buildings around the village squares, on factories, and on hospitals. Two students stayed over until the next day to convince workers at one of the biggest factories in the north about the revolution. We were so happy when we heard some days later that the factories had joined us in the strike.

The demonstrations continued every day beginning at four o'clock. We heard reports that more and more people would join our general strike, so that after several days it seemed the whole country would be on strike. In the center of Prague there was no longer enough room for the demonstrators, so on Saturday the people met on Letna Square, one of the biggest public places in Prague. Havel and Alexander Dubcek, the leader of the 1968 Prague Spring, addressed a crowd of roughly one million people. On this day, we learned not only that all the nation's factories had joined to support our general strike, but also that television, radio, and newspapers finally began to report what was really happening and had promised to support the revolution.

On Sunday, there was a crucial meeting of Civic Forum representatives and .the Prime Minister, who promised that a change in the government was forthcoming. Only five of the twenty cabinet positions were replaced with Civic Forum members. It was obvious that the Communist government was not serious and was only trying to fool the Czechoslovak people. So when both sides went to Letna Square after the meeting and Prime Minister Adamec read the news to the crowd, everybody thought that perhaps the Prime Minister did not really live in this country. He didn't understand what the people really wanted; everybody screamed "Demise, Demise!" And so the nation went on strike on Monday from noon to 2 p.m. For two hours, it seemed all of Czechoslovakia was filled with a cacophony of church bells, car horns, and the voices of people crowding the streets. Only in those factories whose continued operations were vital to the national economy did workers continue to work. After this two-hour nationwide protest, the Communist government knew that it was no longer ruling the country, and that, more importantly, the entire country wanted to get rid of them.

The following Sunday there was another meeting with the Prime Minister, who announced that the entire government, including the president of Czechoslovakia, had resigned. A commission of students and officials was formed to find and bring to justice those who were responsible for the police violence. The students continued their strike to make sure that the commission fulfilled its responsibilities, to continue the revolution throughout all of Czechoslovakia, and to help the Civic Forum build a government of trust with Vaclav Havel in the president's seat. On December 22, Havel came to our strike hall and we spent an hour with him discussing the new situation. We told him that we would support him to the end and that he was the only person whom the people could trust. One week later, the new Parliament elected Vaclav Havel president. After more than 40 years of communism, misery and hatred, the whole country stepped into a new era of freedom, joy, and a renewed sense of nationhood. Thus, Czechoslovakia took the first step forward into a world it had missed for many, many years.

Samir Witta, a medical student in Prague, witnessed Czechoslovakia's non-violent revolution/or democracy in November J989. This article is based on a letter he sent to a friend in Syria shortly after Czechoslovakia's "Velvet Revolution."