Jaroslav Šabata (2 November 1927 – 14 June 2012) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, psychologist, and

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

during

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

. A leading dissident based in Brno, Šabata was a signatory of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...

in 1977. He served as the spokesman of Charter 77, the organization named for the document, from 1978 to 1981. Sabata was born in Dolenice,

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

, Czechoslovakia, on 2 November 1927. He taught

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

at present-day

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the se ...

throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Šabata joined the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He became a prominent government supporter of the Prague Spring in 1968. He left the party in 1969, soon after the Prague Spring was crushed by the Soviets, and resigned from his political positions. He founded Communists in Opposition, a dissident group, during the early 1970s. He was twice jailed for his opposition to the government as a political prisoner for a total of seven years: The first from 1971 to 1976, after founding Communists in Opposition, and again from 1978 to 1981, after signing Charter 77. He was a signatory of the Charter 77 manifest and served as the group's spokesperson from 1978 to 1981, even as he was imprisoned during the same years. Šabata re-entered politics after the 1989

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

and the

Fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

in Czechoslovakia. He represented the

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (Czech: ''Občanské fórum'', OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( Slovak ...

(OF), a Czechoslovak anti-authoritarian movement formed during the Velvet Revolution. He was elected as a deputy to the

Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia The Federal Assembly (, ) was the federal parliament of Czechoslovakia from January 1, 1969 to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on December 31, 1992. It was Czechoslovakia's highest legislative institution. Chapter 3 of the 1960 Constitution of ...

, which continued to exist until the county's dissolution in 1993. He also served as a Minister Without Portfolio in the government of Czech Republic Prime Minister

Petr Pithart Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politic ...

, another Charter 77 signer, within the Civic Forum from 1990 to 1992. (The Czech Republic was still an internal region within Czechoslovakia during this time) Following the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Šabata became a member and foreign policy adviser to the

Czech Social Democratic Party The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a ...

. Jaroslav Šabata died in Brno,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, on 14 June 2012, at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabata, Jaroslav 1927 births 2012 deaths Charter 77 signatories Government ministers of Czechoslovakia Czech Social Democratic Party politicians Czechoslovak prisoners and detainees Czech political scientists Czech psychologists Czech philosophers Czechoslovak politicians Academic staff of Masaryk University Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Politicians from Brno Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Civic Movement Government ministers People from Brno in health professions