Martin Bútora

November 16, 2012

Twenty Years of Independence: Reflections on Freedom and Democracy

Martin Bútora, who served as the Slovak ambassador to the United States and was one of the key figures behind the Freedom Lecture Series, delivered the 2012 Annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture on November 16. A capacity crowd filled the Woodrow Wilson Center auditorium to hear his reflections on “20 Years of Independence: Reflections on Freedom and Democracy.” Following the lecture, Joe Senko, the Chairman of Friends of Slovakia, and Ted Russell, the Founding Chairman Ambassador presented Ambassador Bútora with the FOS Medal of Honor. Tom Dine, the President of American Friends of the Czech Republic, then presented the speaker with a Certificate of Appreciation.

Martin Bútora

Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, university professor, writer, and diplomat. He co-founded the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) in 1997 and was its first president. Bútora also served as Slovakia’s ambassador to the United States from 1999 to 2003. In 1989, he played a crucial role as a founding member of the leading democratic revolution movement, Public Against Violence, in Slovakia. He was a Human Right Advisor to the President of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel, from 1990 to 1992 and held the post of Director of the Human Rights Section in the Office of the President. Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of the student newspapers Echo, deputy-chief editor of Reflex magazine, and the weekly publication Kultúrny život [Cultural Life]. In the 1990s, he taught at Charles University in Prague and Trnava University in Slovakia. Bútora holds a degree in sociology from the Faculty of Arts of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He is also the author of three monographs, several TV programs, and film scripts, as well as the translator of theatrical plays and recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Democracy Service Medal by the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington D.C. (1999), the Ján Papánek medal (2000), the Celebration of Freedom Award by the American Jewish Committee (2002), and the Order of Ľudovít Štúr (2002) for his contribution to the defense of human rights and the development of civil society awarded by the President of the Slovak Republic.