Thread by @HillelNeuer

In 1968, the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring. Seven people went to Red Square to protest. They were smashed in minutes by the KGB, thrown in prison or to psychiatric hospital. But their courage inspired many. @jaynordlinger
nationalreview.com/corner/for-you…

2/ “The protesters held small Czechoslovakian flags. Also placards. One of these placards read, “Shame to the Occupiers!” Another read, “Long Live Free and Independent Czechoslovakia!” Another: “For Your Freedom and Ours!”

3/ “The protest lasted only a few minutes. KGB agents set on the group. They knocked out Viktor Fainberg’s teeth, then and there. Subsequently, the authorities locked him up in a psychiatric institution for five years. This was a typical Soviet punishment, and horrifying.”

4/ “I learned about the 1968 protest from Vladimir Kara-Murza: the Russian journalist, democracy activist, and politician. He is now a political prisoner. He was arrested last April, for criticizing Russia’s war on Ukraine. I wrote about Kara-Murza and his case here.”

5/ “Kara-Murza had long been a participant in the Oslo Freedom Forum. Last May, from prison, he managed to get a message to his wife, Evgenia, who read the message at the forum. Vladimir wanted to recall the 1968 protesters.”

6/ “In the message read by Evgenia, Vladimir Kara-Murza quoted a Prague newspaper in ’68: “Now there are at least seven reasons for which we will never be able to hate the Russian people.”