On Sunday, 21 October 2012, the Prague Crossroads was the venue, for the seventh time already, of the opening ceremony of Forum 2000. The sub-heading of the sixteenth annual conference is Media and Democracy. Speeches were given during the evening, among other people, by Mr Sasakawa Yoheiem, the chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Associate Professor Ivan Havel, and Iveta Radičová, the former Slovak Prime Minister.
Apart from Czech politicians and experts, Forum 2000 will also play host to Madeleine Albright, former United States Secretary of State, Lobsang Sanggjä, Prime Minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile or Vesna Pusičová, Croatian Foreign Minister, and Suzana Grubješičová, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for the EU. Also in attendance will be Belarusian opposition activists and journalists and experts from China and other countries.
A very pleasant surprise of the evening was the performance given by the legendary American songwriter Joan Baez, who last appeared at the Prague Crossroads in 2009, when the Foundation VIZE 97 was the co-holder of the concert titled ”It’s Here at Last”, held to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain.
