The international
scientific conference
FREEDOM IN NON-FREEDOM:
CONTRIBUTION OF DISSENT
AND THE MEDIA TO THE FALL
OF TOTALITY pays its attention
to the following themes within
the sphere of the former Eastern
block:
» history, personalities and mission
of dissent movement
» history, personalities and mission
of the Voice of America, Radio
Free Europe or Vatican Radio,
» history, personalities and mission
of the Christian samizdat
and samizdat of lay people,
» coverage of happenings in the
Eastern Block in the western
media
» techniques of signal transmission,
circulation of illegal media
and their perception
» oral history and archiving of
products of illegal media
» presentation of illegal media
and their creators in the media
after November 1989
» the media of November 1989
» transformation of the media
after 1989
» presentation of activities and
personalities of dissent movement
in the media after November
1989
» today’s youth awareness of a
contribution of dissent movement
and illegal media to creation
of free society
» a message of dissent and illegal
media and their creators for the
society after November 1989

Department of Journalism at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the Catholic University in Ružomberok organized the conference wih the title “Samizdatové náboženské periodiká pred rokom 1989“- Samizdat religious periodicals before 1989 on the occasion of the eighteenth anniversary of Velvet Revolution. The twentieth anniversary is a reason of the return to this theme, its spreading and deepening in historical dimension. Brave people created “free areas“ by means of samizdats and illegal broadcasting where thousands of readers of Náboženstvo a súčasnosť- a magazine, Bratislavské listy- a newspaper, Serafínsky svet- a monthly, Zrnoa weekly, Altamira- a magazine, Fragmet K- a magazine and many more together with listeners of The Voice of America, Radio Free Europe or Vatican Radio could breath freely. Not only creators, but also recipients were a nucleus from which the happenings of the November 1989 sprouted up. The farther we are from the magic year of 1989, the more intensively we have to remind of fates of these heroes and their revolutionary works, deeds and messages. Western media contributed to democratic changes in a large extent as well. They regularly informed about assaults on human freedom and dignity in the Eastern block countries.