Give the Wall a chance

February 8, 2008

At first sight, it is just a graffiti-covered wall. John Lennon never set his eyes on it.
The Lennon Wall, right around the corner of The New Anglo-American College in Prague, holds his name, but in reality is more of a tribute to freedom of speech and rebellion against Soviet-backed oppression.
The wall is hidden on a narrow lane two streets upstream from the Charles Bridge. Not to imply that it's too ordinary, of course: It belongs to the Knights of the Malta, a Roman Catholic order, whose link to John Lennon is, apart from the monument, non-existent.
Like most, first-year AAC student Marek Cermak asks, "This Lennon wall, what is it actually?" Although it is situated right next to school premises, it remains a big unknown for most. But a few have seen it and some individuals even know it is linked to the communist era.
This old boundary became the Lennon Wall in 1980 when John Lennon was shot to death in New York City by Mark Chapman. Students used the wall as a means to convey their thoughts and to leave messages behind. Lennon was forbidden as a symbol of Western freedom, of the Western world, which was out of reach in those days. Nevertheless, he remained a hero to the pacifist youth of the totalitarian era in general. From 1980 to 1989 the Lennon wall was an informal gathering spot of the opposition youth.
The communist regime repeatedly tried to whitewash the wall. It never lasted for long, however, because young "artists" were risking prison for attempting to subvert the government authorities. Until its renovation in 1998 by the Knights of the Malta, it was covered in anti-Soviet graffiti and was a thorn in the side of the Soviet regime. Today, it is covered in messages of love and peace, often drawn or written by Italians, Spanish, French, Koreans and Japanese.
Tourist guides describe it as a special place. It is special; no one ever organized it. On the other hand the wall isn't as interesting, say some, because it now looks more like a big mass of unintelligible graffiti.
There are even views that the Lennon Wall ruins the surroundings. Alina Donets, a former student at the English College in Prague, says, "It stands out too much, spoils the view there. Plus, graffiti is vandalism, it ugly and disrespectful. Who cares about the historical context? I have no attitude towards Lennon, so don't make me suffer just because somebody has."
Indeed, the real historical context of the Lennon Wall faded away long ago, behind the layers of paint under which his original portrait has disappeared. "Maybe if they put a sign explaining it all," Donets suggests, "but I'm not really sure there is much of a point."
Some say the importance of the Lennon wall has faded and it remains more as a tourist attraction than a memorial to the abuses of the former regime the students quietly fought against - and which have by now been mostly forgotten.
Yet, as Mirek Topolanek recalled at the 18th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, "Freedom is very fragile, and has to be nourished. We are interested in the young generation, who should take a lesson from our history."