At the end of July, a group of Czech intellectuals published an appeal to Czech society calling on politicians and the general public to address the pressing issues of the day and hoist the country out of the pitfalls it has fallen into during the ten years since the November 1989 revolution, which spelled the end of 40 years of Communist rule. Spearheaded by Catholic priest and well-known theologian Tomas Halik, former political advisor to President Vaclav Havel Jiri Pehe and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Jana Smidova and signed by roughly two hundred prominent intellectuals, the petition for widespread social and political change
was presented on 23 July at a press conference in Prague and sent to all parliamentary parties, chairpersons of the Parliament and the Senate and the Office of the President.