Prague, Czech Republic (CNN) -- Protesters in North Africa and the Middle East face tougher challenges than their east European equivalents did two decades ago, Czech human rights activist Vaclav Havel has told CNN.

Havel, who helped lead the so-called Velvet Revolution against communist rule in Czechoslovakia during 1989 and later became president, also believes the next generation of Arab leaders should be drawn from non-politicians and the young.

His comments came as fierce fighting continued in Libya during the weekend, while protesters took to the streets of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq and Egypt.

Havel, who was imprisoned for his political beliefs before the Velvet Revolution, said the turmoil that has swept the Arab world since the start of the year was an "epoch-making event," adding: "We don't know what it will lead to, how it will finish up."

It was important to realize, Havel said, that many of the nations experiencing upheaval had no previous experience of democracy.

Read the full transcript of Jim Clancy's interview with Vaclav Havel

"They don't have the tradition which the Central European countries had had at least a little of," Havel continued. "That makes it harder."

He also recalled how the opposition in 1980s eastern Europe had alternative structures and partnerships in place through which to organize.

"Today, it's harder for the free world than during our times because there are no similar dissident organizations or structures," he said, "though there are also some hints of that as well in all of those countries. But there are no alternative powers in position, so they have to get in positioned very quickly."

Yet he also drew parallels between protesters in the Arab world and eastern Europe -- not least how observers and experts in both regions were unprepared for the events that followed.

Western journalists in 1989, he said, told the opposition in eastern Europe that they lacked the support of the working class and farmers as well as serious political power.

"I was saying: 'Be careful. Be careful. What do you know about what's happening under the surface of the society?'

Havel describes his rise to power and politics as "an adventure." He considers himself, first and foremost, a playwright. But his example of handing over power after some seven years in the presidency is in contrast to Arab leaders who have fought to hold their top posts for decades. His play "Leaving" is based on his experience of giving up power. It has been made into a film that will be released later this year.

He said that everyone knew Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was a "fool, a clown, a ridiculous figure. But nobody said he's a madman and a criminal. He had to start murdering his own nation and forbidding the removal of dead bodies from the streets before something which should have been known was finally recognized."

In part, Havel attributes this to how he believes the international community ignored Gadhafi's human rights record.

"As long as the economic interests will be superior to human interests and the interests of human rights, the development of this civilization won't be good. But that's generally a problem of civilization. It's not just about Gadhafi."

Havel -- who was a playwright before he assumed the presidency of the Czech Republic -- also suggested that professional politicians may not ultimately assume power in those Arab nations experiencing upheaval.

"I think the leaders can't come from the political sphere," he said, "because any political opponent was murdered a long time ago, suppressed, chased out of the country and so on.

"People from other professions must become politicians quickly, overnight. That's something we have experienced. I believe that the younger generation, students, etc, will offer, will create, and will form such personalities."