PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The man credited with toppling communism in Czechoslovakia says the global economic crisis is a warning not to abandon basic human values in the scramble to prosper.

Former Czech leader Vaclav Havel told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview in Prague that unrestrained materialism is not what freedom and democracy are all about.

The playwright-turned-president, who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution, says society should recommit itself to basic values as it struggles to cope with the chaos rocking world markets.

Havel said Friday that the global financial meltdown proves the world shouldn't put all its trust "in the pride of economists who think they understand everything."

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