The New Presence Dominik Jůn

contents

E d i t o r ’ s N o t e s the new presence Dominik Jůn...... 2 Winter 2008 O p i n i o n s Democracy “Plus”? n Simon Pardek ...... 3 Statesmen and Gentlemen n Libuše Koubská ...... 4 Divine Wrongs n Eva Munková ...... 5

N e w s R o u n d u p A look at events in the Czech Republic as well as . key stories from Central and Eastern Europe from the last few months...... 6

P o i n t : C ounterpoint Should Quotas Be Used to Put More Women in Politics? We Must Redress the Imbalance n Jana Hybášková...... 8 The Road to Hell n Jiří Šolc...... 9

C o m m e n t Czech Presidents: A Blunderous History n Dominik Jůn...... 10

16 Th e C z e c h R e p u b l i c A Crisis of Leadership n Eric Tabery...... 13 The Awkward Revolution n Gia Emilia Castellano and Dominik Jůn...... 16 Gifts of The Empire n Alexander Loesch...... 20 Step by Step n Zdeněk Suda...... 22

E u r o p e & Th e Wo r l d The Populist Moment n Ivan Krastev...... 24 The Sinking of the Pamir n Jaroslav Šonka...... 28 The Rise and Fall of the Social State n Martin Zika...... 30

I n t e r v i e w Former dissident Jan Urban discusses the Diag Human affair n Libuše Koubská and 46 Martin Jan Stránský...... 33

Growing Old Old and Alone in the Czech Republic n Fabiano Golgo...... 37 Here Come the Pensioners n Libuše Bautzová...... 40 Dying on Time n Martin Jan Stránský...... 43 Still Here n Tereza Brdečková...... 44

S p e c i a l F e a t u r e s Government Inc. n William A. Cohn...... 47 Czech Inventions n Sonia Kalausová...... 52

S h o r t S t o r y 52 Rising Waters n Alena Müllerová...... 56 Th e n & N o w

The New Presence is the sister publication of the Democracy: Binding the Nation Together – A Přítomnost article from 1936...... 58 Czech magazine Přítomnost. Both magazines are L e t t e r F r o m … published by Martin Jan Stránský, grandson of the original publisher of Přítomnost, which under Matthew Clifton describes a very special visit to Verona...... 59 renowned editor Ferdinand Peroutka became inter-war Czechoslovakia´s most widely respected P a r t i n g Th o u g h t s periodical publication. Presidents are Important n Martin Jan Stránský...... 60

The New Presence is published on a quarterly basis. It features a mixture of original material and translated articles from our sister publication. Due to considerations of space and style, some articles may vary in style and/or length from the original. Cover by Johana Kratochvílová

winter 2008 / the new presence [ ] editor´s notes

Dear readers,

Welcome to the firstNew Presence of the New Year, and also my last as editor of this magazine. In this special issue, we take an in depth look behind the curtain at what went wrong with the transformation of the Czech Republic promised by the Velvet Revolution. Jan Urban discusses his work investigating the so- called “Diag Human” affair which serves as a prime example of the corruption and mismanagement that characterised the early years of the post-communist era in the Czech Republic. In addition, Eric Tabery takes a biting look at the excesses and faux pas of the current Czech political elite. Meanwhile, in separate pieces, Alexander Loesch and Zdeněk Suda, look to the Czech historical experience for some clues about today’s political malaise. Finally, in a special piece, Gia Emilia Castellano examines exactly what went wrong following the Velvet Revolution and asks why cynicism and apathy have again reared their ugly heads, even with regards to this seemingly joy- ous event. Further afield, Ivan Krastev looks at the rise of populism in Eastern Europe, while Jaroslav Šonka looks back at the fascinating story of the sinking of the German sailboat the Pamir in 1957. In a special section on pensions and pensioners, author Libuše Bautzová examines the economic impact of an ageing populace, while Fabiano Golgo examines how different cultures approach old age. Meanwhile, regular contributor William A. Cohn, provides a fascinating and in-depth look at how government private contractors don’t always bring value for money or greater accountability. With scandals such as the Blackwater shooting of innocent civilians in Iraq, Cohn’s piece raises some very pertinent questions. We also have a short story from Alena Műllerová, a look at Czech inventions from Sonia Kalausová, the usual opinions, commentaries and much, much more. As always, I wish you an enjoyable read – and as I move on to new pastures, I wish you all the best in the future.

Dominik Jůn

“Tak dlouho se chodí se džbánem pro vodu, až se ucho utrhne.” “One walks so long with a jug looking for water, until one day the handle breaks off.” Old Czech Proverb

[ ] the new presence / winter 2008 opinions

Democracy Plus?

ost-communist countries are often thrust into than eight years. A third rule would bar any former long periods of turmoil, inefficiency and cor- prime minister from ever serving as the country’s Pruption following their releases from totali- president and vice-versa. A fourth rule would bar tarian rule. The result is that many first embark on any MP from serving as a cabinet member of more lawless and corrupt neo-liberal transformations of than two governments. Such ideas may sound dra- their economies. After this fails, they soon swing conian, but just how many impasses, crises, coun- back towards tighter more authoritarian rule. The ter-revolutions and returns to totality would such most dramatic example of this is found in Russia. rules have prevented if they had been in place? The The Yeltsin experiment did not work, so, says Putin, simple fact remains that most of the problems faced let’s be a safe, proud and strong dictatorship again. by post-communist democracies centre around im- Does the West carry any responsibility for this sta- movable cliques that form around centres of power, te of affairs? Could certain mechanisms have been with people simply refusing to move from their in place that would have prevented the initial free- self-ordained positions of importance. These rules for-all “painful transformations” that have followed would simply stir the soup far more often than is in most, if not all post-communist societies? Wes- necessitated in classical democratic countries. In tern thirst for “new markets” has certainly played the Czech Republic, such criteria would have pre- a role in convincing countries such as Russia (not vented Klaus from becoming president; they would to mention most of Latin America) that the West have prevented Kalousek and Čunek from pros- simply cannot be trusted. The end result is that in tituting themselves to any coalition that will have such tender, emerging countries, democracy is often them; they would have prevented “big men” such as misinterpreted as a frightening lurch into poverty, Klaus and Zeman or Topolanek and Paroubek from injustice and exploitation. Even “stable” democraci- turning political governance into an ego contest es such as the Czech Republic have witnessed this and they would assure that the “old faces” aren’t al- swing, albeit on a smaller scale than Russia. First lowed to hang on to power for too long. These rules corrupt and misguided neo-liberal economics, then would also mean that with each election, a new and protectionist neo-socialism, then back again, and fresh choice was offered and most importantly, they so the swing goes. All the while, the same immo- would necessitate that ordinary citizens could make vable faces vie for power. Today’s Topolanek gover- their way into the political system. In Russia, these nment may be useless, but what is the alternative? rules would have prevented the rise of the cult of Vote Paroubek, Rath and Bublan back into power? Putin; in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and every other And after they have failed, do Czech voters then post-communist country, they would have helped to bring back Topolanek’s men again, with Kalousek move democracy forward by leaps and bounds. and Čunek’s Christian Democrats guaranteed to be Such criteria could do much to prevent the ex- in every Czech coalition government till the end of treme, oversimplified and often ignorant mischarac- time? How long will Czechs have to wait before the terisations of political management that accompany endless behind-the-scenes political machinations post-communist political thinking. Instead of the im- bring forward some new faces? Too long. mature “love and obey America or the EU” or “hate One possible (and somewhat unconventional) so- and protest against the US or EU” mentality, such lution to this problem would be a strict series of cri- rules could help to foster a more mature, educated teria imposed on post-communist countries by the and informed discourse. With that, the West could democratic world – a kind of “democracy plus” that gain the rightful trust and respect of newly demo- would last for perhaps twenty years following the end cratic nations – a kind that would not evaporate as of a totalitarian regime. Whether these rules would soon as their citizens got tired of being able to eat Big govern entry into the EU, WTO, OECD, UN or all of Macs and drink Coke. the above is not important – the point is that these criteria would do a whole lot of good. One rule would be that in post-communist countries, no person could serve as leader of a political party or Prime Minister for more than four years. Another would be that no MP could serve for more Simon Pardek

winter 2008 / the new presence [ ] opinions

lives) for only a short period. I had a good feeling about the meeting and Jan Švejnar spoke openly, Statesmen animatedly and interestingly. Later, I discovered to my horror that my tape recorder had let me down and Gentlemen – the interview had not been recorded. For two days I battled over what to do. In the end, I wrote a very apologetic email asking for another meeting. Švejnar had since returned to Michigan but replied s a journalist, I’ve never encountered a situati- that we could meet in two months time, when he on in which my interviewee threw something would be in Prague again. And so we did. He was Aat me. Several years ago, during an interview very polite, and never once did I get the impression with Czech President Václav Klaus, this happened that he felt that my initial mistake was indicative of to a renowned radio journalist colleague of mine. a lack of professionalism on my part. He patiently The incident was well publicized – Klaus, angered re-answered all the questions that I had already by a photographer’s mobile phone ringing, grabbed asked him before. I was so thrilled by this that some it and threw the device against a wall. I don’t know time later, I contacted him again, this time to see if what tricky questions my colleague could have been I could interview him for Přítomnost on the subject asking, but I do know that Klaus missed his target. As of Slovakian economic reform, in which he too had far as that shattered mobile phone is concerned, it was played a part. certainly rude not to turn it off while interviewing the We agreed to meet in a Prague café. Meanwhile, head-of-state. But it is far more shocking when the I was babysitting a small child, and the boy’s parents head-of-state reacts like a drunken lout. were late in relieving me of my duty. After dropping Even though during my life I have conducted the boy off with his parents, I ran as fast as I could, hundreds of interviews, I have never encountered but I still arrived fifteen minutes late. Jan Švejnar was anything similar. But I did once encounter some- standing in front of the café reading a newspaper. He thing entirely opposite. Several years ago, I was smiled and calmly said that we may have to conduct preparing a portrait of the economist Jan Švejnar the interview a little quicker now. Thankfully, my (presidential candidate in upcoming elections) for tape recorder did not let me down this time – nor did a book about the history of Czech science. Švejnar, Jan Švejnar, whom I will always remember as a true who is famous for managing his time with ultra- gentleman. efficiency, was in Prague (from America, where he Libuše Koubská

[ ] the new presence / winter 2008 opinions

Divine illustration: ondřej coufal Wrongs

n refusing to engage in a public debate with opposi- the relatively unknown Švejnar to greater visibility tion candidate Jan Švejnar, President Václav Klaus and popularity among the masses. The cosmopoli- Iis gravely shirking his obligations to the citizens tan Princeton doctoral graduate could indeed give of this country. It’s not that his refusal to debate the the president a run for his money. Still, the erudite University of Michigan economist smacks of undue Mr. Klaus, with his razor sharp wit and considerable caution. After all, any man who, three weeks before charm, is a more than equal match. his country‘s bid for a seat on the UN Security Coun- Granted, as the president is not elected by direct cil, can tell a conference full of environmentalists at ballot, there is no pragmatic, political reason why the UN that they’ve got it all wrong, cares not a whit President Klaus should put himself through the me- about political survival. dia circus of a debate. Still, it is his duty to rise to It’s not because of the overt arrogance of his brush- this challenge. Why? Because, at a point in the dis- off. On the contrary, despite his highly controversial tant past, Czech citizens exercised their democratic standpoints, precisely this ability to buck one “com- rights. Maybe not directly for Mr. Klaus, but for an pletely misguided” political tide after another is one intermediary they trusted to choose the next presi- of his most attractive qualities. Even the sheer, cal- dent. And, to evaluate that decision, they need to see culated slyness of his snub is not unanticipated. Af- the two potential leaders of this country duke it out ter all, what is to be expected from the author of the in the debating ring. infamous Opposition Agreement? Mr. Klaus must prove that he is worthy to go on Nor is there any surprise in Klaus’ cavalier treat- being president, and the contender for that post, Pro- ment of the people he is supposed to represent. They fessor Švejnar, also needs to prove his mettle. That, are clearly of no further use to him. But ever since and not scoring points with a handful of legislators, Klaus began to court the Communist vote in the last is the entire point of the time-honored, no-holds- presidential election, thus showing he cares not a jot barred battle of wits known as a presidential elec- for public opinion, he has made no pretense to the tion. Unless the contenders come out of hiding, it just contrary. Admittedly, Professor Švejnar is also court- won’t work. ing the Communists, and this is equally disturbing. Eva Munková To be sure, a televised debate could actually help

winter 2008 / the new presence [ ] news roundup

A look at events in the Czech Republic as well as key stories from central Europe

 5th October 2007 Platform Party routs Polish Prime Minis-  13th November 2007 President Vaclav Klaus signs a bill on ter Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s conservative Law The European Court of Human Rights in public finance reform. From January 1st, and Justice (PiS) Party in an early election Strasbourg rules that the Czech Republic Czechs will pay cash for visits to doctors’ called after Kaczynski’s coalition collapsed discriminated against 18 Romany children surgeries and hospital stays. The legislation due to corruption charges. by forcing them to attend special schools. also introduces a flat income tax rate of 19 The state will have to pay each of them percent, and raises VAT on foodstuffs and  22nd October 2007 108, 000 crowns (5, 865 US dollars) in medicines to 19 percent. The Czech government approves a plan to compensation. introduce green cards for selected non-EU  18th November 2007  12th October 2007 professionals to attract workers from out- A methane explosion in the Zasyadko mine A regional court sets a precedent when it side the EU to areas short of laboor. The in the Ukraine causes the largest mining orders Ostrava City Hospital to pay 500, Czech market lacks skilled manual workers disaster in the country’s history, with 100 000 crowns (almost 26, 000 USD) in com- as well as experts with university educa- miners dead and some 450 trapped below pensation for involuntary sterilization to tion. The government expects the green ground. Iveta Červenáková, a 30-year-old Romany cards will simplify the current work permit woman. system.  20th November 2007 Meanwhite, President Vaclav Klaus, admits State Attorney, Alif Salichov, drops his “surprise” at the awarding of the Nobel  1st November 2007 investigation into alleged bribe taking by Peace Prize to Al Gore. Klaus, who publicly World Bank statistics show corruption in Jiří Čunek for a second time, due to lack questioned the impact humans have on glo- Czech state institutions has worsened in the of evidence. Mr. Salichov first threw out bal warming at a UN conference last month, last ten years making it the second worst the charges in August, due to “procedural said the connections between the former country in Europe in terms of government shortcomings” but the Supreme State At- US vice-president and world peace were employees accepting bribes. Data shows torney asked him to reopen the investiga- “vague”. the Czech Republic is the only new EU tion. member country where corruption within  14th October 2007 state institutions has increased.  21st November 2007 The Czech state agrees to pay religious or- A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and ders 83 billion crowns (over 4 billion USD)  5th November 2007 the World Bank shows the Czech Repub- in installments over the next 60 to 70 years Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek ap- lic has the most bureaucratic tax system in compensation for property confiscated by peals for a “nuclear energy renaissance” in the European Union. Of 178 states sur- the former communist regime. One third of to cut EU dependence on imported energy veyed, the Czech Republic ranked 113th in the actual property will be returned and the at the European Energy Forum in Prague, terms of tax system efficiency and 168th in money will compensate for the rest. organized to discuss a common energy terms of administrative burden – making it platform and outline a plan on objectives the worst in the EU.  17th October 2007 through 2020 as well as commercial coop- The Czech Republic withdraws its candida- eration with Russia.  23rd November 2007 ture for a non-permanent seat on the UN Polish Premier Donald Tusk tells parlia- Security Council after failing to secure suffi-  7th November 2007 ment his government will refuse to sign cient backing in a vote against Croatia. In the The Czech cabinet approves the trans- the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, due first round of voting in New York, the Czech formation of Prague Airport into a joint- to an agreement with the previous con- Republic received 91 out of 186 votes, while stock company opening the way for its servative government of Jaroslaw Kaczyn- Croatia got 95 – both falling short of the nec- privatization some time next year. The sale ski, which chose to opt out due to concerns essary two-thirds majority. When the result of the airport could bring as much as 70 that the charter’s provisions related to mo- of the second round was also unfavorable, billion CZK (3.5 billion USD) into the state rality and family could contradict Polish law. the Czech Republic pulled out. coffers. Tusk said that, although he did not share his predecessor’s objections, he needs the  21st October 2007  10th November 2007 backing of Kaczynski’s party in order to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ar- 1,400 police come out to stop right-wing reach the two-thirds majority required to rives in Prague ahead of meetings with the radicals from going ahead with a march ratify the Reform Treaty as a whole. president, prime minister and other Czech through Prague’s historic Jewish quarter representatives to discuss the possibility of on the anniversary of the 1938 Nazi po-  24th November 2007 a US radar base on Czech soil as part of grom Kristallnacht. Prague City Hall made Klaus wins unanimous support from Civic a broader US defense shield in Europe. clear from the start it would break up any Democrat Party in his bid for president. Meanwhile, Donald Tusk’s liberal Civic unauthorized demonstration. The Civic Democrats have a total of 122

[ ] the new presence / winter 2008 news roundup

A look at events in the Czech Republic as well as key stories from central Europe

representatives in the Upper and Lower  12th December 2007 same time, more than three quarters of Houses of Parliament. To win, Mr. Klaus will Vaclav Klaus signs an amendment allow- respondents said there was no discrimina- need the vote of all of these representa- ing children of parents without permanent tion in Czech society. tives, as well as 19 other MPs. residency status to attend school, including children of parents with residency per-  18th December 2007  28th November 2007 mits for longer than 90 days and foreigners Yulia Tymoshenko becomes Ukriainian Slovak and Hungarian police arrest three illegally living in the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister for a second time when she people trying to smuggle 1 kg (2.2 pounds) previous law gave only EU citizens or those wins by a narrow margin of 226 votes in of radioactive material into Slovakia in or- with permanent residency the right to study the 450-seat parliament after the opposi- der to sell it for one million US dollars. at Czech schools. tion boycotted the vote. She was nominated for the post by Ukrainian President Viktor  29th November 2007 Meanwhile, Russia formally suspends its Yuschenko who had sacked her during her Ukraine’s pro-Western “Orange” parties participation in the Conventional Forces previous term as prime minister. led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Ty- in Europe Treaty (CFE), which limits troops moshenko agree to form a coalition – the and weaponry across Europe, saying it no  19th December 2007 first step towards a new government after longer serves its interests. The treaty be- Talks at the UN Security Council on the fu- September elections gave the two parties tween Western and former Warsaw Pact ture of Kosovo collapse when Serbia and enough combined votes to defeat current PM states was signed in 1990, but NATO never Russia reject a US and EU plan to gradually Viktor Yanukovych’s party. The coalition has ratified a revised version from 1999. help steer Kosovo towards full independece a majority of just one seat in parliament and membership in the UN in a regime of  13th December 2007 “supervised independence” which would  2nd December 2007 EU leaders sign the Treaty of Lisbon, prevent it from merging with Albania, or President Putin’s United Russia party wins a toned down version of the EU constitu- having its Serb areas split off to become 64 percent of the vote in a landslide victory tion which French and Dutch voters rejected part of Serbia. US and EU negotiators said in parliamentary elections. However, foreign in 2005. The treaty, which aims to create the two sides are irreconcilable. observers from the Organisation for Security a more effective foreign policy, stronger and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of leadership and more streamlined decision  20th December 2007 Europe said the election “failed to meet many making within the expanded 27 member The Schengen border-free zone expands OSCE and Council of Europe committments block. to nine new states, lifting border controls and standards for democratic elections.” between old and new EU member states  14th December 2007 and creating a vast border-free zone for  5th December 2007 Czech-American economist and professor at 400 million Europeans in 24 countries The Czech Parliament approves the 2008 the University of Michigan and former advi- stretching from Spain to Estonia. state budget proposal with expenditures of sor to Vaclav Havel, Jan Švejnar, confirms 1, 107 billion crowns and a deficit of 70.8 he will run in the Czech Republic’s upcom-  4th January 2008 billion crowns. Of the 200 member lower ing presidential election. The Czech Finance Minsitry files a criminal house, 100 deputies supported the bill, complaint against an unknown perpetrator while 97 were against.  15th December 2007 in connection with possible fraud concer- Meanwhile, The Senate approves an amend- Moscow warns that a US missile defense ning the repayment of Libya‘s 4.5 billion ment to the foreigners’ law forcing non-EU system in the Czech Republic and Poland crown (252.7 million USD) debt to the foreigners who marry Czech citizens to wait could provoke retaliation from Russia. Czech Republic for arms supplies which two years and pass a language test to get Russia’s Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevsky dates back to former Czechoslovakia. Libya has produced a letter from 1997 questi- residence permits. At present they can ap- expressed dissatisfaction with the course oning the existence of the debt. Finance ply immediately. Interior Minister Ivan Lang- of negotiations between Moscow and Minister Miroslav Kalousek said the docu- er says the tougher rules are necessary in Washington on this matter, saying the ment was a forgery. On the same day, view of the country joining the Schengen two states were locked in a “direct stand- police charge 24 former officials of the border free zone. off”. Ministry of Defence and business people linked to them with fraud in the form of th th  6 December 2007  17 December 2007 dozens of manipulated tenders amounting Interior ministers from the European Un- Three quarters of young Czechs have to hundreds of millions of crowns. ion’s member states give final approval to a negative attitude towards the Roma, the Czech Republic’s accession to the bor- according to a survey of 12 to 20 year der-free Schengen area, along with 8 other olds conducted by the non-governmen- EU member states, on December 21. tal organization People in Need. At the Complied by Eva Munková

winter 2008 / the new presence [ ] point – counterpoint

Jana Hybášková: We must redress the fundamental imbalance

ver half of the inhabitants of our ment in her entire eleven-year stint as selves in our cars. And quotas are simply planet are women, but even the premier. regulators that redress an initial injustice. Omost advanced nations don’t have During my numerous political cam- The Czech Republic applies a propor- fifty percent of female politicians. All paigns, I met many successful women, tional electoral system in its parliamentary over the world, even in the European Un- including managers. Often they looked elections and uses the so-called Hondt ion and its institutions, women are in the down on me because I was involved in system to convert the number of votes minority. Paradoxically, most southern politics. I realized that these women into seats. This too is an attempt to correct states, developing countries or states in have a very difficult time identifying reality in order to improve representation. Africa or Latin America are better off than with our political environment because So why should we avoid a correction in the northern countries when it comes to it is almost completely dominated by the form of a quota, which merely ensures the number of women in politics. men. The consequence is that women that fifty percent of the population will be Many people say that politics are are not interested in politics and often fairly represented? Seen from this angle, rough, inherently masculine and sim- find them distasteful. And this does not measures such as quotas make sense. ply not for women. This is nonsense. bode well for our democracy when (at Moreover, to paraphrase what Winston Politics are only “masculine” because least) fifty percent of the population has Churchill said about democracy: it’s not an so few women are involved in them. At a negative attitude toward the politics of ideal solution but we haven’t yet invented this point, only women who conform our country. anything better or more effective. to the male model and beat their male But this isn’t about trying to get rep- Here, however, quotas are so con- colleagues at their own game can suc- resentation for women for its own sake. troversial that even once high-ranking ceed. For example, Margaret Thatcher Because there are few women in politics, politician Miloš Zeman, when asked only had one woman in her govern- as well as in other areas, we are missing what he thought about quotas answered: Should quotas put more women in politics?

out on a great deal of talent, which is “Fortunately, this mad-cow disease hasn’t a loss for society as a whole. That isn’t reached our country yet.” just a matter of women in politics, but At the same time, no one is surprised also relates to equal opportunities for the that aid to help girls obtain basic and disabled, ethnic minorities, etc, etc… mid-level educations is flowing into Provided that we can agree that more developing countries. Quotas are a way women should be involved in politics, the to help people who need it -- they also next question is how? Do we even need help those who deserve it. Certainly it is quotas? Can’t women get into politics on better to have a capable man in politics their own? I too used to see it that way, than an incapable women but the present and I admit that I’m embarrassed about it situation in Czech Politics is such that now. I’m a liberal and I don’t like social en- there is an excess of incompetent men gineering, but it’s clear to me that we can’t and a dearth of competent women.  get anywhere without a certain degree of regulation. We need to regulate traffic on photo: archiv the roads, otherwise we would kill our- Jana Hybášková is a Euro-MP

[ ] the new presence / winter 2008 point – counterpoint

Jiří Šolc: The Road to Hell

nder the guise of a noble fight for perience. Perhaps it comes as a surprise, with all the visible advantages. Many equal opportunities, women’s in- but I want to see as many women as pos- people would probably like to enter Uterest organizations are presenting sible in politics. But it is difficult, in these into high politics without having to the introduction of quotas for women in commercial times, to find a citizen who fight their way up from the bottom; politics as a panacea for all kinds of gen- would want to do battle, without getting without accomplishing anything in der-related problems. paid, for the good of others. the public sphere. But nobody who is In the Czech Republic, equality is In the midst of this general malaise, simply installed into office will ever be guaranteed by the Constitution and guar- men in general devote more of their in- a good politician. anteed by law. Both sexes have exactly terests and time to politics. They devote More than fifty percent of voters are the same possibility of representing vot- their time to seemingly banal political women and every party must, in its own ers. Quotas are discriminatory measures, skirmishes and to asserting their opin- interest, make their ballots as attractive which seek to skew elections in favor of ions, which they must do strenuously. to women as possible, in order not to lose one gender. They are also a violation of Even at the lowest levels of representa- decisive votes. the principle of free competition and tion, there are more men than women. Free and democratic competition would result in our filling our political The higher the politics, the more abstract should always give the best individuals sphere according to all kinds of special- and difficult to grasp the problems be- the chance to advance – ones who know interest guidelines. come. how to strike the right chord with voters Let’s ask ourselves a basic question: in Of course we could designate women and have something to offer, regardless whose interest is this? Anyone who has to be candidates, but what if they don’t of gender. Quotas are a shining example the least bit of interest in the back stage want to run? What then? Will we punish of the saying: “The road to hell is paved arena of politics knows that the task of political subjects because women don’t with good intentions.”  Should quotas put more women in politics?

a representative or senator is only the tip want to go into politics? Or will we dis- of the iceberg of what a political party solve a party, which doesn’t manage to Jiří Šolc is the president actually does. attract a sufficient number of women? of the Czech Association of Men and Ruthless battles are waged over elec- Incidentally, did anyone ever ask the also a representative of the town of Liberec toral seats within the parties, and the women? I often get the feeling that a few contested seats are allocated as the result ambitious representatives are trying to of either a victory or a compromise. The speak for all women. I’m not sure that path to gaining a seat in parliament is most women would want to trade fam- paved with committees, conferences, ily life for the brilliant but treacherous meetings and setbacks. A seat in parlia- political path, which will rob them of ment, therefore, is also a reward for their time and privacy. If they do, there is predominantly unpaid and unseen work, nothing to stop them now. which is often thankless, unpleasant and, Quotas would dictate results without most of all, very time consuming. changing the fundamental nature of the Because I am the representative of problem -and only at the top, of course. photo: archiv a large city, I know this from personal ex- It is tempting to be a representative

winter 2008 / the new presence [ ] special comment Czech Presidents: A Blunderous History

As of going to press, Czech president Václav Klaus faces certain re-election by parliament, ushering in a second four year term. Throughout his first term, Klaus often mused publicly about his own sense of powerlessness in his purely ceremonial post.

he Czech head-of-state is expected become something of a symbol of the presidential term from 1948 till his death to visit nursing homes, award med- Czech experience: On 14th March 1939, in 1953 (Gottwald had served as Prime Tals and lift the spirits of the nation the Czechoslovak president was essen- Minister from 1946-48), his time in of- – and that’s it. But arguably, Klaus gives tially summoned to Germany and told fice was marked by purges, show trials himself far too little credit. Yes, he has that his country was to be occupied. If and general obedience and subservience no real powers, and even his vetoes can resistance was offered, Prague would be to Stalin’s Soviet Union, all under the be overturned by a simple parliamentary levelled to the ground. The man nearly umbrella of economically reviving war majority, but what of the symbolic role had a heart attack and ultimately agreed torn Czechoslovakia. When Gottwald played by the Czech president? In that not to resist. Hácha’s foreign Minister M. died in 1953, only a few days after the regard, Klaus’s power to affect the mood Chvalkovsky later declared “Our people death of Josef Stalin (yet another humili- and spirit of the nation cannot be under- will curse us, and yet we have saved their atingly symbolic fact) he was replaced as stated. existence. We have preserved them from president by his former Prime Minister Throughout its short history, the a horrible massacre.” Antonín Zápotocký, one of the co-found- Czech Republic and the former Czecho- Through increasing ill health and ers of the Czech communist party in slovakia has had a mixed bag of states- eventual senility, Hácha walked a tight- 1921 following its splintering from the men, yet somehow, for a small country, rope with the German authorities, trying Czech Social Democrats. Zápotocký, they always managed to help bring the to preserve some semblance of dignity for a former concentration camp intern, Czech lands to the attention of the world his nation. He died in 1945 soon after the acknowledged some minimal mistakes stage. Czechoslovakia’s first president end of WWII, yet the image of a broken in the past, but collectivisation and the Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk travelled the and kowtowing president continues to communist grip on power carried on world to bring the plight of the burgeon- cause discomfort to the Czech self-per- unabated. ing Czechoslovakia to the attention of ception to this day. Perhaps an equally Under Zápotocký, the climate of abso- the major powers. Today, he is viewed severe self-inflicted wound came on June lute fear dissipated somewhat, but again, with an almost unchallengeable rever- 7th 1948 with the resignation of the re- the path was being blazed in Moscow ence – he was a thinker, an intellectual, stored president Edvard Beneš in the face under Kruschev’s post-Stalinist thaw, a statesman and a leader. Masaryk’s suc- of communist agitation. At this time, the rather than through self-determina- cessor Edvard Beneš produces far more Czech government had a theoretical mation back in Czechoslovakia. Following mixed responses. Was he a hero that jority to defeat the revived communist Zápotocký’s death in 1957, Communist led Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia from party, which only had 40.17% of the vote Party general secretary Antonín Novotný exile in Britain? Or was he a confused and 93 out of 231 parliamentary seats. (who won a beauty contest as the world’s and naïve fool who allowed the Czecho- As with Hácha, there are more than two most physically attractive leader), yet slovak communist party to seize control sides to this story, but Beneš’s failure to another anti-Nazi resistance member of the nation for forty years following his rally the other political parties in the face and former concentration camp intern triumphant return from exile? And what of an increasingly militant communist was appointed president. Novotný, of that eternal Czech taboo – the often movement represents yet another act of a hardliner, served for 11 years right violent and unjust expulsion of Sudeten Czech presidential folly. Beneš died three up to early 1968 before being ousted by Germans from the country following the months after his resignation. the Party for his poor handling of ever end of WWII initiated by Beneš? Again, The next Czechoslovak president increasing student protests. He was re- opinions remain divided. Undoubtedly remains an icon of ideological narrow- placed by Ludvík Svoboda, who served the most painful and humiliating icon of mindedness and craving for power. until 1975 and managed to survive the a president was Emil Hácha, the puppet A former cabinetmaker and lifelong purges that followed the crushing of the president installed by the Nazi regime communist, Klement Gottwald had been Prague Spring in 1968. Svoboda was soon after Beneš went into exile. The an anti-Nazi fighter based in Moscow a particularly interesting figure in that story of his humiliation by Hitler has throughout WWII. Throughout his he had been a victim of the notorious

[ 10 ] the new presence / winter 2008 special comment Czech Presidents: A Blunderous History Dominik Jůn

1950s communist purges, even being the future of his country. In 1975, Svo- Milouš Jakeš. By 1989, Jakeš and Husák imprisoned by the Gottwald regime. boda was finally forced to retire, having seemed like isolated dinosaurs as the Svoboda was regarded as something of passively overseen the normalisation era Velvet Revolution swept playwright dis- a national hero, a fierce anti-Nazi resist- that Czechoslovakia was subjected to in sident Václav Havel into power. For the ance fighter that had established under- the years that followed 1968. Svoboda first time in a generation, Czechs felt that ground units in Poland before becoming was succeeded by the Slovakian com- one of them had reached the pinnacle head of the Soviet-led Czechoslovak munist Gustav Husák who had served of the Czech power structure – so long military on the Eastern front. During as Communist Party General Secretary the exclusive domain of subservient ap- the 1948 communist putsch, he served since the ousting of reformist Alexander paratchiks. Havel’s era was characterised as defence minister, refusing to unleash Dubček in 1968. Husák served as presi- by both optimism and disappointment. the national army in order to quell the dent for a record 14 years, right until his His inexperience in politics was often communist People’s Militia’s that had ousting following the Velvet Revolution unintentionally charming – such as taken to the streets and were causing in 1989. when he famously wiped the sweat off increasing chaos. Similarly to Svoboda, Husák had his hand before shaking hands with the By the time of Svoboda’s presidency, also been persecuted by the commu- British Queen. Yet, for all the fine inspi- the strength of the office had dissipated, nist old guard, spending 1954–60 in rational words, under Havel, the Czech with real power lying in the hands of the prison. Ironically, it wasn’t until the later parliament was soon transformed into General Secretary of the Communist “thaw” that Husák was released and his a festering nest of corruption, intrigue Party (In chronological order 1948-1989 party membership restored. Despite his and self-serving machinations. Despite Klement Gottwald, Antonín Novotný, reprieve by progressive forces, Husák this, as a purely ceremonial figure, Havel, Alexander Dubček, Gustav Husák, not only oversaw the post-invasion like Masaryk before him, promoted the Milouš Jakeš and Karel Urbánek). normalisation era, but also the rise of image of the Czech Republic around the Svoboda’s actions during the Prague so-called consumer socialism, with world, while continuing to press Czechs Spring were also controversial. Despite Czechs encouraged to concentrate on to shun apathy in favour of responsibility seeming opposition to Brezhnev’s inva- a narrow personal interests – repairing and engagement. sion of Czechoslovakia, Svoboda again their cottages, focusing on work and Throughout its short history as an supported those that refused to allow family etc. In 1987 he stepped down as independent state, the Czech Republic the Czechoslovak army to resist the leader of the communist party, in favour (and Czechoslovakia before it) has cer- Warsaw Pact troops, essentially sealing of so-called “young blood” in the guise of tainly had far more poor and misguided leaders than great or even adequate ones. Yet the overriding emotion that remains embedded in the Czech psyche is – how could we do this to ourselves? A far more forgiving analysis would remind Czechs that between the period of the Munich agreement in 1938 and the Velvet Revo- lution in 1989, global geopolitics made any real self-determination irrelevant. If any Czechoslovak leader learned this fact the hard way it was Alexander Dubček, whose liberal Prague Spring was crushed by an invading Soviet-led army, with the Czechoslovak Communist Party leader soon dispatched to a meaningless am- bassadorship in Turkey. While arguably, if Emil Hácha had acted any differently, it is entirely possible that he would have simply been shot and replaced by another puppet leader – and with that, Prague may well have ended up like Warsaw – levelled to the ground. And even in the

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 11 ] special comment

case of Gottwald, the Soviets would eas- really feels so frustrated by environmen- their undiluted implementation. Today, ily have found another agitator; another talists, NGOs, former dissidents and the the Czech president talks and nobody man to seize power in a country that had EU bureaucracy, why doesn’t he have the listens except for nationalists and neocons been occupied/liberated by a Red Army guts to abandon the trappings of power – while history, sadly repeats itself. that wasn’t about to leave anytime soon. and resign in protest? Or why doesn’t he The truth of the matter is that the So how does current President Vá- call for members of the Green Party and Czech president is only powerless when clav Klaus rate in relation to his mostly all members of NGOs to be thrown in jail? what he or she promotes is palpable less-than-illustrious predecessors? Go- And why doesn’t he openly call for the nonsense. If Gottwald were head-of-state ing back to Klaus’s invoking of his own withdrawal of the Czech Republic from today, he too would be lamenting his powerlessness, it is difficult to see how the EU? Either he is protecting the nation powerlessness, desperate to get someone history will view the current president as according to his beliefs or he isn’t. If all to pay attention to his Marxist gibber- anything other than a tragic embodiment the Czech head-of-state has to offer are ish. He would probably go off and give of centuries of Czech humiliation. Indeed, words, then the comparison must lie be- speeches in North Korea. Contrary to his Klaus shares many traits with his former tween Klaus and Emil Hácha – a broken, own beliefs, Klaus does have a great deal predecessors. Primarily, his embracing humiliated and powerless leader who of power. He has the power to challenge of extreme “neoconservative” theories can do little else but talk, and even then, each and every citizen not just to quietly closely mirrors the misguided view of no-one really listens. For all his flaws, at complain, but to actually get up and do communism that Gottwald held following least Edvard Beneš had the conviction something about it. He has the power the end of Nazi rule. Right-wing parties in to go into exile. Can one imagine Beneš to represent the people and unceasingly countries such as France and Germany whining about the growing threat of the demand efficiency, transparency and -ef have learnt that neoconservative ideology Nazis, but merely sighing and saying “Oh fectiveness from the Czech parliament. is a misguided dead end. The British Con- well, what can this powerless president He has the power to promote and repre- servative party, after more than a decade do?” Can one imagine Masaryk really sent the country abroad and he has the in opposition has learnt that lesson too. believing that environmentalism was the power to make each and every Czech feel The US Republican party, which faces new communism and then simply doing good about where this nation is heading. political annihilation in 2008, will also be nothing about it while the world foolishly More than anything, that is what the na- forced to shun this extreme ideology. Yet, signed up to the Kyoto Treaty and its suc- tion needs, not another dose of powerless in the post-communist east, leaders like cessor? And would the Czech populace depression.  Klaus continue to embrace and promote really buy the fraud that he was somehow these muddled theories. And in doing “protecting” their nation by staying put so, the global humiliation of the Czech and simply quietly moaning about it all? Republic in the eyes of the world contin- Klaus’s nonsensical theories continue to ues. Klaus as the head of the Czech state damage and humiliate the nation, all the addresses the UN and throws doubt on more so because of the simple fact that man-made climate change – meanwhile, he hasn’t the conviction to really support Dominik Jůn the rest of the world snickers and rein- forces its prejudices about the idiotic and backwards beliefs and practices of those in Eastern Europe. What could be more humiliating? Further, Klaus’s “do nothing” message to Czech citizens closely mirrors the normalisation message promoted by Husák’s government. Following the Prague Spring, the authorities were desperate to return Czechoslovakia to its isolated, inward- looking path. Klaus’s anti-civic protesta- tions present a similar non-challenge to Czech citizens, essentially asking them to turn their backs on the spirit of change that characterised the Velvet Revolution and instead re-embrace the free-market teachings of Friedman (submit to the market), which, despite past mistakes, still offer a bright future for all. Yet the ultimate irony of Klaus’s leadership is one that has dogged all of the weaker Czech leaders – namely powerlessness. If Klaus

[ 12 ] the new presence / winter 2008 the czech republic A Crisis

Erik Tabery of Leadership

A quarterly report and it may be that politicians won’t get away highly exceptional conditions in the villa with everything so easily. of an entrepreneur who is interested in analysis of Czech po- maintaining good relations with the mag- litical events Six Rules istrate. The Mayor assures us that if the Whatever the outcome of the Čunek entrepreneur enters into a public tender, affair will be, we have to pay close at- he will not vote. But given his status, this tention to the general details even more, is like the father of a family saying he will since we are at the ten year point after not vote and leaving it up to the rest of the fall of the Klaus government, whose the family to decide. Bém even bragged fate was sealed by fraudulent financing that he is saving tax-money because he and exemplary arrogance toward the doesn’t live in a house or apartment which he Czech coalition cabinet is go- public. Even though much good has belongs to the magistrate, so that he pays ing through an existential crisis. been achieved since then (legislation has for everything himself. But this is wrong. TWhile current Czech Premier become stricter and voters more critical) If he lived in a house belonging to the Mirek Topolánek has reporters locked it seems that in the last few months the municipality, we would know the condi- up in airport restrooms so they can’t ask unpleasant arrogance of politicians and tions under which he does so, instead of him questions, and uses a government ethical and moral violations are on the having no idea of just what is behind the airplane to go on private skiing trips, increase. The same mistakes continue to arrangement between the mayor and the former Czech Premier, Jiří Paroubek bar- be repeated but the actors are different. businessman. rels down the roads at almost twice the For the average reader, here is the list As for Jiří Paroubek, once again he speed limit and refuses to go on the air of activities to watch: was caught barreling down the road at unless he is going to be the only guest. 1. The financing of living quarters over 200 kilometers per hour. He always Prague Mayor Pavel Bém lives in luxuri- 2. Aggressive speeches has the same excuse: he says he was ous conditions in a villa owned by an in- 3. Above-standard privileges supple sleeping and not watching the driver. It’s fluential businessman. Recent Vice Pre- mented by frequent violations of traf- an interesting syndrome when his brain mier and Minister of Local Development fic laws shuts down every time the hand on the Jiří Čunek is suspected of corruption and 4. Battles with the media speed-gauge moves up. All kidding aside, of welfare abuse. And the reaction of the 5. A narrow connection between politics Paroubek has no qualms about lying to main players? “Is there a problem? No, and business the public and doesn’t see the slightest only the media have one.” 6. Embarrassing obfuscation and lying problem with it. This is how our political elite cel- If you cut these six points out and tape And finally, we get to the recent ebrated the eighteenth anniversary of them to your desk, your freedom from top contender, Mirek Topolánek, who November 17th, and the tenth anniversary negative attention is virtually assured. calmly uses a government airplane to of one of this country’s biggest “kauza,” In reality, however, politicians do have go skiing in Austria, and then cooks up the so-called “Sarajevo Assassination,” these six points on their table so they a story about a meeting with the Czech which led to the displacement of then know what they can get away with. ambassador. On top of that, as revenge, ODS leader Václav Klaus and his party The affair over just how he got the he prohibits Czech television from film- while Klaus was in Sarajevo. What will money to buy his house, (supplemented ing the start of government talks, since happen this time? by the more serious affair of doing busi- they caught his arrogant display. And as At the time of this writing, the out- ness with the bordello-mistress Libuše if that weren’t enough, his body guards come of the spat between the Greens and Barková) cost Stanislav Gross his Pre- lock the television staff up at the airport the Christian Democrats over Čunek’s miership. Because of their grandiose to prevent reporters from asking ques- return to the government is uncertain. personal apartments Jiří Paroubek and tions. And we still haven’t forgotten his In any case, Mirek Topolánek’s cabinet Mirek Topolánek were also taken to emotional tirade against the media and is shaken, and that is good news, since task. In spite of that, Pavel Bém lives in threats about limiting freedom of speech

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 13 ] the czech republic

[ 14 ] the new presence / winter 2008 the czech republic

if things continue in the same vein. In pected them of using the ministry to make Party set the tone. The situation is all many respects he is catching up to his money on the side. The opposition joined the more absurd, since Klaus’s support is predecessor Jiří Paroubek, and that‘s say- forces with Matěj Stropnický, a vehement already ensured. ing something. critic of the Green leadership, and Bursík Topolánek’s biggest mistake is his in- But nobody can beat the Chairman of started losing ground. The “rebels” wanted ability to solve the Čunek affair quickly. the Christian Democrats. Čunek, whose their man, Dušan Lužný, whom Kuchtová Had he intervened energetically, the affairs have become a never-ending- had brought to the ministry. But Bursík Greens and the Christian Democrats story on the political scene. Yes, he did rejected him due to his Communist past, would not have argued so ferociously. decide to leave his ministerial post, but lack of distinction and, last but not least, his The fact that Topolánek invited Čunek only after many months of a culminating footing in the enemy camp. Bursík pulled back into the government one day and investigation into allegations of corrup- the emergency brake and decided to name changed his mind the next due to pres- tion coupled with him having far more the 30-year old deputy Ondřej Liška, who sure from the Greens shows he doesn‘t money in his bank account than he could has a good reputation with both warring know what he wants. At this moment, ever earn as a politician. Moreover, after camps and is known as a decent adminis- either Čunek comes back and the Greens a mere few weeks away, Čunek wants to trator and negotiator, one with experience leave (and Schwarzenberg, who is certain return. The Chief State Prosecutor has with European institutions. And that is to keep his word), or Čunek will stay out, pronounced him innocent, but there are exactly what the Greens and Education and then no one knows what the Chris- far more qestions than answers left in his Ministry needs. tian Democrats will do. case. The Greens wanted to prevent his return, which angered Čunek substan- A weak Premier The voters tially to the point where he stated that There was no peace in the ODS camp It’s a long time until the next elections if the Greens wish, they can leave the either. The party held one congress after and a change of government is not likely government themselves. another, and though it may have ap- to bring about a change of behavior. The peared calm, in the back rooms, there influence of the media is also relative, Coalition woes wasn’t much evidence of unity. Mirek and politicians continue to ignore their An examination of the current coali- Topolánek started to shut himself off voters, who don’t speak up enough. Per- tion of Greens, ODS (Civic Democrats) within his team and lose visibility inside haps that’s the key. The continual lack of and KDU (Christian Democrats) shows the party. ODS is in free fall with no activity of the public vis a vis politicians. numerous cracks in each party. The clear leadership or direction. As a result, Czech politicians often say they want Christian Democrats buckled under the ODS politicians like Pavel Bém or the a political system like the one in the weight of the scandals of their Chairman, local governor of the Central Bohemian United States. It would be useful to give Jiří Čunek. After he left the government, Region Petr Bendl are fortifying their it to them from time to time. They would it seemed that Čunek-related woes were positions. be surprised how often they would be a thing of the past. But it turned out that Similarly, the government is waver- contacted by public representatives, Čunek is the golden calf of the Civic ing and doesn’t even know if it is still lobbyists and various non-governmental Democrats. Since Mirek Topolánek of- pro-reform or not. In the midst of all organizations that monitor the voting fered him the chance to come back as this, the Premier is doing fierce bat- patterns and behavior of politicians and long as he can procure more votes from tle with the media and is losing the mail the results to all the voters. his party for Václav Klaus in the upcom- support of the public. In spite of this, Here in the Czech Republic, politicians ing presidential election. And so, Čunek within ODS, he is the only one advocat- can be put under pressure. All one needs was already celebrating his comeback, ing a coalition government: “Within to do is call or write one’s deputies and but the Greens got upset. Foreign Min- a government, especially a coalition, tell them that their voters are not happy. ister Karel Schwarzenberg started by you must be able to compromise. And The more people who call, the harder it telling Topolánek that if Čunek came the actual power structure means that will be for elected representatives. In his back, he would leave, and the remaining those compromises are often bloody. memoirs, Ronald Reagan wrote about Greens chimed in. That was a blow to the But thanks to these compromises we his start in politics: “I found out that if Christian Democrats who had supported can achieve most of our goals. Even the public understands your intentions, their chairman. a small change for the better is infinitely the rest will take care of itself. People will The Greens also had their problems. better than no change at all.” Topolánek start writing letters to their congressmen After Martin Bursík became the party is correct. and putting pressure on them. Congress- leader, he indirectly forced deputy chair- The fact that Pavel Bém and others are men will realize that sooner or later they man Dana Kuchtová to leave the post of pressing the coalition partners to commit will have to address their voters.” It‘s time Education Minister, on the grounds that to voting for Klaus for president proves to start doing this here. If not, then noth- she failed to obtain money from European that they have no idea what a coalition ing will change.  funds. A strong opposition formed inside partner is. These are not vassals who will the party, especially because two members blindly follow orders the way it once was of the party board had to leave the ministry in the unified post-war “National Front” Erik Tabery is the Deputy Editor In Chief of along with Kuchtová, because Bursík sus- government, in which the Communist the Czech weekly magazine Respekt.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 15 ] the czech republic

November 17th is an important day in Czech history, a national holiday that celebrates anti-govern- The Awkward Revolution ment protests in 1989 that ultimately brought an end to the Communist regime in Czechoslo- vakia. So why has cynicism and apathy managed to pervade the Czech perception of the Gia Emilia Castellano “Velvet Revolution?” and Dominik Jůn

[ 16 ] the new presence / winter 2008 the czech republic The Awkward Revolution

n a cold, damp Saturday in No- Today, many of the dissidents that once the revolution was complete it was vember 2007, perhaps two hun- fuelled the Revolution have retreated “mission accomplished.” Odred Czechs gathered at Prague’s from politics. The vacuum that this left According to Urban, a particular Czech Narodní Třída in the centre of the city to has been filled by political opportunists, trait has played a crucial role in slowing mark the 18th year of freedom from Com- who many believe robbed the country progress: “Passivity goes back to the Aus- munist oppression. It was a far cry from and ushered in a new era of corrup- tro-Hungarian Empire. For a hundred the quarter of a million that had filled tion and greed. The result is a distinctly and fifty years this has been a constant Wenceslas Square at the height of the gloomy national mood. feature in Czech politics.” Indeed, since revolution. The “celebration” was some- Remembering the powerful feelings the days of the Hapsburg Empire, the what muted with a mixed bag of demon- that surrounded the Revolution, a blog- Czech people have had to deal with many, strations, from opponents of Czech plans ger on the samizdata.net website noted: often involuntary, transformations of “na- to approve a US radar base on its terri- “I was there in Prague on November tional identity.” Urban adds, “Czechs are tory, to nationalists demanding more au- 17, 1989 [the day the revolution began]. typically distrustful of any government tonomy for the Czech Republic. Former I remember it as if it were yesterday. The anyway…It is a normal mood, spurred Czech President Václav Havel once spoke most dominant feeling was that I (and my on by incompetence and corruption.” about the country suffering from a “bad friends) felt no fear whatsoever, because Reiterating why it is so easy to fall back mood.” Looking around the streets of onto cynicism, Urban poses “Cynicism is Prague on what was meant to be a day of the cheapest and easiest way to escape re- celebration, his words sounded painfully sponsibility. You feel responsible, you act, understated. but that could be too risky. So it is easiest We thought to be cynical and do nothing.” A false hope the ending of Why has the sense of pride, finally un- The Revolution corked after centuries of oppression and communism was In the autumn of 1989, the anti-reformist disappointment not solidified in the years a solution in hard-line communist Czech government following 1989? Jiří Dienstbier, a former itself. was living in a bubble. The Berlin Wall dissident and Czech Foreign Minister, had already fallen and Soviet leader believes that for Czechs, distrust of the Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika was powers that be is nothing new. “This is providing the catalyst for the downfall the way it has been always for Czechs, of Soviet communism across Europe they are used to political disappoint- the communists were generally perceived and beyond. Jiří Dienstbier explains ments and have been able to survive as no longer having the guts to shoot at a number of reasons why the revolution despite them.” Following the events of us. We felt contempt, absolute contempt played out when it did: “First of all, it was 1989, “A lot of people just disappeared for the idiots that ran the country. And a change of the geo-political situation. into their private lives. I understood it lots of anger about ourselves for we had And it was clear that if Russians will not well because they didn’t have the nerve allowed the idiots to rule for much too send tanks—then the regime cannot be to challenge the state security,” noted Di- long. To this day I wonder why we did kept in this country.” On November 17th, enstbier referring to the perceived sense not kick their asses any earlier.” around 15,000 demonstrators gathered that those who perpetrated the crimes of Fourteen years later in 2002, President at Prague’s Národní Třída to mark Inter- the communist regime were not brought Václav Havel described “the world of fairy national Student’s Day. The protest soon to justice by the new democratic order. tales” that he and the nation were cata- turned into an anti-government rally. According to former Civic Forum dis- pulted into with the ending of the Cold Czech riot police responded in a par- sident Jan Urban, the answer is far simpler, War, and the “hard fall to earth” that soon ticularly heavy-handed manner, sealing “We were naïve. We thought Communist followed. The Velvet Revolution was the off the demonstrators and ultimately oppression was the only reason why the Czech Republic’s modern day fairy tale, attacking several of the participants. This government didn’t work. We automati- and The Civic Forum and Václav Havel incident, in an echo of the Soviet invasion cally believed that once the oppression served as the good king and queen of this of 1968, again stripped the regime of any was gone, everything would reverse. Es- fantasy. For many, 1989 simply served as semblance of credibility – with images sentially, we thought the ending of com- the completion of what had been started of one particular police officer beating munism was a solution in itself.” during the Prague Spring of 1968, and demonstrators transmitted across the

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 17 ] the czech republic

world. Soon, those within the Czech Furthermore, Havel lacked the neces- media began to openly report the truth sary political know-how to keep a firm as they saw it, often openly opposing grip over the inner-workings of the restrictions that had been in place for Czech government system. His unpol- decades. In the ensuing days, demonstra- ished political style alienated him from tions turned into strikes, and students the parliament, making it nearly impos- were soon joined by much of the coun- sible to transform the country into a truly try. The communists attempted a false open and transparent democracy. And “revolution” purging many of the old while his ideas sounded laudable, Havel guard such as Communist Party leader lacked the loyalty or respect of the par- Milouš Jakeš and installing a moderate liament necessary to see them through. reformer (Karel Urbánek) in his place. Havel simply did not understand the im- But the Civic Forum organization, led portance of democratic institutions and by Václav Havel would not retreat from working within them in order to manifest its demands for free and fair elections. In his vision into a reality. Soon, the presi- the end, the communist government had dent’s lofty words and visions were being to concede, and forty years of one-party undermined by greedy opportunists and rule came to a peaceful end. Jiří Dien- shady businessmen. Corruption scandals stbier reveals that when he spoke with and “affairs” soon became the order of the Gorbachev in 1991 it was clear to even day, a state of affairs that has continued the communist leaders that their end unabated to this day. was imminent and unavoidable: “I think Gorbachev understood it very well,” Di- A Troubled Transition enstbier smiles. “He told me a very nice Could the dissidents have done more sentence—he said ‘we thought we had to prevent the political vacuum in the been strangling the Prague Spring, but country being filled by these corrupt op- we were actually strangling ourselves.’…It portunists? Jan Urban admits, “Yes there was a clever evaluation.” were plenty of mistakes made.” The big- By unanimous vote of the Federal gest was the fact that dissidents “didn’t Assembly, the leader of the Civic Forum know what they wanted.” Václav Havel was elected president Another mistake that understandably December 29, 1989. His dissident cre- left Czechs feeling they had been duped dentials were unquestionable, and his once again was that there was no punish- they had been before, and it would have background as a playwright seemed to ment offered to those who left the Czech been impossible to punish all those that perfectly embody the cultural awaken- state in ruins (president Gustav Husák were guilty. How do you choose, who is ing that provided the backbone to the was given amnesty from prosecution on the worst, and then should be punished? Prague Spring of 1968. Havel gained 8th December 1989 and many other key If you wanted to prosecute communists world respect in his early years as Presi- figures also escaped prosecution). How who were in positions of heads of state, dent, championing civic duty and the could it be that a movement, driven in the then you would have had no one left.” responsibility of the citizen to remain name of human and civil rights, would Jiří Dienstbier agrees, “The persecution politically active. Although his role was allow Communist leaders, who so clearly was not like it was in Stalin’s time. The largely a ceremonial one, Havel used his violated those rights, to go unpunished? interrogators and security people of the platform to press the people to achieve “We never gave people a sense of justice,” 50s were believers in the communist the vision set forth by the Velvet Revolu- confirms Urban, “you need to give people future,” while the people that were part tion. The image of the robust, progressive a sense of justice, marking [communism] of the Czechoslovak state apparatus in and determined society seen by the rest evil and our vision good.” Had this been the 70s and 80s, “the new generation,” as of the world during 1989 was, in essence, done, Urban believes that Czechs might Dienstbier puts it, were “just pragmatic.” a false one. But Havel’s world prestige, have felt like something had been done The communist system had done its ut- and emphasis on civic participation, did to right the wrongs against them. But most to make as many people complicit much to push the reality towards the this wasn’t the case, and the Czech people in its functioning – “If I joined, I will get dream. Sadly, Havel’s grand ideas for the were instead left with a growing sense of an apartment, I won’t have to go to the Czech nation were weakened, not only resentment and cynicism. army, and I will get 75,000 crowns to buy by waning Czech resolve, but also by the At the same time, Prague Radio jour- a car.” Dienstbier reaffirms “it was clear split of Czechoslovakia in 1992. “The nalist Jan Richter reminds us that the the regime no longer had its heart in it.” first crack [in the early years of the Czech times leading up to the Velvet Revolution Questions of just who was guilty of democracy] was the split of Czechoslo- were very different from the communist what continue to dog all post-totalitarian vakia—right there, the euphoria ended” persecution committed in the 1950s. societies. Jan Urban explains “Czechs are insists Urban. “People were not being treated as badly as always reviewing their past, and using it

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Klaus a surprising level of popularity in the country. But the price may have been the mood, if not the soul of the nation. Recipes and cures Some claim that the civic responsibility Havel so incessantly advocated needs to come into play once again, be it via grassroots organizations, determined investigative journalism, modern and new political parties, or education oriented towards much-needed public awareness and concern over political issues. In an interview with Prague Leaders Magazine, Jiří Nekovář, President of the Chamber of Tax Advisers acknowledged that “15 years after the Velvet Revolution, the prevailing view is to keep public affairs outside our personal responsibility in the Czech Republic. Citizens are not really willing to enter political affairs, and therefore they are mostly the province of people who are unsuccessful in other professions.” Nekovář aptly deduces that this situation “might change” if “people with professional skills in other areas go into politics.” For only the second or third time in history, Czechs have the opportunity to determine their own destiny. As such, the cure to the current Czech malaise photo: kristýna urbánková lies with the Czechs themselves. More in present politics. Right now, the major- If Havel was at the centre of the dis- civic participation, more political activity of the political elite doesn’t want to sident-led transformation of Czech poli- ity, greater awareness and perhaps even, remember what they did before 1989. For tics, then without question, Klaus found a new revolution of sorts – one that example, you have former communists himself at the centre of its more political clears out the political “dead-wood” that in right-wing parties. Unfortunately for core – the Czech parliament. Serving has been clogging and sinking the Czech them, the Revolution was organized and as Prime Minister from 1992-97, Klaus psyche for more than a decade. The alter- led by dissidents and students who are not oversaw a period in Czech politics that native is summarised by a letter written in politics anymore. So no present politi- was marked by botched privatisations, by Václav Havel to then-president Gustav cal figure was involved.” But ultimately it corruption and scandal. In 2003, he was Husák in 1975 – one that appears as true wasn’t the fact that many communists elected by parliament to succeed Havel as today as it was back then: “If a self-de- weren’t punished that has put the Czech president. In direct opposition to Havel, fensive fear underpins our attempts to government in the state it is in now. As Klaus came to embody not what Czechs preserve what little we possess, then the journalist Jan Richter poses, “It was the should or could aspire to, but what Com- main motivator for self-advancement fact that they messed up the transition in munist rule had made them – defeatist, becomes little more than selfishness and the early years.” small-minded, ignorant, nationalistic careerism.” Perhaps those words should and ever in search of simplistic answers. be displayed above the heads of today’s The anti-Havel? Whereas Havel had asked, in true JFK Czech MPs.  If one figure embodies the complete style, what Czechs could do for their antithesis of Havel’s notion of a civil and country, Klaus instead offered a cocktail civic Czech Republic, then that figure is of new answers – all of which demanded the country’s current president, Václav nothing from the Czech populace other Klaus. “Klaus will do anything to help than compliance. Environmentalists were himself in the polls,” argues Urban, “We now the threat; civic organisations were are witnessing the disease of Czech poli- anti-democratic; Friedman-omics were This article was written as part tics: ideological slogans, catch-phrases, the answer, etc, etc. Unsurprisingly, this of The New Presence internship program and theories based on non-fact.” appeal to the basest instincts has given with New York University.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 19 ] the czech republic

hen on October 28th 1918 Czechs projects (including both the Škoda and in Prague were tearing down the Bat’a companies), were falsely viewed as WHapsburg eagles and other stat- icons of independent Czechoslovakia, ues of hitherto powerful functionaries, it even though both were essentially inher- was a symbolic turnaround for a part of ited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Czech society. The empire that had pre- Simply put, the main foundations vented them from connecting with the of the political, cultural and economic modern world – mainly of the Anglo- successes and prosperity enjoyed during American and, later, French orientation the era of the First Republic were all the – had collapsed legacy of the detested old monarchy. A Despised From Masaryk to Beneš but Useful Monarchy One of the leading proponents of an- After 1918, the old Empire was largely tipathy towards “old Austria” among the viewed pejoratively as an embodiment of ruling politicians was the Francophile all that was old and irrelevant. However, and later (after being disappointed by the last Emperor, Charles 1 (reigned 1916- that country’s stance towards Hitler’s 18) was young, and was thus unsuitable annexation of the Sudeten territories in to this particular stereotype. His unsuc- 1938) the Russophile Edvard Beneš, who cessful attempt to renew the monarchy went on to become Czechoslovakia’s Alexander Loesch in Hungary – (Following the dissolution second president. His pan-Slavonic na- Gifts of The Empire

The first Czechoslovak Re- of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and tionalism led him to have an uncritical encouraged by Hungarian nationalists, view of Russia much earlier than many of public prided itself on being Charles sought twice in 1921 to reclaim his contemporaries. For example, at the the very antithesis of the throne of Hungary, but failed due to beginning of the 1920s, through the use a lack of support) was soon dismissed as of secret diplomacy, he helped to bypass the old, backward-looking a “reactionary episode”. The label of “old” the Western blockade of the burgeoning hung far better on his predecessor, Franz Soviet Union, and secretly supported the Hapsburg monarchy. Josef I (reigned 1848–1916). It was his arming of the Moscow regime. rule that was soon characterized as the Nothing demonstrates Beneš’s na- embodiment of a bygone bureaucratic tionalistic blindness more than one era. Simply put, he had kept his subjects tragicomic episode from the end of imprisoned in an archaic system the 1930s. The then Prime-Minister of Everything that didn’t fit into this Czechoslovakia reacted to a diplomatic picture was soon discarded by the col- initiative to save Austria from the grow- lective mindset. Viennese modernity at ing threat of Anschlus by Nazi Germany, the start of the 20th century, which in the with the statement “Better Hitler than realms of architecture, art, literature and the Hapsburgs”. music was a truly progressive force in Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founder the world, was simply ignored. Austrian of the First Republic was cut from a very steps towards self-determination and different cloth than his successor. Under democratization of subject states (see the influence of his American spouse article page 22) became an inconvenient Charlotte Garrigue, Masaryk was never truth that ill fit the new narrative of the a supporter of the naïve and idealized Republic. Large-scale manufacturing socialistic equality and Slavonic nation-

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alism of the Beneš variety. His notions of social equality in a modern democratic state were built upon ethical ideals – Christianity and even the American Revolution. Meanwhile, he continued to view Russia critically and later rejected the Soviet system as strongly as other Western politicians. Masaryk also did not hesitate to go against the currents of the times. For example, at the end of the 19th century, during the so-called “Hilsner Affair” (a series of anti-semitic trials following an accusation of blood libel against a Jew called Leopold Hilsner in Bohemia in 1899 and 1900 – Ed.) he stood up against the growing trend of aggressive anti-Semitism with its prejudices about “ritual killings.” As a result, he was almost lynched by Czech nationalist students. Masaryk had a powerful ally – Emperor Franz Josef I. It was Josef, who around the same time officially pronounced that Jews were “one of the most cultivated peoples within my nations”. During the beginning of the 1920s, Czech extremists occupied the Prague Estates Theatre, which, until then had been in the hands of German Czechs. Masaryk reacted angrily to this negation of a prior agreement, and, in protest, never returned to the now “Czech” theatre. Emperor Franz Josef II.

Big Pictures, Small Truths parliamentarianism only developed as sense. A devastating fifty years followed, The populace, still bathing in the success a result of the political culture founded beginning with the tearing apart of the new modern Republic, largely ig- during the era of the Hapsburg Empire. Czechoslovakia at Munich, followed by nored these conflicts and disagreements, Even the personnel that staffed modern WWII and culminating in forty years of which clashed with the popular percep- Czechoslovakia (Masaryk himself was material and spiritual communist decline tion of the Hapsburg past. an MP in the Austro-Hungarian Empire) in the country. It is no surprise, that the Prague, formerly a provincial capital had been trained under the former re- re-emergence of freedom has been ac- became a prosperous and growing me- gime. companied with a strengthening of the tropolis. Modern architecture (in places idealistic picture of the First Republic in such as Zlín) quickly changed the charac- Changing Perceptions the consciousness of the Czech people. ter of such towns from sleepy backwaters The annexation of Czechoslovakia by But this is an over-simplifications, which to forward-looking hubs of technology, Hitler’s Germany helped to cement the has often usurped the true traditions on manufacturing and transport. perception of the former Republic as an which Czechoslovakia was built.  Very few people realized that the leap icon of self-determination. Even before of technical development of the 1920s that, Czechoslovakia had maintained its was also the result of the First World democratic nature while all around it, to- War and that, for example, jazz and other talitarian dictatorships were coming into icons of progressiveness would have power – the most dramatic form being reached the Czech lands even under the Hitler’s National Socialists in Germany. Hapsburgs. The Czechoslovak Republic then became Even the ultimate counter-argument not just a last bastion of democracy and that the First Republic was the demo- freedom in central Europe, but also cratic opposite of the former monarchy an icon for proponents of cultural and Alexander Loesch is a journalist fails to hold true. Czechoslovak post-war political modernism in the western and lives in Berlin.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 21 ] the czech republic Step by Step

Czech democracy did not simply spring into existence with the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Indeed, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire that played a large role in paving the way for Czech democracy, and since then, the building blocks of democracy have been built up and torn down several times.

Zdeněk Suda

his year, marks a hundred years Following WWI, the officials of the union came to an end, and two new since the head of the Austro- numerous foreign consular offices in countries came into existence. THungarian Empire, Franz Josef Provincial Prague could not hide their However, this historical overview I approved a series of laws, which led to awe and admiration for the smooth would not be complete if we did not also partial voting rights in the Czech lands. transfer of power from Austria to the mention other events in modern Czech All males above 24 were allowed to vote Czech National Committee. The first history, ones which tend to demonstrate and participation in subsequent par- act of the National Committee after its the weakness of the national whole in liamentary elections in 1907 was huge formal recognition as a governing organ the face of tough times. The violent mass – 84% of voters took part. Did democ- was that “all prior laws and regulations reactions after years of foreign occupa- racy spring from the events of 1918? remain in effect until others are formu- tion, humiliation and pressure following Indeed not. lated.” In other words: no “stunts” or World War II not only illustrate this, but However unpleasant it must have purges, just the calm establishment of also highlight traits of being unable to act been to the patriots of the First Republic, a new state and new democracy. responsibly and with foresight at crucial Czechs began their political education Seventy years later, the very name junctures. The often violent and brutal within the framework of an Empirical of the Velvet Revolution (for Slovaks reprisals against Czech Sudeten Germans monarchy. Simply put, they went to it was actually the “Gentle” revolution) after the war represent a blot on the Czech Austrian political school. The calls for again underlined the perception of record. Another blot is the results of the systematic “de-Austrification” during Czechs as naturally democratic. During first – and for a long time, last – free elec- the 1920s failed to take this undeniable that crucial November week, the trams tions in April 1946. Perhaps the results fact into consideration. Indeed, many of and metros still ran, people went to were influenced by naïve sentiments of these calls often came from places that work and in their free time they dem- pan-Slavonic gratitude to the Soviet Un- did not mask their confidence about onstrated. Elections soon followed, and ion, or a belief that the most anti-fascist Czech “natural” democratic leanings. forty years of communist rule came to of political parties offered the brightest But is there objective historical proof an end. future, but whatever the reasons, the of these leanings? There are two exam- These facts illustrate the ability of result was clear for all to see – the com- ples which everyone points to of how, Czech society to act in a civilized man- munist party gained the largest share of in times of crisis, modern Czech society ner in extreme political circumstances the vote. Despite this, it lacked an overall maintained and consolidated its inher- and by doing so, to make their manage- majority – in other words, the non-com- ent democratic leanings. First, there is ment easier. We could also add one other munist parties could easily have formed the peaceful formation of a democratic example, which was also “velvet” in its a coalition. Instead, in the face of growing Czechoslovakia in October 1918. Sec- way (and it is even often described as communist agitation, the non-communist ond, there was the equally peaceful and such) – the break-up of the Czechoslovak parties withdrew from the coalition and by orderly change of regime in 1989, known Republic in January 1993. With a couple February 1948, the country slid into one- as the “Velvet Revolution”. of signatures and a handshake, a political party totalitarianism. Could and should

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our politicians and even voters have been coalition governments, as well as their governments, it was in a worse state than smarter in preventing such a fate? often shaky functioning – something Czechoslovakia right up to the middle of Perhaps, ultimately, the fate of which we have been witness to for more the last century. The McCarthy experi- Czechoslovakia as a Soviet satellite was than ten years. The problematic (and of- ence in the US, in which mass psychosis a forgone conclusion. But to this day, ten corrupt) under-the-table agreements, caused by an external threat led to count- historians and ordinary Czechs still ar- which underline their functioning, also less innocent victims, remains a dark blot gue about what might have been. Twenty give rise to much consternation. on the country even today. years later, during the era of the Prague However, even countries with greater Nations and societies do not create Spring, those, who perhaps naïvely, ad- experiences of democratic systems have democracy in a methodical manner. vocated democratic change, were later Nor can democracy be cultivated for all quashed by a regime propped up by an time – the price of freedom being eternal illegitimate Soviet occupation. But un- vigilance. In each new critical situation, like 1948, this was a defeat that came the functionality of democracy must be with a touch of pride. The burned out Czechs began newly consolidated, rather than weak- tanks and the numerous victims of the their political ened. Democracy is a way of business, in invasion proved that passivity in the face education within which the social whole administers and of crisis was not a natural Czech trait. refines the process, but remains wary to Yet, despite such noble, yet futile efforts, the framework never undo it. If democracies are to sur- the Czech puppet government soon sent of an Empirical vive crises, they must primarily be wary the former reformist leader Alexander monarchy. of individuals and groups in power, who Dubček into effective exile in Turkey in unusual or extreme circumstances may as it “thanked” its foreign occupiers for seek excessive power, suspend the rule of coming to the assistance of this troubled law and undermine the very democratic burgeoning democracy – and for helping foundation of a country. Czech society, to extinguish it. their problems. One such example is similarly to others that have shared in Though Czechs may marvel at their Germany, whose democratic Weimar the experiences of the last hundred years, natural democratic traits, ever since the constitution of 1919 opened the doors cannot yet afford to award itself the title time of the protectorate and the meaning- to one of the darkest totalitarian regimes of “naturally democratic.”  less presidency of Emil Hácha, they have on the history of Man. Equally, a very never grown tired of being frustrated, liberal Italian democracy soon turned ashamed and despondent at those who to fascism. Even France, which inspired Zdeněk Suda is a sociologist and long-term lead them. Today, similar emotions greet democratic movements across the West, contributor to Radio Free Europe. the seemingly endless crises that accom- fell under the spell of Napoleon. Indeed, He currently works at the University pany the post-election constructing of in terms of the ineffectiveness of its of Pittsburgh in the US.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 23 ] europe & the world

Growing interest in populism has captured the major nlike the extremist parties of the 1930s, new populist movements trend of the modern political world – the rise of demo- Uworldwide do not aim to abolish de- cratic illiberalism. mocracy: quite the opposite, they thrive on democratic support. What we are witnessing today, writes Ivan Krastev, is a conflict between elites that are becoming increasingly suspicious of democracy and angry publics that are becoming increasingly illiberal. “A spectre is haunting the world: populism. A decade ago, when the new nations were emerging into independence, the question asked was: how many will go Communist? Today, this question, so plausible then, sounds a little out of date. In as far as the rulers of the new states embrace an ideology, it tends more to The have a populist character.” This observa- tion was made by Ghita Ionescu and Er- nest Gellner forty years ago. A period of time long enough for “populism” first to disappear and then to re-emerge as the global phenomenon it is today. Now, like then, the significance of populism can- populist not be doubted, though now, like then, it is unclear just what populism is. On the one hand, the concept of “populism” goes back to the American farmers´ protest movement at the end of the nineteenth century; on the other, moment to Russia´s narodniki around the same period. Later, the concept was used to describe the elusive nature of the politi- Ivan Krastev cal regimes in the Third World countries photo: kristýna urbánková

[ 24 ] the new presence / winter 2008 europe & the world

governed by charismatic leaders and ap- In fact, the new populists like elections associated with an emotional, simplistic, plied above all to Latin American politics and, unfortunately, often win them. and manipulative discourse directed at in the 1960s and 1970s. This transforma- What they oppose is the representative the “gut feelings” of the people, or with tion in the concept’s use only re-enforced nature of modern democracies, the opportunistic policies aimed at “buying” Isaiah Berlin’s claim that it suffers from protection of the rights of minorities, support. But is appealing to the passions the Cinderella complex: there is a shoe and the constraints to the sovereignty of the people forbidden in democratic in the shape of populism, but no foot to of the people, a distinctive feature of politics? And who decides which policies fit it. globalization. are “populist” and which are “sound”? What is striking about the current use We try to account for the rise of pop- As Ralf Dahrendorf has noted, “the one’s of the term is the almost incalculable di- ulism today by the erosion of the liberal populism is other’s democracy and vice versity of policies and actors it attempts consensus that emerged after the end of versa”. Unless we take Brecht’s advice to cover. Is it not an affront to common the Cold War on one hand, and by the and dissolve the people in order to elect sense to lump together Hugo Chavez’s rising tensions between democratic ma- a new one, populism is and will remain leftist Bolivarian revolution and the joritarianism and liberal constitutional- part of the political landscape. ideology and politics of the current anti- ism – the two fundamental elements At the heart of the populist chal- communist government in Warsaw? of liberal democratic regimes – on the lenge is not the rise of political parties What could be more confusing than other. The rise of populism indicates the and movements that appeal to “the to describe the politics both of Silvio people” against the people’s supposed Berlusconi and Mahmoud Ahmedine- representatives, thereby challenging es- jad as populist? But commentators and tablished political parties, interests, and political theorists who insist on using values. Populism is also not appropriate “populism” as a generic name for such Unlike the for describing the transformation of the diverse political players have a point. extremist parties democratic political system in Europe Only a vague and ill-defined concept and the replacement of party democ- such as “populism” can enable one to of the 1930s, the racy with media democracy. Populism grasp the radical transformation of poli- new populists as synonym of post-modern politics; tics underway in many places around do not plan as flight from class and interest politics the world. More than any other concept to introduce towards a new centre, is old hat. currently circulating, “populism” cap- At heart, the defining feature of tures the nature of the challenges that dictatorships. populism is the view that society falls liberal democracy faces today. These into two homogenous and antagonistic emanate not from the rise of anti-demo- groups: “the people as such” and “the cratic and authoritarian alternatives, but corrupt elite”. It proceeds to argue that from dangerous mutations within liberal politics is the expression of the general democracies themselves. decline of the attractiveness of liberal so- will of the people and that social change Clearly, populism has lost its original lutions in the fields of politics, economy, is possible only via the radical change of ideological meaning as the expression and culture, and the growing popularity the elite. of agrarian radicalism. Populism is too of the politics of exclusion. Two tendencies correspond to this: eclectic to be an ideology in the way that the implementation of populist majori- liberalism, socialism, or conservatism The populist condition tarianism and growing manipulation by are. But growing interest in populism has It would be a major mistake to view the the elite. The revolutionary regime in captured the major trend of the modern rise of populist parties as a victory for Venezuela – a textbook illustration of political world – the rise of democratic anti-democratic attitudes. In fact, the rise Tocqueville’s notion of the tyranny of the illiberalism. is a by-product of the wave of democra- majority – and the manipulation-based Be it the proliferation of populist tization during the “long” 1990s. “Voice regime in Moscow are just two sides of revolutions in Latin America, the po- of the People 2006”, a global opinion poll the same populist coin. The goal of pop- litical turmoil in central Europe, or the conducted by Gallup International, found ulist revolution in Latin America is to political logic behind the “no” vote in that 79 per cent of people the world over block the return to power of the corrupt the referenda on the EU constitution agree that democracy is the best form of minority; Putin’s system of “sovereign in France and the Netherlands – it is government available, but that only one democracy” prevents the dangerous the accompanying rise of democratic third agree that the voice of the people majority being represented politically. illiberalism that worries us. The new is heard by the governments of their populism does not represent a challenge countries. It is precisely because current The central European dilemma to democracy, understood as free elec- populists cannot be portrayed as anti- The dangers of democratic illiberalism tions or the rule of the majority. Unlike democratic that liberals are confused, can be observed in the political dilemmas the extremist parties of the 1930s, the and this makes them appear helpless that central Europe faces today. The for- new populists do not plan to outlaw in the face of the populist challenge. In mation of the populist coalition in Poland elections and introduce dictatorships. the current debate, “populism” is mostly following the elections in September/Oc-

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 25 ] europe & the world

would dare to argue for restricting voting rights. Nevertheless, a respected liberal professor in Poland recently suggested introducing a test for political maturity. Putin’s sovereign democracy offers another solution: the project is not to limit the number of people with the right to vote, but to limit the choices for whom to vote. Kremlin’s political tech- nologists thus manage a political system that de facto excludes the chance that an undesired party or candidate might win elections. The elites vs. the people The paradox of current European politics is best captured in the question: “How is it possible to have elites that, simultane- ously, are legitimated globally and lo- cally?” European politics fails to provide an answer. After all that has happened re- photo: kristýna urbánková cently in Poland, Slovakia, and elsewhere in eastern central Europe, no wonder it tober 2005 was an early-warning signal On the same day that Fico formed his takes confidence and imagination to re- that something strange and unexpected government, the Slovak constitutional main a Euro-optimist. It is perverse but was taking place in central European court announced that a Slovak citizen true that, in the current epoch, European politics. It sounded even more loudly had filed a suit demanding that the elites secretly dream of a system that will when Jaroslaw Kaczynski – twin brother court annul the results of the election. deprive irresponsible voters of the power of president Lech Kaczynski – replaced The claimant declared that the Slovakian to undermine rational politics, and they Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as prime min- Republic had failed to create a “normal” are more than ready to use the European ister, bringing with him other populists system of elections and had therefore Union to realize this dream. At the same such as Roman Giertych into the cabinet violated Slovak citizens’ constitutional time, most citizens are convinced that [Giertych was dismissed in August 2007 right to be governed wisely. In the eyes they have the right to vote but not the – Ed.]. The Slovak election on 17 June of the claimant, any electoral system that right to influence decision-making, 2006 and the formation of a new govern- could bring to power as motley a crew as which is why they oppose further EU ment in Bratislava was an indication that the new Slovak government could not be integration. what had happened in Poland was not called “normal”. In this sense, central Europe today just a one-off episode but part of a trend The lone Slovak claimant had a point. can be compared to the France of 1847, in central European politics. The cabinet The right to be governed wisely can con- before the great wave of national- formed by Robert Fico united his moder- tradict the right to vote. This is tradition- popular revolution in 1848. In 2007, the ate leftwing populists, Jan Slota’s extreme ally what makes liberals nervous about major protagonists of European politics nationalists, and the party of former democracy. One might almost say that are elites who dream of a politically cor- prime minister Vladimir Meciar. The the Slovak citizen was a reincarnation rect form of limited suffrage, while the coalition offers a mixture of illiberal and of the influential nineteenth-century people are convinced that they already leftist economic promises, most of them liberal François Guizot (1787–1874). live under a regime of limited suffrage. never implemented, and a conservative It was Guizot and his colleagues, The new populist majorities perceive cultural agenda, an expression of rising “the doctrinaires”, who used all their elections not as an opportunity to insecurity and xenophobia. eloquence to argue that democracy and choose between policy options but as The reasons why pro-European good governance can coexist only under a revolt against privileged minorities liberal reformists lost the election are a regime of limited suffrage. In their – in the case of central Europe, elites not hard to pinpoint: they are above all view, the real sovereign is not the people and a key collective “other”, the Roma. high unemployment and rising social but reason. Thus, voting should be dis- In the rhetoric of populist parties, elites inequality. It is more difficult to explain cussed in terms of capacities rather than and Roma are twins: neither is like “us”; why populists and semi-fascists were rights. In the nineteenth century, capac- both steal and rob from the honest the sole available alternative. Is some- ity was translated as property or educa- majority; neither pays the taxes that it thing wrong with central Europe – or tion; only those with the right education should pay; and both are supported by could it be that something is wrong with or enough property could be trusted foreigners – Brussels in particular. Anti- democracy? with the power to vote. Today, nobody elite sentiments were an important ele-

[ 26 ] the new presence / winter 2008 europe & the world

ment in central Europeans’ motivation by convincing frustrated publics that to support EU accession; now they are the US is the root cause of everything turning against the EU. Opinion polls Citizens are going wrong in their own countries and demonstrate that during the accession convinced that worldwide. process the majority tends to view Brus- they have the Liberal democracy is in danger when sels as an ally in controlling corrupt right to vote but the structural conflict between “the elites. When these countries are in the elites” and “the people” is no longer EU, however, Brussels is perceived as an not to influence seen as a liability but a major asset. The ally of the elites that provides a way to decision-making. current generation of European liberals avoid democratic accountability. have been educated in a political tradi- The outcome is politics where popu- tion that wrongly assumes (historically lists are becoming openly illiberal, while and theoretically) that anti-liberal par- elites secretly harbour anti-democratic ties are also anti-democratic. This is no resentments. This is the real danger of Western liberal democracies promote longer the case. The real challenge that the populist moment. In the age of pop- the anti-corruption agenda in an attempt liberal democracy is facing today is the ulism, the front does not lie between Left to channel anti-elite sentiments into rise of democratic illiberalism. Whoever and Right, nor between reformers and support for democracy and economic wishes to save democracy is called on to conservatives. It is more the case that we liberalism; it is not the system that is the fight on two fronts: against populists and are witnessing a structural conflict be- problem, but corrupt governments. In against those liberals who hold democ- tween elites that are becoming increas- return for support in the global “war on racy in contempt.  ingly suspicious of democracy, and angry terror” Washington allows discredited publics that are becoming increasingly but politically useful governments to First published in anti-liberal. The fight against corruption, label their domestic opponents “terror- Critique and Humanism 23 (2007) the “war on terror”, and anti-American- ists” and to curb civil rights. In the case © Ivan Krastev/Critique and Humanism ism are just three manifestations of the of anti-Americanism, corrupt and illib- Reprinted by kind permission of Eurozine new politics of populism. eral governments try to win legitimacy www.eurozine.com

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winter 2008 / the new presence [ 27 ]

inzerce_photogallery.indd 1 29.8.2007 10:10:01 europe & the world The Sinking Jaroslav Šonka of the Pamir

The mystery of a sunken German boat is finally solved and reveals that old regimes and the ties associated with them do not die, but instead linger on for years.

ifty years ago, on the 21st Septem- An ex-nazi captain ber 1957, the German commercial In the summer of 1957, the Pamir left Fsailing ship Pamir sank in mysteri- port to pick up a rye consignment in Ar- ous circumstances in the middle of the gentina. The ship travelled there without Atlantic. From a crew of 86 sailors, only a cargo, while the cadets that manned six men survived. At the time, the four- her were forced to work in dangerous masted vessel, weighing more than 3 000 and tropical conditions – inhaling toxic tonnes and spanning more than 100 me- dust while repainting the interior storage tres, already had 52 years of sailing be- cargo spaces en route. Because of a strike hind it. in Buenos Aires, the rye cargo was loaded After WWII, the Pamir was confiscated onto the Pamir without the necessary by New Zealand to pay for war repara- extra wrapping in place. The more than tions. It was not until 1951 that it found 3000 tonne load was then secured with its way back to German travel operators only a few layers of bagged rye placed on – bought from a scrap yard by a German top. But rye “leaks” very quickly and as owner in Belgium, along with another a ship tilts at sea, this motion is intensi- German ship, the Passat. The cost of the fied. On the 11th August 1957, the Pamir boat was not high, since it was clear that set out from Buenos Aires to Hamburg sailboats were no longer an effective or on what was to be its final voyage. As it efficient way to transport people or cargo. crossed the Atlantic, the Pamir sailed in Both ships were then outfitted as cargo- an “S” formation to take advantage of carrying training ships for young sailors. the prevailing winds. Yet, at this time, Outfitted with auxiliary engines, the Passat hurricane Carrie was brewing slowly, and Pamir were expected to make money. crossing the Atlantic from Africa to- In 1954, a German shipping consortium wards the Americas, and on the morning set up a fund and bought the ships, hop- of September 21st, the Pamir was hit by ing to utilize them for commercial cargo the hurricane, while its sails were still up. transportation. But the consortium be- It soon sank. The Pamir catastrophe was came indebted and not even state funds caused by a strange lack of professional- proved sufficient. Meanwhile, the ships ism of the part of the captain. A lack of began to deteriorate and soon money for attention to weather reports, as well as even basic maintenance or a fresh coat poor communication with surrounding of paint had dried up. Between 1954-57, ships simply meant that the Pamir was both ships made five more voyages, after caught off-guard by hurricane Carrie. which it was decided that they would be German author Johannes K. Soyener decommissioned. recently undertook a study of documents

[ 28 ] the new presence / winter 2008 europe & the world

related to the Pamir catastrophe (pub- of the Pamir, was singularly focused on agency Mossad and placed on trial in lished in the book Sturmlegende, Lubbe, one goal – arriving in Hamburg on time that country. Bergisch Gladbach, 2007). Thanks to new and as a result, making a good impres- According to Soyener’s investigation, evidence, a more detailed reconstruction sion on his superiors. And that was (Pamir-related documents can now be of events has emerged. Soyener suggests part of the reason for his authoritative viewed at www.pamir-sturmlegende.de) that the authoritative atmosphere of the approach and rejection of cooperation the very fact that Diebsich became the former Nazi regime (then, only twelve from his shipmates. His dispatches from captain of the Pamir was as a result of his years past) was a crucial factor in the the journey as well as the testimonies Nazi ties. Diebsich seemingly wanted to sinking of the Pamir. This meant that of the six survivors clearly show how gain some of the luxury that many of his despite war-crimes trials in Nuremberg, counter-productive and even dangerous, contemporaries living in Argentina had de-Nazification, and the undertaking of one-sided and unchallenged authority found. Thus, it was only logical that the modern political education under the can be. network of wartime friends did not want auspices of the occupation forces, old during the investigation to unveil these habits were still rife. Nazi-era methodol- War buddies and their network relationships. The Pamir incident was ogy was clear: listening and obeying was Soyener also analysed the findings of thus left unresolved. more important than thinking for one- the official German investigative com- In Soyener’s book, we learn of the self. The captain of the Pamir, Johannes mission, which went over the case in development of the hurricane warning Diebsich, was, by all accounts, stubborn December 1957. The potential culprits system (in the 1950s, the naming of hur- in his leadership and rarely accepted oth- – the captain and crew –were all dead, ricanes such as “Carrie” was initiated), er viewpoints. In such a climate of fear, yet this commission, argues Soyener, the huge Pamir rescue operation, and the telegrapher chose not to “trouble” the still managed to carry out a thoroughly the history of the German commercial captain with news updates and weather sloppy and shallow investigation into the sailing sector. But most importantly, we reports. In the end, he didn’t even bother tragedy. also find out about a Nazi past which, to turn his communication device on for What Soyener demonstrates is that the contrary to popular belief, was still active. several days. The ships which the Pamir shipping consortium, associated travel Even though the christening of the new encountered en route noted that telegraph companies, as well as the investigating consortium that launched the Pamir and communication with the Pamir was all commission were all riddled with people Passat was attended by German president but impossible. who had a strong Nazi past. For exam- Theodor Huss – certainly no Nazi – there Ironically, the 1950s were a period ple, during WWII, Captain Diebisch were still facets of the old regime in place of intense development in the field of had served on ships which transported well into the 1960s, exploiting old ties, observing, studying and monitoring looted booty from Eastern Europe across and still causing tragedies like that of the hurricanes. In 1955, the US created the the Baltic. According to certain sources, Pamir.  National Hurricane Research Project. some of Diebisch’s partners escaped to Prolific hurricane observer Jack Harper Argentina to avoid the post-war trials. found himself observing hurricane After a change of name, many former Carrie from this institute. Indeed, the Nazis became businessmen – but they NHRP sent out reports about the path still relied on their old contacts. The Jaroslav Šonka is a journalist. Since 1969 he and intensity of the hurricane on several majority of these were orchestrated in has lived and worked in Germany. He cur- occasions. Ships that regularly listened a conspiratorial and secretive manner. rently teaches at the European Academy in to these reports could easily avoid the In 1960, former Nazi Adolf Eichmann Berlin and also teaches at the Faculty of Social storm in time – and did. But the captain was abducted by the Israeli intelligence Sciences in Prague’s Charles University.

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winter 2008 / the new presence [ 29 ] europe & the world The Rise and Fall of the Social State

The model of a social state is one of the founding pillars Martin Zika of modern Europe, oddly enough, history shows that such a state is a construction of conservative economists.

From Babylon to Poor Laws advent of machine production in the urbanization, the creation of a class of The beginnings of the social state – a state 19th century. England’s Poor Law, passed landless hired laborers, a rising demand guaranteeing the right to a basic quality during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1601, for qualified, literate and reliable workers; of life for its citizens, can be traced to the was the first to attempt to address the and increasing employment of so-called demographic changes and the start of the resulting social problems systematically. white collar workers. Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. It stipulated that those poor unable to One of the first attempts to address the However, the concept of government- work would be taken into the care of problem of the poor was the Speenham- sponsored social security can be traced poorhouses; those able to work would be land System, devised in 1795 to mollify back to the ancient despotic regimes. sent to work; those that did not want to a growing rural population faced with In Babylon the Code of Hammurabi work would be forced to work; and poor soaring food prices, due to the Napoleon- included directions to protect widows, children would be sent to school. ic Wars. Under the system, wages of poor orphans and the poor. In Ancient Rome, families were subsidized according to the public servants, upon retiring, received number of children they had and the price a government annuity and farm rents. of bread in the parish. Unfortunately, the In Europe, the first comprehensive system actually aggravated the causes framework for social politics was con- Government- of poverty. It allowed employers (often ceived by the Roman Catholic Church. In sponsored social farmers) to pay wages below subsistence the 6th century, in addition to reminding security can be level because the parish would make up the faithful of their philanthropic obliga- the difference to keep its workers alive. tions, the Church built shelters for the traced back to the As a result, the workers’ low income was poor and encouraged mendicant orders ancient despotic unchanged and the parish contributors to care for them. regimes. were actually subsidizing the farmers. The plagues in the 13–14th centuries In 1834, the Poor Law Commissioners’ caused unprecedented growth of poverty. Report called the Speenhamland System The Church was only able to take care of one of “bounty on indolence and vice” the neediest beggars, and caring for the and a “universal system of pauperism.” poor became the duty of the nobility In his book Sociální stát, úvod do studia (Wikipedia). Among its foremost critics and municipalities. Charity turned into (The Social State an Introduction) Martin was Thomas Malthus. According to his a government responsibility. “Care” for Smutek writes that population growth in “Iron Law of Wages,” (in his 1798 Essay the poor became institutionalized, first rural areas in the 18th century, caused by on the Principle of Population), workers’ through regulating beggary, later codi- a fall in child mortality and the gradual ex- wages should not exceed their existential fied into local legislation. Over time, the tension of the life-span, created a widening minimum. If they do, the population, right to get help in times of need became poverty gap between those who worked i.e. the number of available workers, will implicit. and those who did not. It became clear increase and wages would drop. If wages The unification of land ownership in that inability to work would bring conse- fall below the minimum requirement, the 16th century drove peasants from quences in case of illness or old age. the process will be reversed. One of the land. They compensated for the loss The Industrial Revolution caused the results of Malthus’ theories was the in income through handicrafts until the a decline in agricultural jobs, extensive underestimation of economic disputes

[ 30 ] the new presence / winter 2008 europe & the world The Rise and Fall of the Social State photo: libuše koubská

and strikes and the growth of organized assistance. According to Jakub Rákosník reforms of German Chancellor Otto von labor, as workers struggled to come to from the Prague Philosophical Faculty Bismarck, and Eduard Taaffe. Gradually, terms with the Industrial Revolution. of Charles University, this scheme was the trend turned to social security. In the During the 19th century, as the growing a result of the prevailing sentiment in the 1880s, Bismarck introduced social insur- number of poor began to congregate to mid-19th century, shared by theoreticians ance as well as laws about health insur- towns and cities, perceptions radically like Malthus, Jan Baptitste Say or David ance, accident insurance and insurance changed for the worse. Ricardo, that economics was a “clean sci- in invalidity and old age. The system Malthusianism gained a foothold ence,” with no room for human empathy. was intended primarily for workers and in mainstream political and economic This attitude hearkened back to the En- employees, who paid a portion of their circles and resulted in the draconian Poor lightenment conviction that society, like wages in order to protect them and their Law Amendment Act of 1834. Devised nature, was governed by iron laws. family if they lost their jobs. Taaffe fol- by Malthus’ followers, it was based on lowed his example in Austria-Hungary. the principle of “less eligibility.” The des- The rise from Bismark Paradoxically, both statesmen initiated titute could only get aid in workhouses, to the crisis of today these reforms in order to counter the where conditions were deliberately made A profound social crisis, which oc- threat of socialism and to limit the influ- as harsh and degrading as possible. As curred in central Europe in 1873, was ence of social democracy on farmers. a result, they often chose to bypass this the impulse for the far-reaching social It is therefore no surprise that that the

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 31 ] europe & the world

intellectuals behind Bismarck’s concept a British economist whose book, The of social reforms were not socialists, but General Theory of Employment, Inter- conservatives. Until the 1930s, est, and Money, published in 1936, gave The economic crisis of the 1930’s and there was a new foundation to the modern science the Second World War hastened the ac- a widespread of national economics. Keynes said that ceptance of another series of measures, belief that high unemployment was the result of which would have been very difficult to two factors: technological advances pass otherwise. In his book Unemploy- unemployment replacing manual labour and a chronic ment as a Social Problem, sociologist was the result shortage of demand caused by the weak Petr Mareš notes that, until the 1930s, of laziness, purchasing power of the population. there was a widespread belief that un- incompetence and High unemployment was caused by poor employment was the result of laziness, fiscal politics of the state, he claimed. incompetence and lack of effort. “Even lack of effort. His theories lead to the blossoming of though such a perception still prevails the modern social state after the Second among classes not affected by mass World War. unemployment, in the 1930’s the notion In his book Social Politics, Theory and that unemployment was a result of social International Experience, Igor Tomes circumstances resulting from forces over explains how William Beveridge, a pro- which the individual had no control be- ponent of Keynes, devised a daring, uni- gan to prevail,” he writes. versal, reasonable and integrated system To a large degree, this fundamental of social insurance which substantially change of attitude came about thanks to influenced the socio-political thinking the theories of John Maynard Keynes, of the 20th century. Guaranteed minimal living standards, national publicly funded healthcare, politics of full employment and unemployment benefits, development of the school system, and housing supplements protected the individual from the cradle to the grave. The sixties and seventies were the golden years of the social state. Dur- ing this period of social expansion, unemployment almost disappeared in western countries, living standards improved and the percentage of public expenditures as a part of GDP went up. Then came stagnation. Set off by the oil crisis, an economic malaise brought on unemployment growth to a degree the post-war generation hadn’t experienced. Public expenditures grew at a rate of about five percent, but the productiv- ity of OECD countries fell. The average growth rate between 1974 and 1984 was lower than two percent. Government spending continued to rise due to growing unemployment and expenditures, while an ageing population demanded more social services. At the same time, new revenues were getting harder and harder to find. This was the start of the modern crisis of the so-called welfare states. Since then, problems have grown worse, while Eu- rope struggles to find a remedy. 

Martin Zika is a sociologist.

[ 32 ] the new presence / winter 2008 interview A Very Bloody Affair

An investigative journalist sheds light on what will probably be the Czech Republic’s greatest lost lawsuit, one which may cost taxpayers billions of crowns in damages

Libuše Koubská Martin Jan Stránský

film: lying politicians, corrupt state officials, investigative ineptitude, tortured heroes and sly criminals. The book is entitled A Tunnel Full of Blood, and has met with largely positive reviews. It can be described as a singularly rare and unique case of investigative journalism in the Czech Republic. Though the reader may become somewhat lost in the maze of intrigue, scandal and the various players that revolve around the case, the early years of Czechoslovak privatisation Martin Bojar to one of St’áva’s businesses are documented here in such detail, that partners. The result was that the partner the reader will likely get a chill down withdrew from dealing with St’áva and an Urban is a former dissident, a par- their spine. Ultimately, argues Urban, eventually his business collapsed. St’áva ticipant of the inner-circle of Civic post-revolution euphoria, inexperience later filed a lawsuit against the Czech JForum, the Havel-led organisation and lack of professionalism, mixed with Republic based on its actions. The entire that helped bring down communist rule dishonesty, corruption and criminality case ended up in arbitration, in which in Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revo- created a scandal that epitomises much St’áva could get billions of Crowns in lution. Today, he has turned his back on that went wrong with the post-communist compensation, making it the single biggest politics and instead works as a journalist transformation of the country. money-loss case that the Czech Republic and author. In 2002, he was the recipient For years, the Diag Human affair will have ever sustained. of the Czech Ferdinand Peroutka prize for seemed to be a clear-cut case, at least ac- outstanding contribution to journalism. cording to the official version. Suspicious Apart from the positive reviews, there have Urban allso teaches at New York Univer- emigrant Josef St’áva was selling tainted also been whispers that you were paid by sity in Prague. Recently, Urban opened blood across the world, and also acted as Sťáva to write this book. a Pandora’s Box with the publication of an an arms dealer and drugs smuggler having Normally, the accusation goes like this: investigative book about the well-known amassed a fortune of hundreds of millions “I haven’t read the book, but I’ve heard and considerably protracted scandal of Crowns. In Czechoslovakia he allegedly that St’áva paid for it.” Let anybody who known simply as “Diag Human”. attempted to export blood plasma. By the says that go to the archives, as I did, The Diag Human affair is the prototype Spring of 1992, his blood-plasma opera- and find a single document or fact that of the shady business-political climate in tion, called Diag Human, was stopped by I omitted or misrepresented in order to Czechoslovakia of the 1990s. It has all the a well-intentioned, but not very cleverly create a favourable picture of anybody elements of a detective story or an action written letter from the Health Minister involved in the affair. Then we can talk.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 33 ] interview

THE DIAG HUMAN CASE  1984–1989: Josef St’áva, who and the Czech blood-plasma market Czech state caused damages, must emigrated from Czechoslovakia in is subsequently handed to two foreign compensate Diag Human and publicly 1970, only to return two years later as companies, which do not fulfil the apologise. The last remaining unresolved a businessman, offers a complex project conditions requested by the original question is the level of compensation. of modernization of blood transfusion tender. In the meantime, Conneco signs  2000: The government decides to end services in Czechoslovakia. contracts with more than 20 transfusion the dispute in lieu of mounting interest  1990: Diag Human in Denmark, stations and exports a total of 4 ship- payments. ments of blood plasma for processing to as the first in the field, co-founds the  2001: An expert analysis places dam- Denmark. Czechoslovak company Conneco in ages at 3,6 billion Crowns, but Health order to further the project. It provides  March 1992: A personal letter by the minister Bohumil Fišer refuses to accept credit for the modernization of trans- then Minister of Health Martin Bojar this figure. to an exclusive partner to Diag Human fusion stations totalling at least 170  2002: The senate orders the Czech in Denmark states that the company is million Crowns, and Sťáva becomes the government to pay Diag a first instal- unreliable. This leads to a termination Czech partner in the joint company. ment of 327 million Crowns.  Autumn 1990: Following protests of cooperation between the two companies.  2007: A new expert analysis, which and a defamation campaign by the factors in interest, estimates the re-  1995: After three years of attempted competition, the Ministry of Finance quired compensation at 13 trillion reconciliation, Diag undertakes a law- cancels the results of a public tender Czech Crowns. which Conneco had won. suit against the Czech state.  1991: Conneco is prevented from  1997–8: The senate, which arbitrates competing for a new public tender the case, repeatedly confirms that the

What made you decide to go into this ments. St’áva initially rejected this sugges- I know is that he is a remarkably capa- case? tion, as he had a complete lack of faith in ble person. He was a world-renowned Chance. I really didn’t know anything Czech journalists. During our first meet- businessman and expert in his field. The about the case, other than what was in the ing, we were rather frosty towards each fact that he has a great art collection does papers. St’áva was a villain for me. When other. But in the end, he said that he would not automatically make him an angel in 2003 they threw me out of the Czech risk it and gave Kalvoda permission to al- or a crook. I think that he would have Radio service, I went to a lawyer named low me to go into the whole file. In order forgotten about the whole case, but when Jan Kalvoda, to ask if he would defend me. to balance this out, in 2004, I began to the government repeatedly put the po- When we discussed my situation, he had question members of the parliamentary lice, authorities and intelligence services just been on the phone to St’áva. I made investigative committee – some of them on him, then his position hardened. He fun of Kalvoda as to the type of clients he lied a great deal. So, I sat down in the ar- is convinced that the whole affair, prima- was consorting with. He defended himself chive soon became captivated. rily the media circus around the 1990s, by saying that things were different than caused the death of his wife. Since then, they appeared. He began to make expla- What do you think of Josef St’áva today, the conflict has become very personal. nations, but I just shook my head and he now that you have studied the affair? From He says that he was once respected in his knew I didn’t believe him. So he said that your book, it isn’t entirely clear whether field and he wants the world to know that since I wasn’t doing anything, he would you believe he was a crook or not. he is innocent. ask his client if I could look at his docu- What I am interested in most is that the law applies equally to all citizens. Because On what basis did the conflict begin? In if it doesn’t, then anyone can be called order for someone to be compensated a crook in the media and public servants for losses, they must show that they had can just get rich. an opportunity to make the money. That For me, the most interesting point means that there would surely be a legal about the Diag Human case was not so contract. much St’áva, but that it was seen as nec- At the start, I asked myself the same essary to liquidate his project in order to question. During the first police inves- privatize the whole Czech pharmacologi- tigation in 1993, the police confiscated cal sector. In order to steal property, pri- a large amount of paperwork. From what marily in buildings and plots in Prague, has been preserved, it can be proved that which had a value of billions of Crowns. St’áva had contracts with more than twen- And that was successfully achieved. But ty hospitals and transfusion stations in the so that I don’t avoid the question, – I don’t former Czechoslovakia. This was done on know if St’áva is an angel or a devil, all the basis of a system which he had set up

[ 34 ] the new presence / winter 2008 interview

tion of their own power. And because What reason did they have? of politics, no-one wants to admit that Money and power. the fault of the state has been irrefutably proven and was decided as far back as How do you think it will all end? 1998 – and that even back then the state If it goes the route of the rule of law, then was sentenced to a written apology. I don’t know of any document or argument by the state that could not result in Who of the many health ministers carries an award for the plaintiff. The way that the greatest blame for the whole affair? It the Health Ministry has acted can only be in East Germany in the 80s. St’áva seems that you blame Bohumil Fišer (So- described as damaging the interests of the filled a niche in the market by in- cial Democrat Health Minister 2000–2002 taxpayers. vesting into the modernization of –Ed.) the most. this field. Basically, with credit that he Without question. The scandal is a text- When is the final decision due? himself paid in the order of 190 million book example of inexperience. It begins It should be at the end of 2007, but if the Crowns, he provided equipment, trained with minister Pavel Klener (first post- Office of the State (which since 2004 has people etc. He had a Czechoslovak com- communist health Minister 1989–90. had independent jurisdiction in this mat- pany, all the necessary permissions, and From 2002–2007 the head of the Czech ter) goes mad and decides to withdraw a modern inventory – all of it a year ear- Hematological and Blood Transfusion In- from the case and if the senate will want lier than his competition. It is also proven stitute –Ed.) and Martin Bojar. There is no to review it again, the whole thing could that this system worked. Four consign- way that they could not have made a mistake another two or three years. ments of blood plasma were shipped from take in this case. But no-one is accusing the Czech Republic to a Danish processor. these two of deliberate wrongdoing. But During which time, interest continues to So it wasn’t just a speculative relation- what happened under them is inexcus- accumulate, presumably? ship, it was a functioning legal relation- able. Not until 2000 did Pavel Rychtecký Yes, by two million Crowns a day. ship, from which a lawsuit later emerged. (then deputy PM) and Vladimir Špidla In fact, the notion of compensation for Why has the media taken so little notice failed contracted business arrangements of this case? has been around since Roman times and I think that it is too complex for them. is a common pillar of every manifestation No-one wants Some journalists feel guilty because they of business law in Europe. to admit that let themselves be enamoured and manip- My interpretation of the documents ulated with the promises of politicians, and testimonies of related people is that the fault of the which have today been found to be little the then Health Minister Martin Bojar, state has been more than lies and corruption. with undoubtedly good intentions, found irrefutably proven himself under the influence of an interest But some things have changed. This Au- group, was influenced by those who did gust, the Ministry of Health released more not want St’áva’s model to succeed. than two hundred pages of documents per- (then Minister for Labour and Social af- taining to the case. This is the longest running business dis- fairs) first begin to look at the case ration- Hats off to them! What the Health Minis- pute in the history of the country, isn’t it? ally. They said, “do a few independent le- try press spokesperson and even current The whole affair is actually so multi- gal analyses, and if we find that we cannot health Minister Julínek are doing is laud- faceted and complicated that after win this, then let’s just try to distance our- able and almost revolutionary. I hope it seventeen years of functioning [of the selves from it”. But then Health Minister lasts. company], and 12 years of the actual Bohumil Fišer stepped into the case with dispute, so many layers and factors have his secretly paid legal advisor and today’s What has led them to do that? Your book? come into play that it has had two ef- deputy state procurator Zdeněk Koudelka I would like to think so, but actually they fects: in this country, it always happens (also a former Social Democrat MP – Ed.). may have just realized that health is such that new ministers, governments and Those two decided that the case should be a huge industry which is intertwined their various people decide that with postponed till after the 2002 parliamentary with so many other public spheres, and their tenure, everything must have elections. Those 11 months of waiting cost was in the past so full of lobbyist interests a new solution and that in effect, his- 400 million in interest alone. Not to men- and corruption, that it is about time to tory begins anew. The second effect is tion the useless and overpriced legal as- civilize it a bit. Openness and honesty is that everyone approaches things from sessments, given without tenders to close one such way.  a purely political perspective rather friends of these politicians. Since then, than as a professional police investiga- another six tears have passed. Koudelka Illustrations by Tereza Urbanová tor or lawyer, who first collates all the and Fišer did something so dishonest that from the book Tunnel full of Blood. facts and only then begins to analyze. I don’t know of any other example of the Jan Urban: A Tunnel full of Blood, Instead, they approach it from the posi- misuse of power like it. Gema Art Group, 2007.

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_ more information at www.czechcentres.cz growing old

Old and Alone Fabiano Golgo in the Czech Republic

he former communist political re- Perception of the elderly is cultural. The sorry fate of to gime prevented people from real- North American culture loves the young, day´s Czech seniors. Tizing and pursuing their dreams. As while the Japanese look at the elderly a result, today’s Czech seniors are often as containing a wealth of traditions and unable to create a satisfying and inde- wisdom, and treat them with a great deal pendent life. of respect. In Latin-American countries, During the last 100 years, average life old people help by caring for their grand- expectancy has doubled. The combina- children. They are highly valued and tion of rapidly falling birth rates and have an important role in the day-to-day a longer life span are becoming a test for lives of their children and grandchildren. the status of the elderly. Not just grand- The elderly also often live with their parents, but also great and even great- offspring in one household – something great grandparents will be a notable part replicated in other parts of the world, of society. such as in Ireland and France. In India, photo: igor malijevský

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 37 ] growing old

“No Entry! Old People´s Home!” photo: igor malijevský land is the main family possession, and hension do they choose to move in with the most active and happy pensioners are so children live with their parents until their son’s and daughter’s families. But to be found in Slovenia. they pass on and a new generation in- they do often move in with their parents herits the family’s property. The view of at the point when they can no longer be The Czechs the Chinese is very similar, but among independent for health reasons. North After the fall of the communist regime in two hundred million new inhabitants of European Middle Age folklore has November 1989, the economic, political towns belonging to the middle classes, no illusions about inter-generational and cultural affairs of the nation were, at times are quickly changing. Just as in the relations, and warned old people of the least symbolically, transferred to a new and Czech Republic, new trends that view old dangers that come with entrusting their younger generation. Older people were of- people as unconnected to the new reality property to the care of their children. ten viewed with suspicion – incompetent are emerging. The Austrian sociologist Leopold and unsuited to this new age, spoilt by the In North America, the elderly are more Rosenmayr (born 1925) characterised the former system in which for four decades isolated, living in institutions and spend- northern European family as “care from they were maintained in an almost infant ing their time with their contemporaries afar.” Members of families from all layers like state of paralysis. As a result, a silent while the generations do not interact as of society support each other and help form of age discrimination arose. much. At the same time, they maintain with various tangible and emotional is- In today’s Czech Republic, as some great economic strength, which gives sues, even though these acts are often not studies show, the level of communication them independence and even allows expressed through touch or emotional between generations remains low. The them to financially support their children expression and not even regular visits. majority of adults leave their parents, and grandchildren. A natural suspicion However, modern forms of communica- and personal contact is limited to sea- towards government institutions of the tion make contact easier even across great sonal celebrations such as Christmas, European style and an aversion towards distances. In countries such as Sweden, or to deal with family affairs – but emo- hierarchies has led to a greater independ- Norway, Holland Denmark, Canada and tions remain muted. Many elderly live ence among older people both from the the US, it is common for old people to alone, with minimal family contact as government and their own families. have mobile phones and in the case of well as a very low pension rate to ensure In a large part of northwestern Eu- Britain, even access to the Internet. a satisfying life. rope, older people also head their own According to the UN, in the Slavonic Because of strict upbringing by Czech households for as long as it is physically world, the most desperate situation is mothers and the often nonchalant and possible, and only rarely and with appre- found among the elderly of Russia, while self-destructive behaviour of Czech

[ 38 ] the new presence / winter 2008 growing old

fathers, it is not uncommon to find that Finally, the experience of older Czechs Czech children grew up in environments of living within a system that did not en- lacking close parental bonds. Today, the The most able them to develop independent behav- effects often manifest themselves in the desperate iour, also plays a crucial role. This has led emotional severance of children who situation is to higher levels of despair and depression leave home and minimise contact with found among the among the elderly than in Western Eu- their families. The emphasis, which ropean countries. Because the majority Czech parents put on discipline, is often elderly of Russia, never gained a chance to learn leadership not compensated for by other forms of while the most or self-sufficiency within the old regime, communication. Parents not only be- active and happy they lack the psychological strength to come symbols of authoritarian forceful- pensioners are be able to construct an independent and ness, but are often unable to live by their happy life. The moral decadence found own dictates, and thus find themselves to be found in in both the communist and today’s post- out of touch with the new modern age Slovenia. communist world has also left the elderly or unable to adapt to the requirements of vulnerable and isolated.  their children. Czech upbringing has become more and more similar to the North American model ever since the 1950s. A huge gulf their opinions, thoughts and needs are between perception of the older and often not taken seriously. Instead of def- younger generations, expressed in the erence to their experience, the elderly are iconic James Dean film Rebel Without often met with a cold shoulder, except Fabiano Golgo is a cultural anthropologist a Cause, culminated in the fiery sixties. for help around the house for which they and journalist. Golgo is of Brazilian origin, Even though older people in smaller can be easily used, simply because they and has lived and worked in the Czech Repub- Czech towns have far closer familial ties, are easily available. lic since 1997.

META o.s. - Sdružení pro příležitosti mladých migrantů je META - Association for Opportunities for Young Migrants is a nevládní nezisková organizace, jejímž posláním je podporovat osobní non-governmental non-profit organization. Its principal aim is to rozvoj mladých cizinců, a to v oblasti vzdělávání, které považujeme support the self development of young migrants, mostly in the field za jednu z podmínek úspěšné integrace do společnosti. Svou činností of education, which we consider to be one of the conditions chceme přispět k oboustranně přínosnému a bezkonfliktnímu soužití necessary for their successful integration. Thus we want to cizinců a většinové společnosti. contribute to mutually enriching co-existence 1. září 2006 zahájilo sdružení META činnost between the immigrants and society at large. Poradenského a informačního centra pro On September 1st 2006, META has opened a mladé migranty (PIC). Counseling and Information Center for Young Migrants. Komu jsou služby centra určené? Who can use the service of our center? cizincům ve věku 15 až 30 let, pobývajícím dlouhodobě Poradenské a informační foreigners v Praze, bez rozdílu typu pobytu. centrum pro mladé migranty between the ages of 15 and 30 years, living in Prague, with all kinds of visa. rodičům mladých cizinců, Counseling and Information kteří řeší problémy spojené se vzděláváním Center for Young Migrants parents of young foreigners svého dítěte. who need to solve problems related to the education of their child. Nabízíme pomoc při: kontakt/contact: - výběru a kontaktování školy Rumunská 29 We offer help with: - přípravě na přijímací řízení 120 00 Praha 2 - choosing and contacting a suitable school - uznání rovnocennosti dokladů o tel/fax: 222 521 446 - preparation for entrance exams předchozím studiu mob: 775 339 003 - managing validation of certificates and - seznamování se s prostředím školy, se e-mail: [email protected] documents form previous education studijními povinnostmi a jejich plněním www.meta-os.cz - orientation in the new school environment - řešení problémů spojených se samotným Tento projekt byl podpořen z prostředků - solving school difficulties studiem Evropského sociálního fondu, státního - solving difficulties associated with - řešení problémů s ubytováním, školným rozpočtu ČR a rozpočtu hl. m. Prahy. accommodation, scholarship - vyhledání vhodného doplňkového či - finding an appropriate solution such as rekvalifikačního kurzu alternative forms of study, retraining - zprostředkování a zabezpečení pomoci s schemes etc. hlídáním dětí po dobu účasti na kurzu - managing day-care while parents attend classes/courses Jen dýně roste vleže. Staňte se dobrovolníkem! Only a pumpkin grows lying. Připojte se k nám a pomozte nám podporovat mladé cizince Become a volunteer! při jejich vzdělávání! Join us to support young foreigners in their education!

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 39 ] growing old Here Come the Pen sioners

In every country, the exten- or a truly showcase example of the not enough, something already causing adage that each coin has two sides, heated political discussions. Far more sion of the human life-span Fone only need turn to pension sys- complex measures are needed. is putting a strain on social, tems of the world. Improving lifestyles in a cleaner world, advanced diagnostic Children are the problem too pension and healthcare systems. technology and effective medicines have There exist several key factors, which all meant that people are living longer. the governments of all countries on Unless the Czech government That is the upside. However, there will Earth (because sooner or later age- and pensioners agree on soon be more elderly people than young ing populations will affect even the ones. According to expert EU estimates, developing world) will have to assess reform, a similar fate may by 2050, a quarter of EU citizens will be and tackle. One of the most pressing aged 60-79. The percentage of Europeans issues is low birth-rates, particularly in await. older than eighty will double by 2050. Europe. Unfortunately, pension experts This will also be the case in the Czech Republic. Will the younger population be able to shoulder the burden of care for so many elderly? Recently, the consulting company Deloitte released a study that demonstrated that in 2000 within OECD countries, non-economically active people dependant on the rest represented 25 percent of the population. By 2020, 36% of the EU population will be entirely dependent, since the EU is ageing faster than the US. In 2020, within the countries of the old EU 15, 45% of seniors will be economically dependent on the workforce. In the Czech Republic, according to Deloitte, around 20% of the population is dependent today, by 2020 the figure will be around 41% and by 2060 or so it is expected to cross the half- way mark. In the Czech Republic, in the last 15 years, the average age has increased by four years – in 1991, the average age of the population was 36.5 years. By the end of last year, it was over 40. Concerns are being raised that the increasing age of the population will have as its legacy the collapse of social, health and pension systems. Is such a catastrophe inevitable? Will pensioners die in destitution and will the economies of the developed world begin to crumble? This does not have to happen – so long as people pre- pare themselves for it. However, reform

of the current Czech pension system is photo: igor malijevský

[ 40 ] the new presence / winter 2008 growing old

Here Come the Pen sioners Libuše Bautzová

have been unable to agree on how much mates are drawn from the fact that today, this factor is predictable today, never on average, a woman has 1.5 children. By 2020, 36% of mind predicting in twenty or fifty years This is not expected to improve. In fact, the EU population whether there will be higher or lower this ratio is the worst in the entire EU. will be entirely birth rates. At the same time, children However, and somewhat surprisingly, last up to 15 years of age represent part of year proved to be particularly good year dependent, since the problem, because like pensioners, – in the Czech Republic, almost 106,000 the EU is aging they take from the system without con- children were born, a record in recent faster than the US. tributing to it. years. But the Czech Statistical Office Some figures estimate that by 2050, predicts that by 2010, fewer than 100,000 around two million fewer people will live babies will be born and in the ensuing in the Czech Republic, while the average years, that figure will be even worse. age will be 3–5 years higher. These esti- Such prognoses of course, need not be correct. Birth rates in this country are dependant, among other factors, on economic growth. The fact that current government incentives are not working is clear. Immigration may offset the trend slightly, but compared to the US for example, the immigration factor is not significant. However, even if birth rates in the Czech Republic were to remain at last year’s rate, the costs necessary to support the ageing population will still not be covered in the future. Working longer Reforming the Czech pension system will be crucial. However the Czech Republic has yet to undertake any meaningful reforms at all. From the point of view of the EU and several other institutions, the Czech Republic belongs among the more “risky” countries, when it comes to pension programmes. As Brussels has warned, public finances have not been adequately consolidated or prepared for the ensuing increased burdens of an ageing population. Healthy finances, low interest rates, and strong and stable economic growth are crucial for fixing the problem. The World Bank has also expressed concerns about the Central European region. People of a productive age are in decline, and current social systems are arguably not ideally placed to deal with these changes. If we continue to maintain the same system in which people

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 41 ] growing old

of productive age pay for the pensions ment in their fifties, often as a result of Another factor to ease the burden is of seniors via their taxes, it will soon be not being able to find work. that of “supplemental” pension systems. necessary to lower the actual pension Petr Nečas has stated that he is willing Such a system is based on voluntary amount. If the pension of one retiree to discuss making it advantageous for payments in which capital is saved, with is paid for by two productive citizens employers to find work for those over the state contributing to the fund as well. today, and the pension itself represents fifty, or to lower the drain of pension Today, the vast majority of Czech pen- 56 % of the average wage, when the insurance after a certain number of years sions – 95 percent, work via the primary worker-pensioner ratio falls to 1:1, the have been worked. Nonetheless, the po- system. That should change, though pensions paid out will have to drop litical climate must change. At present, Nečas has remained reluctant to discuss down to a mere 28 % of the average the majority of companies do not have what the future share of voluntary in- wage. This assumes that the government much interest in employing older work- surance should be. However, Nečas did of the day does not find other financial ers. The commonly held prejudice is that state that today‘s thirty year-olds should sources to plug the gap. Even so, this they simply don’t have the same grasp only derive 70-80 % of their pensions money will always have to come at the of modern technology as young people, via the regular state system with the rest price of something else – education, nor are they as adept at learning new coming from supplementary systems. environment, etc. Clearly, a better solu- How and when such supplemental tion is a change in the overall financing systems will be made more effective and of the Czech pension system. attractive remains unclear. One option The simplest step is to increase the being discussed is that pension insur- age of retirement. However, one can im- The Czech ance itself could be voluntarily funnelled agine the political and social repercus- Republic has yet towards these supplemental savings ac- sions. Not only do most people not wish counts. to work for longer, but problems will to undertake At present, Czech citizens largely lack also arise from the fact there won’t be any meaningful the motivation, means and incentives to enough places for seniors because em- reforms at all. save for the future. Though studies do ployers will prefer to seek out younger demonstrate that younger people are people. Yet, as life spans increase, it is thinking about the future more, saving clear that in the future a person who for one´s pension is still viewed as some- retires at 65 will still spend more years thing that will be put off “for later.” At the in retirement than someone retiring skills. Older workers are viewed as more same time, private pension plans are be- today. In line with this, Civic Democrat of a burden than an asset. At the same ing offered to Czech employees by many Minister for Labour and Social Affairs time, one can say that the present and companies. If Czech businesses were Petr Nečas has made a number of rec- continuing shortage of qualified staff further motivated by a lowering of insur- ommendations, which include moving in the workplace could easily be filled ance costs (which is being considered), the retirement age forward by a few with older workers instead of bringing there may be more employees willing to months each year. With this, Nečas is in more immigrants. But will seniors be save for the future. hoping that by 2030, men will retire able to plug the gap and what about old In the end, no one anywhere has yet at 65 (instead of 60), while women and new prejudices? devised a pension system that is entirely will be allowed to retire in relation to risk free. It is always difficult to settle the number of children they bring up. Supplemental pensions the question of to what extent private Whether this plan will be approved in The age of retirement is undeniably the pension funds should be regulated, and the current political climate is difficult main factor that affects the functioning just how much the state should serve as to say. Another suggestion is extending of current social systems across Europe, guarantor for such ventures. To come the time that a working person must which are founded on inter-generational to terms with an ageing populace will contribute towards a pension, from 25 solidarity, with pensions being guaran- require more than new legislation and to 35 years. At present, the opposition teed by the state. In a static state, such the guaranteeing of future payouts. Social Democrats are against this rec- a mechanism can function endlessly Other changes in healthcare, education ommendation. without reform, and only the amount of and indeed all social sectors will also be money in it will change. But in a situation required.  Seniors instead of immigrants where there are fewer economically ac- Currently, Czech society is very poorly tive citizens, the trend is clear. prepared to cope with an extension of But there is also good news. Last the retirement age, certainly far worse year, insurance incomes exceeded ex- than countries in Western Europe. What penditures on pensions and this year, it to do with working seniors, especially is expected that there will be a 9-10 bil- when they could just as easily gain access lion Crown surplus in the state pension Libuše Bautzová is a journalist to unemployment benefits? Even today, coffers. However, this does not alter the and the deputy editor many Czechs are going into early retire- need for long-term change. of the Czech business weekly Ekonom.

[ 42 ] the new presence / winter 2008 growing old

Dying on Time Martin Jan Stránský

he human brain is neither prepared The first symptoms are unspecific nor capable of crossing a certain – a slight loss of memory, problems with Tage limit without a gradual dete- undertaking routine domestic chores, rioration of mental faculties. The older worsening orientation, a change of per- a person gets, the greater the threat of sonality and mood. The disease is usually dementia, which is defined as a terminal age-related. With age, for reasons that we decline in intellectual faculties, mainly do not entirely fully understand, certain associated with cognitive functions – parts of the brain begin to degenerate thought, memory, and behavior. Even if with certain pathological proteins that it were possible to find a cure to stop hu- begin to embed themselves around nerve man ageing, such a discovery would sim- cells, disrupting the neurological inter- ply not come soon enough to prevent the connections between them. At the same ultimate fate of mankind. time, there is a corresponding loss of Dementia presents a serious pandemic acetylcholine, which is the main chemi- in this millennium. Since the 1960s, the cal responsible for the transmission of incidence of dementia has doubled every impulses between brain cells. The brain ten years: in people around sixty-five, the begins to slowly die, while at the same rate is 6 percent, at 85 years, it is 25 per- time shrinking. cent. With the extension of the human For people older than 85, every fifth lifespan, dementia is becoming the most person is affected. Smoking, alcohol, common medical condition. head injuries, depression, high blood In the Czech Republic, precise figures pressure, high levels of cholesterol or are hard to come by, but on the basis of lipids and diabetes all increase the risk of European data, one can assume that today, the onset of dementia. A recent discov- around 120,000 people are afflicted with ery of a group of drugs that increase the medium or severe dementia. Dementia level of acetylcholine only slows down has tremendous medical, sociological the process. In the end, the result is the and economic consequences. In 2003, the same – after five years, the patient ends global costs of caring for people with this photo: igor malijevský up needing full-time care. There is some affliction were approximately 160 billion clude the removal of certain toxic chemi- evidence that there are other drugs that

US dollars. One can only speculate how cals which damage the brain i.e,. CO2, may protect the nervous system against high these costs will rise by 2050. correcting a lack of B12, compensating such a fate, such as those that lower cho- for a dysfunctional thyroid gland, or sur- lesterol, and maybe even non-steroidal No Cure gically removing a blood clot under the anti-inflammatory drugs. However, no Dementia ultimately causes a wors- skull. The other 85 % belong to a category dramatic effect of their usage has yet ening and eventually a complete loss of called neuro-degenerative diseases, in been proven. functionality in both work and social which a certain part of the brain begins Taken purely scientifically, we are spheres. In more advanced cases, a per- to gradually lose its functionality. These a biological organism which has as its son not only cannot remember names processes can be combined with other main goal to survive, transfer its genes and facts, but also forgets also how to diseases, or they can arise by themselves. and then die. Dementia thus serves as dress and eat. Such patients become Into this unfortunate category belongs another evolutionary mechanism. To die completely detached from physical and a disease which in the industrialized at the “right” time is as advantageous as mental reality and thus become com- world represents the largest share of being born.  pletely dependant on external care. all forms of dementia – namely Alzhe- Dementia is actually a symptom of imer’s disease. At present, Alzheimer’s a process which has many pathological has no clear cause, simple diagnosis, or causes. However, all of them have one satisfactory cure. Estimates suggest that thing in common- they affect the parts around twenty million people suffer Martin Jan Stránsky is a neurologist and of the brain, which are important for from Alzheimer’s disease globally. In the is the publisher of this magazine. Translated memory and behavior. Only 15% of cases Czech Republic, around 76,000 people and abridged from an article that first of dementia can be cured. Examples in- are afflicted. appeared in the Czech daily Lidové Noviny.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 43 ] growing old Still Here

In her personal recollections on ageing, the presenter of the Czech Television docu- mentary series “Still Here” finds that old age is all a matter of perception.

Tereza Brdečková

n matters of aging, things used to be pretty clear to me: old age was Ia universally sad, unpleasant, and unavoidable affair. It was characterized by hopelessness, dementia and the widespread apathy of those around you. Worn-out people with ashen faces, a catalogue of illnesses and cracked glasses were a strange life form. They seemed to have been old ever since they were born. During the seventies, apart from the day-to-day reality full of miserly-looking and thoroughly worn-out seniors, I was also influenced by a strong Czech cultural tradition of looking at the elderly as an entirely different entity, as profiled in Babička. (Grandmother, an iconic story by famed Czech author Božena Němcová from 1855. The story recounts a young girl’s childhood spent living with her grandmother in the countryside –Ed.). The communists were as black-and-

white about old age as I was. Their photo: igor malijevský

[ 44 ] the new presence / winter 2008 growing old

propaganda depicted a comfortably se- As a woman and as a Czech, I will We interviewed writers, salespeople, nile old woman in an old-age home, with carry with me her story for the rest of doctors, teachers and we listened care- the personnel affectionately calling her my life. There will be details I remember, fully to their stories. After a few months, “babi”. Of course, the underside of this such as the descriptions of the buttons we observed a change in ourselves: We were the horrible examples of old people on German uniforms, and the hours were no longer talking with our subjects rummaging through dustbins (still vis- spent sitting during the war in hospital merely because they were old, but also ible today) and great neglect and misery. while her daughter received therapy for because we knew that on a personal That is why people strongly feared grow- her cancer. But the main legacy for me level, we could gain much from these ing old – indeed, it was viewed with the is a renewed sense of a certainty – that discussions. Each of the subjects was same horror as, say, having cancer – both no threat is ever so bad that a person majestic in their own right, and during were deadly. cannot shake out of it and retain a strong the expression of their past experiences, character. Sometimes, in the short term, they flowered as people. They were at- The story of the pearl necklace this may have drawbacks, but in the long tractive to us to listen to and be with. One old and noble woman I met when term, it will be worth it – I had met living The wrinkles on their faces suddenly I was 17 had a profound effect on me. proof of that. represented experience and endurance She had a pearl necklace around her After that, my view towards old peo- rather than mere old age. And old age neck and wonderfully cultivated nails. ple changed. I began to take them very suddenly stopped being just a label She also had a great deal of luck – she seriously, especially those who managed and instead became a quality in and of remained respected and loved by her itself. family. She walked on crutches and In 2000 we went out to film a few epi- talked a great deal. During our conver- sodes in New York. The Americans with sations, she poured liquor into tin cups Czech origins whom we went to film for everyone. I listened. The woman was The wrinkles could not find out that we were making born in an elite Prague family at the end on their faces a programme about old people, because of the 19th century and later married suddenly in America only a car or ancestry can be a renowned lawyer. One of her daugh- represented old, but not people. New York was full ters died of cancer at the beginning of of octogenarians in tennis shoes with the Nazi occupation. During the Hey- experience and rucksacks on their backs. How could one drich era (1941-42), the authorities ar- endurance rather explain to them about what being old rived for her husband one morning and than mere old age. means in the Czech Republic? As soon subsequently executed him in Prague’s as we rolled the cameras, they were all as notorious Kobylisy execution grounds. fascinating and majestic as their contem- The reason was simply that his name poraries in Prague. was on a list. She stayed alone, and after I flew home with the belief that our 1945, she lost part of her property. Fol- to see their own lives from the outside perception of old people and old age lowing the communist putsch in 1948, and pass that information on to others. It is merely a construction. It is a ghetto, she lost everything. A new chapter be- didn’t matter if they had been dustmen or where we are placed by our arrogant gan: how to survive with head held high presidents, what mattered was that apart children and by a social system, because during the horrors of the 1950s and still from children, material possessions and we can’t “continue” in the real world manage to derive some happiness from debts, one should leave something else anymore. But what the elderly can still life. for future generations. People should do is perhaps greater than what time I drank the cups of liquor and what send their stories out there – into the takes away from them. That is why my I heard was mainly exciting for the way eternal realm of human history. generation must fight against the concept it was told – the woman told the story of banishing the elderly to the peripher- humorously, but without a drop of emo- Telling Stories ies of society. tion. She described her daughter’s death, For eleven years, along with Zdeněk Tyc, Ten years ago, a seventy year old was the uniforms of the Gestapo members I have been producing a Czech television just plain “old.” Today my colleagues and and the details of everyday life with series entitled “Still Here”. The episodes I are actually embarrassed to ask them if strong detachment as if she personally are mainly comprised of interviews with we can film them for a programme called had not been part of it at all. She did not Czech and Slovak seniors. Initially, we “Still Here.” To them I say, tell us your complain, nor did she express self-pity. had wanted to ask elderly people what it story, because we need to listen.  She was essentially a vessel for transfer- means to be old at the end of the 20th cen- ring the experiences of those times to tury. Was there actually anything good other generations. The word “identity” about it? Even in the 1990s, a person was not in fashion back then. But it was older than 70 essentially belonged in the clear to me that what was important scrap heap, and so we were interested was the person who was telling me the how people cope with being written off Tereza Brdečková is a writer, story. so easily. screenwriter and journalist.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 45 ] special features

[ 46 ] the new presence / winter 2008 special features Government Inc.

William A. Cohn The rise of the unaccountable government contractor

ecent scandals concerning the ap- The Wall Street Journal reports that Control and Non-Proliferation, reports parent lawless activities of the US more than 40 cents of every dollar paid that while last year the total US federal Rprivate security contractor Black- by US taxpayers now goes to private con- budget was roughly $2.8 trillion dollars, water in the killings of innocent Iraqi civil- tractors, performing functions including $1 trillion of that was spent on security. ians have shed light on a larger dynamic – oversight, security and tax collection. According to an October 24th New York the outsourcing of government operations Even the most secret and politically Times report, “The Bush administration to the private sector. The trend towards sensitive govt. jobs, such as gathering has doubled the amount of govt. money privatizing governmental operations can intelligence, legal compliance, budget going to all types of contractors to $400 be seen in all regions of the world, includ- preparation, and counting the votes in billion [in 2006; up from $207 billion in ing Central Europe. elections are increasingly contracted out, 2000], creating a new and thriving class despite a law prohibiting the outsourcing of post-9/11 corporations carrying out According to the Wall Street Journal, of “inherently governmental” duties. delicate work for the government. But the US private federal contractors now total The US government spent $43.5 billion number of govt. employees issuing, man- more than 7.5 million, which is four times on intelligence gathering operations in aging and auditing contracts has barely greater than the federal workforce itself. grown.” Critics contend that a lack of With federal contracting expenditures accountability, and the ensuing fraud and approaching half a trillion dollars a year, waste engendered by present govt. opera- having doubled during this decade, the The US has spent tions, undermines the core principle that US national debt has now surpassed $9 twice as much in democratic governance is built on a social trillion for the first time ever. Outsourc- contract whereby those elected act for the ing is supposed to save money, but the inflation adjusted common interests of the people they are New York Times found that less than half dollars to rebuild supposed to represent. of the government’s private contactor ac- Iraq as it did to Blackwater tions in 2005 were even subject to open rebuild Japan competition. The September 16, 2007 killings of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad by private Government contracting security guards of the US govt. provides “Government is not the solution to our a useful case study of the pitfalls of out- problem; government is the problem,” 2007, of which about 70% was paid to sourcing traditional military and other Ronald Reagan proclaimed in his 1981 contractors. Private contractors handle governmental functions. inaugural address, thus christening an sensitive personal data, take minutes at A lawsuit filed in US federal court on era of populist anti-government politics. top-level meetings on national security November 26th on behalf of five Iraqis In the 1990s, the Clinton administra- matters, review and oversee the perform- who were killed and two who were tion cut the US federal workforce to its ance of other contractors, and even help injured during the shootings accuses an lowest level since 1960 and streamlined the govt. to determine what services estimated dozen Blackwater bodyguards outsourcing. Now, George W. Bush, the it needs from contractors. The largest of ignoring a direct order to stay with the first MBA President, viewing his role as source of govt. contracting growth has official they were assigned to protect, and, a CEO, has taken the privatization of been the burgeoning national security under the influence of steroids, going on government to unprecedented levels. industry, most notably at the Depart- a crazed shooting rampage in a section Simply put, his administration holds the ment of Defense and the newly created of Baghdad known as Nisoor Square. basic view that government can do no Dept. of Homeland Security. Christopher Investigations by the US military, FBI

photo: kristýna urbánková right, and business can do no wrong. Hellman, fellow at the Center for Arms and also the Iraqi government found no

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 47 ] special features

evidence in support of claims by Blackwa- the State Dept. expanded that contract Author and columnist Naomi Klein ter employees that they were fired upon to $100 million. Blackwater now holds notes that when contractors – including and were therefore acting in self-defense. a contract worth $1.2 billion. Over the Blackwater – descended on New Orleans The US Army investigation determined past 4 years, State Dept. spending on following Hurricane Katrina, “FEMA that there was “no enemy activity in- private security firms has risen by 400%, was already so hollowed-out by then volved” and described the killings as to $4 billion a year, yet few officials act to that it had to hire a contractor to help a “criminal event.” There is also evidence oversee the contracts. Private contractors manage all the contractors… It still looks that Blackwater employees tampered with are paid up to 7 times what US soldiers like government – with impressive build- the crime scene in a cover-up effort. Yet are paid, yet, according to the Times, “The ings, presidential news briefings, policy Blackwater continues to receive lucra- State Dept. has said that it will continue battles. But pull back the curtain and tive govt. contracts and the State Dept. to rely on contractors because, for now there is nobody home.” When the Dept. reportedly gave bonuses for “outstanding at least, it has no choice… the military of Homeland Security solicited bids on performance” to officials with direct over- does not have the trained personnel to a recent multi-billion dollar project it sight of Blackwater. How can this be? take over the job.” An official inquiry by announced to contractors, “We’re asking Blackwater was founded in 1997, but the Special Inspector General for Iraq you to come back and tell us how to do its security division was incorporated in reconstruction found that the State Dept. our business.” January 2002, just before the US inva- was unable to say what is was receiving Is the fox guarding the hen house? The sion of Afghanistan, which led to its first for much of the money given to Dyn- General Counsel of the Project on Govt. contract, with the CIA, in April 2002. Corp (whose employees were implicated Oversight, a watchdog group, says that al- One of the key players involved in that lowing contractors to review the work of contract and securing Blackwater’s role other contractors captures in microcosm as the leading mercenary company of a govt. that’s run by corporations. As the Bush administration was Buzzy The hidden noted by US Comptroller General David Krongard, then executive director of Walker, “There’s something civil servants the CIA. Buzzy, a friend of Blackwater contractor have that the private sector doesn’t, and CEO Erik Prince, went to Kabul in April workforce that is the duty of loyalty to the greater 2002 and said the agency’s new station is politically good – the duty of loyalty to the collec- there was sorely lacking in security. That convenient for tive best interest of all, rather than the same month, Blackwater landed a $5.4 interest of a few. Companies have duties million six-month no-bid contract to officials, enabling of loyalty to their shareholders, not to the provide 20 security guards for the Kabul them to claim that country.” CIA station, and Blackwater was off and they are reducing But at least we’ve saved money, right? running. Erik Prince has made six-digit the size and cost Wrong. Competition, essential to real- contributions to Republican candidates izing the purported efficiencies of free and is well-connected with right-wing of govt. market solutions, has been lacking. The power brokers, but maintains that these Times reports that less than half of all contacts had nothing to do with Black- “contract actions” – new contracts and water’s growth during the Bush years payments against existing contracts – are from a tiny start-up to a billion dollar in sex crimes committed in the 1990s in subject to full and open competition. federal contractor. the Balkans), the second largest private Just 48% were competitive in 2005, down Buzzy Krongard’s brother, the top contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan over from 79% in 2001. The recent trend has State Department official charged with the past 3 years. been to use sole-source contracts which investigating allegations of fraud, waste Ultimately, Blackwater continues to combine the dangers of a monopoly with and abuse, has the duty to oversee Black- prosper because the State Dept. and the the waste and inefficiency of a bureauc- water. Inspector General Howard Kron- armed forces have become depleted and racy. The lack of oversight in accounting gard will resign Jan. 15th amidst charges anemic. An early 2007 Wall Street Journal for the use of public monies has been well of perjury and obstruction of justice report found that due to its increasing documented. For instance, following the in impeding investigations of fraud by tendency to outsource, the US govt. is invasion of Iraq, the Coalition Provision- contractors in Iraq. The chairman of the rapidly losing its expertise and compe- al Authority (CPA) disbursed more than House oversight committee investigating tence in vital areas such as security and $23 billion, of which some $10 billion fraud in Iraq finds that “the State Dept. is defense, leading to what the author calls has vanished and gone unaccounted for acting as Blackwater’s enabler.” Just what “the outsourcing of its brain.” FEMA’s in a frenzy of mismanagement and greed is being enabled? (the Federal Emergency Management (See “Billions over Baghdad, ” Vanity Agency) feeble response to Hurricane Fair, October 2007). Competency and corruption Katrina and the Coalition Provisional As Congress gave money to the CPA, In 2003, Blackwater was awarded a $27 Authority’s dismal performance in Iraq few realized that it was neither a US, million no-bid contract to provide body- are but two of many examples of incom- nor Iraqi, nor a UN agency. The bizarre guards for US staff in Iraq. A year later, petence and corruption. truth, noted in an opinion of a US federal

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judge, is that “no formal document . . . tice, to a license to kill with impunity. know all-too-well the lack of compassion establishes the CPA or provides for its There is no genuine deterrence to acting shown them by their govt. In January formation.” Thus, it was legally unac- unlawfully.” Blackwater was involved in 2006, the premiere public medical center countable in giving away billions of 195 instances of gunfire from 2005 until for veterans, Walter Reed Army Medical, dollars. When asked by a BBC reporter early September, a rate of 1.4 shootings awarded a 5-year $120 million private what happened to all that money airlifted per week. In 163 of those cases, Black- contract. Officials ignored warnings of to Baghdad, the CPA’s director of man- water gunmen fired first. Yet nothing the dangers of privatization and the re- agement and budget replied: “I have no has been done about this, and the inves- sult was the shameful breakdown of the idea – I can’t tell you whether or not that tigation of the September killings was system of medical care for veterans. money went to the right things or didn’t tainted from the start: The initial State The lead story in the November 11th – nor do I actually think it’s important . . . Dept. report was drafted by a Blackwater New York Times describes an Iraqi arms what difference does it make?” A private employee on US government stationary. bazaar paid for by US taxpayers. In July contracting company using a Bahamian For two weeks, the only people looking 2004, the company American Logistics PO box, experienced only in home re- at this crime were State Dept. employees Systems, which later became Lee Dy- modeling, was given the contract to audit -- non-law-enforcement actors with an namic International, won $11 million in the billions disbursed by the CPA. obvious conflict of interest. In a highly contracts to manage five arms warehouses As for the efficiency of such contract- unusual move, the govt. granted those in Iraq. This contractor, alleged to have ing, consider this: as of October 2007, involved in the killing immunity from paid hundreds of thousands of dollars the US has spent twice as much in infla- prosecution in return for cooperating in bribes to military contracting officers, tion adjusted dollars to rebuild Iraq as it with investigators. The immunity-for- reportedly allowed these depots to be- did to rebuild Japan – an industrialized statements deal suggests that the moti- come arms bazaars which routinely sold country comparable in size to Iraq, two vation of the investigation was more to weapons to militias and other insurgents. of whose cities had been incinerated by immunize Blackwater employees than to Some 200, 000 weapons supplied by the atomic bombs. A November 20th Center gather facts in pursuit of justice. US military to Iraqi security forces went for Public Integrity report finds that US While the notion of so-called “com- missing. Master Sergeant John Tisdale, contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan more passionate conservatism” is “leaner, not whose repeated complaints to American than doubled from 2004 to 2006, to over meaner, ” the past 7 years suggest the Logistics executives apparently fell upon $25 billion, yet “[w]hile the billions of reverse is true. The Iraqi taxi driver shot deaf ears, says “There were truckloads of dollars involved and the complexity of dead Nov. 12th by DynCorp Security and stuff moving out of that armory without these war-related contracts has only those tortured at the hands of US agents any authorization.” grown, the lack of oversight has been in outsourced prisons know full-well the Safety has also been eroded at home, staggering.” A December 2007 report of meaning of cruel, inhuman and degrad- as industry insiders and lobbyists have the Pentagon’s Inspector General finds ing treatment, prohibited by the Geneva been appointed to run numerous govt. that more than 90% of its contracts in Conventions, yet sanctioned by present agencies, from the EPA, FDA and OSHA Iraq lack sufficient paperwork to deter- US policy. Residents of New Orleans’ to the FCC, MSHA and SEC. For exam- mine how the funds were spent. Ninth Ward and Armed forces amputees ple, the chair of the Consumer Product seeking medical care at Walter Reed Safety Commission, who according to Government diminished – meaner, not leaner Blackwater’s September 16th shooting rampage is not an isolated incident. Atrocities have also occurred at Haditha, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, “black site” secret prisons, and elsewhere. Yet there has been no reckoning, due in part to willful de- nial, but also because military operations have largely been outsourced to private contractors who have escaped the law -- because current US and international laws do not adequately address contractors. Notably, the Coalition Provisional Authority installed in Baghdad following the US invasion of Iraq decreed that US forces and agents are immune from Iraqi prosecution. As Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights stated,

“These legal loopholes amount, in prac- photo: kristýna urbánková

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the Times “is supposed to be the con- years trying in vain to get the Army to Govt. contractors have become po sumers’ advocate, [yet] has more often explain the contracts for Blackwater’s werful special interest groups which, echoed the views of the manufacturers’ work in Iraq, which involves several through their campaign contributions lobbyists,” recently joined lobbyists layers of costly subcontractors. An early and lobbying activities, exert an inor- of toy manufacturers in opposing an 2007 study by govt.-appointed experts dinate influence on policy. The billions increase in her own agency’s budget (!), concluded that the surge of contracting spent on missile defense programs which banning lead from toys for kids, and “poses a threat to the government’s long- do not work, for instance, is driven by the stiffening penalties for violators. It was term ability to perform its mission [and aerospace industry. The top 20 contrac- subsequently revealed that she and her could] undermine the integrity of the tors have spent more than $300 million predecessor took free trips from the toy government’s decision-making.” since 2000 on lobbying and have donated industry to China, Spain and a golf resort So why use contractors? The hid- $23 million to political campaigns. Con- at Hilton Head Island. TheTimes opined, den contractor workforce is politically tractors have formed their own lobbying “President Bush came into office promis- convenient for officials, enabling them association, the Professional Services ing relief for industry, which he claimed to claim that they are reducing the size Council, which pushes for the further was overburdened by government regu- and cost of govt. It also enables officials corporatization of govt. Lockheed Mar- lations. Too often, however, that policy to reward friends and patrons, and to tin, the biggest contractor, receives more allows unscrupulous businesses to put establish ties to contractors who may federal money each year than either the workers and consumers in danger. . . .In hire them in lucrative positions someday Energy or Justice Departments. Con- recent months, millions of toys have been -- the public-private revolving door (e. g. gressional earmarks also serve to directly recalled because of their brightly colored former CIA counter-terrorism chief Cofer benefit select private businesses at public – and very toxic – lead paint.” Black is now vice-chairman of Blackwater expense. This non-transparent legislative and an advisor to presidential candidate “pork” which allows lawmakers to fund Citizenship and the social fabric Mitt Romney). And in war-time, private projects to benefit their large campaign JFK famously implored Americans, “Ask armies allow politicians to avoid a draft contributors has tripled over the past not what your country can do for you and reduce the political damage caused by decade, totaling $31 billion last year. For – ask what you can do for your country.” troop casualties since the deaths of con- instance, House lawmakers tacked on 1, Yet at a time of war in Afghanistan and tractors are not counted (There are now 337 earmarks adding some $3 billion to Iraq Americans have been asked to do 180, 000 individual private contractors in go to 580 private companies in its most little more than go shopping and watch Iraq while the total number of US troops recent military appropriations bill – all Fox News. in both Iraq and Afghanistan is 156, 247). for projects which the Pentagon did not As reported in the International Herald An October UN report on human rights even request. Tribune, “Without public debate or formal notes several stories of “killings carried The Department of Homeland Secu- policy decision, contractors have become out by privately hired contractors with se- rity (DHS), established as a new govt. a virtual fourth branch of government.” curity-related functions in support of US agency in 2003, offers prime pickings And such contracting almost always govt. authorities” and warns that an in- for contractors. Nominated in 2004 to leads to less public scrutiny. Companies, creasing reliance on heavily armed private head DHS, Bernard Kerik has pled guilty unlike govt. agencies, are not subject to contractors risks eroding the distinction to ethics violations and was recently disclosure laws. Congress has spent two between civilians and combatants. indicted on 16 counts of federal criminal

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fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of be inefficient, and to falsify cost-related L-3, Titan, Custer Battles, Triple Canopy, justice. DHS maintains an “Open for records. etc. are also reaping billions of dollars of Business” website section and a private- According to former employee Linda public monies doing work outsourced sector office headed by a former JP Warren, KBR regularly falsified records. by the Bush-Cheney (The latter, the Morgan Chase banker. This office held For instance, its official 2006 statement former CEO of Halliburton) Pentagon. a corporate seminar in 2007 on “The of “73.5 million patrons served in Rec- Of course, nearly all of these companies Business of Homeland Security” offering reational Facilities” was more than 565 are major donors to and are run by ex- “tips, hints and directions” on how to win times the number of troops stationed ecutives with close ties to the Republican contracts. In 2003, the US govt. issued 3, in Iraq. Former employees have also Party. 512 security contracts to companies. In recounted how KBR over-orders equip- the 22-month period ending in August ment on a huge scale, much of which is Blackwater revisited 2006, DHS issued more than 115, 000 then left to rot in the desert. The LOG- (a Blackwater whitewash?) security related contracts. CAP contracts are written and adminis- Under public pressure, in December new tered in such way that there is no way to rules and guidelines were agreed to giv- All the wrong incentives track how the money has been spent. Yet ing the military in Iraq greater control US govt. contracts for work in Afghani- LOGCAP 4, to be awarded to DynCorp, over Blackwater and other private secu- stan and Iraq have grown from $11 bil- Fluor and KBR, is another cost-plus, rity contractors. At best this reform may lion in 2004 to more than $25 billion in indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity improve oversight, yet it does little to fix 2006. Comptroller General Walker notes contract. This time a private contractor the larger problem of a system of bad the acute problem of lack of oversight has been hired to assist the govt. agencies incentives. At worst it is purely cosmetic, for military contracting. The Center for responsible for oversight. But outsourc- and likely to be overseen by the very Public Integrity cites the lack of competi- ing govt. oversight merely abdicates contractors it is purported to control. tive bidding, missing contracts and uni- duty to an unqualified business rife with The International Herald Tribune dentified companies as some of the key conflicts of interest. opined on November 17-18, “the FBI problems. In its list of the top 100 private The Department of Defense [DOD] is reaching the same horrifying conclu- contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan from is the largest govt. agency with a $460 sions as the Iraqi authorities did: that 2004 through 2006, the largest benefactor billion budget this year [not including the deadly September shooting spree by falls into the category of “Unidentified almost $200 billion in supplemental Blackwater security guards in Baghdad Foreign Entities” – those not identified in funding for war fighting], a 90% increase was unjustified [and] has fed Iraqi fury at US govt. contracts – which have received since 2000. On November 13th, Congress the American occupation. . . Contractors some 20.5 billion dollars for services. estimated the actual cost of the wars in have been involved in some of the most According to US attorney Alan Gray- Iraq and Afghanistan to total a staggering shameful incidents in this war, including son, the amount spent on contractors in $1.6 trillion – roughly $20, 900 per US the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. the four-plus years of war in Iraq is now family of four. DOD private contracting But not one contractor [among the 100, over $100 billion, and through a combi- expenditures have risen from $106 bil- 000 American contractors working in nation of inflated bids, waste, kickbacks lion in 2000 to $297 billion in 2006. At- Iraq] has been prosecuted for crimes and inflated subcontracts, some half of torney Alan Grayson says, “In my mind, against an Iraqi. That shameful record the value of every contract he has seen one of the basic reasons, maybe even the cannot be allowed to stand.” “ends up being fraudulent in one way or basic reason, why the war has gone badly Bush officials have consistently another.” (See “The People vs. The Profit- is war profiteering. You could say that employed the “few bad apples” defense eers,” Vanity Fair, November 2007). the only people who have benefited from to discount the corrupt practices and Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate the war in Iraq are al-Qaeda, Iran and atrocities of US contractors, such as the Judiciary Committee, has introduced Halliburton. America has spent so much Sept. 16th killings at Nisoor Square. As a War Profiteering Prevention Act to money that we literally could have hired the disgrace and waste continue, that hold corrupt contractors accountable. every single adult Iraqi and it would have explanation is clearly inadequate. The But it is the very deals the govt. awards cost less than what it has cost to conduct Blackwater scandal provides an opportu- contractors that fosters waste and cor- this war through US military forces and nity to delve deeper into the institutions ruption. Halliburton spin-off KBR oper- contractors.” and incentives at work and to question ates under a LOGCAP 3 contract which Halliburton’s govt. contracts have the wisdom of turning state functions is a sole-source (giving KBR sole respon- risen by 600%, including more than $10 into for-profit enterprises. If we fail to do sibility for the maintenance of US troops billion in DOD contracts, while its spin- so there will surely be more Blackwaters in Iraq) “cost-plus” agreement, meaning off, KBR, has been the top contractor in in our future.  that the govt. commits to reimburse Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 through whatever KBR spends, plus a fee of some 2006, with contracts exceeding $16 bil- 3%. So the more money KBR spends, the lion. With 2006 profits of almost $2.5 more money it makes; thereby giving it billion, Halliburton’s overall profits have William A. Cohn is a writer, lawyer and lec- the incentive to jack-up its expenditures increased by more than 368% since 2001. turer at the University of New York in Prague, by any means. KBR is thus encouraged to Like Halliburton, DynCorp, Blackwater, and a frequent contributor to the journal.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 51 ] special features Sonia Kalausová Czech Inventions

f one were to ask a layperson what the in Prague, from where he continued to Czech Republic has given the world, experiment with polymers. In 1953, he Imost likely the answer would be beer. patented a method used for the produc- But although the Pilsner form of the amber tion of hydrophilic gels for medical uses. nectar was first brewed in West Bohemia, And it is this material that would later be it was actually a Bavarian by the name of used for Wichtele’s most famous inven- Josef Groll that invented the national tip- tion, the contact lens. ple. So what does that leave the residents Wichterle was by no means a darling of this small republic? Surprisingly, quite of either the Nazi or communist regimes. a lot. During the war, the Nazis imprisoned the chemist, and life under the communists, The contact lens despite his anti-Nazi credentials was also Many of you will be reading this magazine not rosy. In 1958, Wichterle was forced blissfully unaware of how much you owe to abandon his position as a professor, Czech chemist, Otto Wichterle. While but his indispensability was soon recog- working in the Czechoslovak Academy nised, and Wichterle was given another of Sciences, Wichterle produced the first “chance”. He was soon entrusted with hydrogel contact lenses, the same kind creating an Institute of Macromolecular that are used today. Previous incarnations chemistry, and became its first head. had been constructed from brown glass The Soviet invasion of 1968 marked the and were neither particularly effective decline of Wichterle’s career. The chemist nor were they particularly comfortable openly criticised the new puppet govern- and could only be worn for an hour or ment and signed a petition opposing its two at a time. Today, about 125 million actions. The onset of President Gustav people wear contact lenses across the Husák’s normalisation led to Wichterle globe. being stripped of all of his positions. He Fate and coincidence often play a large was only allowed to continue working role in inventions. The Czech chemist as a researcher, and his name was not Otto Wichterle, born in 1913, already allowed to feature on any lists of Czecho- had a successful career behind him, with slovak professors. synthetic fibres, being his most notable But let us return to Wichterle’s most discovery. Wichterle was born in the famous invention. Back in 1952, on Moravian town of Prostějov and studied a journey from Olomouc to Prague, at the Faculty of Chemical and Techno- Wichterle saw one of his fellow pas- logical Engineering (ČVUT), where he sengers reading an article about metal later went on to work as a research assist- artificial eye implants. He began to talk ant. The occupation of Czechoslovakia to the reader and soon started to think and the ensuing closure of Universities about a synthetic material that might by the Nazis led Wichterle to seek work be better suited to the eye. By coinci- at the research and development depart- dence, the passanger was the secretary ment of the Baťa shoe company. It was of a health ministry commission, which here that he succeeded in developing was studying the usage of synthetic a stretching polyimide silicon fibre. After materials in healthcare. Wichterle did the war, this material was sold as Silon not immediately know of any particular (Czechs today call stockings “silonky”). material that could be used in the eye, In Czechoslovakia, this discovery repre- but the idea of hydrophilic polymers sented a breakthrough in synthetic mate- was soon coalescing in his mind. Di- rial production. Wichterle soon became rectly translated “water-loving” material a professor at the Technical University would be ideal for this purpose. In such

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A look at some of the Czech Republic´s Czech Inventions most famous and infamous inventions.

a material, interwoven chains of organic a prototype mould from which he fash- Naturally, such an unhygienic approach macromolecules create a mesh and are ioned four particularly uniform lenses. would raise eyebrows today. The presenta- surrounded by molecules of water. When This proved that contact lenses could be tions were successes, yet, for a long time it the material dries up, it loses its proper- mass-produced – indeed, in the ensuing seemed that contact lens was far more of ties and becomes as fragile as thin glass. months, Wichterle produced more than an attractive gimmick that would simply The more water is present, the softer the five thousand of them. not catch on. Then, a company expressed material and the less it irritates human Of course, Wichterle was not the first interest in purchasing the patent. The tissue, particularly the eye. For a contact to toy with the idea of a contact lens. Such Czechoslovak academy did not waste any lens to be feasible, the material also had esteemed names as Leonardo da Vinci and time, and without the knowledge of the to be porous in order to allow the eye to René Descartes can claim that credit. But inventor, it sold the patent to the US com- breathe. the former never had the means to even pany National Patent Development Corp. Wichterle experimented by trying attempt to create such an invention; the for a mere million dollars. When one con- out his lenses on himself. Initially, they latter merely focused on the mathemati- siders how many billions of dollars have were unrefined, and they burned his cal complexities of such a device. The first been spent on contact lenses, this sum eyes, but the inventor soon realised that glass lenses were created in 1887 by the seems all the more laughable. Further, despite the setbacks, he was definitely German glassmaker F.E. Müller, but it Wichterle only received a paltry cut of this on to something. But Wichterle was was Wichterle who created a functional sum. As a person who spent his whole life greeted with apathy back at his place of design that could be worn far longer, and carrying the burden of his talents in the work. The Institute of Macromolecular was far more affordable. face of the various Czechoslovak regimes, chemistry was still under construction Wichterle travelled around the world Wichterle remained philosophical, telling and so Wichterle chose to do much of with his invention, and demonstrated its the British Guardian newspaper “I would his hydrogel work at home assisted by usage and functionality on himself – he have had problems with what to do with his wife Lydia, a doctor by profession. took a lens out of his eye, threw it on the that sum of money.” By Christmas 1961, Wichterle built, floor and stood on it. Then, he washed it But Otto Wichterle did finally receive with the aid of some of his son’s toys(!) in his mouth, and put it back in his eye. some recognition for his efforts. After

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1989, he was elected to serve as the head the Grebner brothers to hear a proposal hacking at her sugar loaf, she injured of the Czech Science Academy and dur- to build a beet sugar refinery in the herself. With a bandaged finger, she ran ing the nineties, he remained active in town. František and Tomáš Grebner to her husband, imploring him, as the the field of synthetic lenses for patients had credentials and experience in this manager of a sugar factory, to come up that had undergone cataract removal. field in countries such as Germany and with a better solution. Among many other rewards, in 1993 France and their plans were eventually The end result of this marital squabble Wichterle was honoured by having an accepted. was a mould for a sugar cube, which Mr asteroid named after him in recognition Dačice lies about 500 metres above sea Rad built himself. The mould contained of his work. In the Czech Television se- level, not ideal conditions for the cultiva- 400 small holes and would then be pressed ries “The Greatest Czech” Wichterle was tion of sugar beet. In 1829, the Grebner between two plates, which shrunk the voted number 23. He died in 1998. brothers planted three hectares worth of sugar to half its size. The cubes would crops, which soon failed. After several then be dried for around twelve hours, The Sugar Cube more attempts, they were forced to give and then they could be wrapped up and There is something about the sugar cube up on the idea of growing sugar in the re- sold. that makes one believe that it is such gion. But in 1833, a sugar refinery opened Soon after, Juliana received her first a logical invention that it must have in Dačice which refined imported sugar box of sugar cubes. All this occurred always been in existence. Not so. from Italy and later also domestic sugar. some time around 1841. Within two Dačice is a Czech town of around 8000 In the early 1840s, a new manager came years, Rad managed to gain a licence people not far from the Austrian border. to Dačice by the name of Jakub Kryštof and patent for the manufacture of sugar The locals are proud of their clean air, Rad. Rad, a Swiss national, expanded the cubes. Soon, the cubes found their way largely achieved through a preference for factory and soon it was exporting across to Vienna, and from there, the rest of gas power as well as a lack of industrial Europe. In 1842, it became the first sugar Europe. The Dačice refinery was highly pollutants. They are also proud of their factory to use steam power. successful during the 1840s. However, historical landmarks scattered densely The successful manager was also the problem of its less than ideal altitude across the town. But more than any of something of a handyman. In those and location soon became an issue again. that, Dačice’s inhabitants are proud of days, sugar was sold in a solid state and Specifically, costs were increased due to their sugar cube. in larger quantities, usually in the shape the need to import raw materials from In fact, Dačice even has a granite of a loaf. This was less than ideal for the afar. As a result, and despite the lucrative sugar-cube shaped memorial (construct- domestic kitchen, as before each use, the sugar cube, the refinery closed in 1852, ed in 1983) to the town’s most prolific sugar would have to be chipped off the and Rad soon returned to Vienna, where invention. During the 19th century, Karl large block. Juliana, Rad’s wife, keenly his part in the sugar cube was soon for- Dalberg, an earl from the town, invited observed this limitation. Once, while gotten. It wasn’t until 20th century sugar

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historian R.E. Grottkas pointed to Rad’s and was also used in the Middle East. Other Czech inventors contribution during the 1930’s that this Semtex was also sold on the black market invention was again highlighted. Thus, by members of the Czechoslovak army,  Václav Prokop Diviš – inventor the citizens of Dačice continue to be and was even stolen by workers where it of the lightening rod & Denis d’or proud of their invention, even though its was manufactured. – first electrified musical instrument inventor was in actuality a Swiss citizen Even today, Semtex remains accessible  Jakub Husník – inventor of pho- from Vienna. to members of the Czech underworld. tolithography It was used in the case of the so called  Josef Ludvík František Ressel Semtex Orlický Murders (a series of murders – inventor of the ship propeller One of the most famous Czech inventions committed by competing business fac-  Jaroslav Heyrovský – inventor is also, by definition, one of the most tions in the 1990s). It was also allegedly of polarographic effect and father of notorious. It is certainly an invention to be used by the former Czech minis- electoanylitical canistry – nobel prize that Czechs are not particularly proud of, terial adviser Karel Srb to murder the winner namely the explosive Semtex. investigative journalist Sabina Slonková.  Karel Václav Klíč – inventor of When on the 21st October 1988, Today, only small amounts of Semtex photogravure a Pan Am airplane blew up and crashed are still produced, but the fact that this  Otto Wichterle – inventor of the on the Scottish town of Lockerbie, explosive remains so durable, means that contact lens a small Czech invention gained notoriety old stocks are still a threat.  Miroslav Sedlacek – inventor of around the world. Results showed that stream hydro-electrics the 259 passengers and a further 11 The greatest of the great  The Veverka cousins – invented people in Lockerbie had died because of Any article on Czech inventors would a turning plough, an advanced form an explosion on board the plane – traces be amiss if it did not mention one of the of plough that not only ploughed but of Hexogen and Penitrite were found in greatest historical figures of all time. In- also turned the soil the wreckage, unmistakably the hallmark deed, this particular Czech is so prolific  Viktor Kaplan – inventor of the of a Czechoslovak manufactured plastic that it is difficult to find a single inven- water turbine – ‘the Czech edison’ explosive known as Semtex. tion that he himself did not discover  Semtex was invented in the 1960s by or create. Who is this figure? His name František Křižík – first arc lamps Stanislav Brebera. The name was derived is Jára Cimrman, actually a fictional from the words Semtín and Explosia. character created by the comedians  Johan Gregor Mendel – founder The first is the name ofa small village Zdeňek Svěrák and Jiří Šebánek. The of genetics near the Czech town of Pardubice where Jára Cimrman phenomenon has become  Jan Evangelista Purkyně – au- the substance was made, and the latter is something of an ongoing joke in Czech thor of cell theory the name of the company that created it. society. Performers Ladislav Smoljak  Sigmund Freud – inventor of Semtex was initially created for industrial and Zdeňek Svěrák give presentations deep psychology, born in Moravia. usage, but soon its use was extended to in which they try to piece together the  Johannes Evangelists Purkinje military, and later terrorist purposes. mystical and elusive details of this great – pioneer of fingerprinting Its use as a terrorist weapon is un- Czech’s life. Very little is known about  Jan Janský – classification of derstandable: Semtex is resistant to Cimrman beyond the fact that he is truly blood groups and proponent of blood high temperatures, pressures and is the greatest historical figure of all time donation even waterproof. At first sight, it looks – and in that lies the quintessentially  Georg Franz August Graf von like simple plasticine, and can only be Czech comedy. In the aforementioned Buquoy (Jiří Buquoy) – synthetic detonated with the aid of a detonator Greatest Czech competition, Cimrman hyalite or other explosive. In the Lockerbie received a huge number of nominations.  Jan Hajek – development of incident, it was later discovered that the However, the organisers of the competi- TCP/IP protocol Semtex had been hidden in a portable tion were forced to strike him from the  František Koláček – first to -de cassette player. From 1991, Semtex has list, because he was, after all, a fictional scribe electromagnetic theory of light been deliberately marked in order character. But the myth continues: In dispersion to make it more difficult to conceal a recent poll by the news server iDnes.  – a special chemical is added which cz, on who would be the ideal candidate Jirí Procháska – wrote first genuine textbook of physiology, created makes it visible to detectors. to oppose Czech president Václav Klaus the concept of nerve conduction The Czechoslovak government also in upcoming elections, Cimrman’s name  contributed to Semtex’s bad name by ex- again dominated the list.  Carl Freiherrą von Rokitansky porting it to countries such as Libya and – method of autopsy still used today – 70 000 autopsies, and personally Vietnam. However, the precise amounts performed over 30 000, averaging two exported by the communist government a day, seven days a week, for 45 years are almost impossible to calculate. From  Libya, Semtex made its way to various John Zelený – inventor of elec- troscope terrorist groups, for example the IRA Sonia Kalausová is a freelance journalist.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 55 ] short story Rising Waters

Alena Müllerová

e sat in his chair, head bent back- that he too had to be very old, maybe even He wanted her to work, but only because wards, trying to think of his name. a hundred, or at least ninety, especially he was unwilling to go on supporting her. HAn unknown girl entered the since he didn’t understand anything any- Mother told stories of how, along with room. It could have been his daughter or more. When he was younger, everything Grandmother, they had both begged granddaughter – she was too young to be had to be done his way or not at all. After him to allow her to study further, but he his girlfriend. the death of his parents, he brought up remained as rigid as stone. “Do you need anything?” she asked. his four younger siblings by himself. He Grandmother and Granddad both “Time is running out and the waters worked at a farm in order to make ends worked in a factory. As a child in are rising,” he blurted out somewhat meet, and simply never had the time or a working family, the authorities would randomly, as if he could think of nothing strength for any “unnecessary” love or have let mother into any high school she else to say. Recently, his brain had begun tenderness. The children had to obey had wanted to attend. Instead, she went to work in rather mysterious ways. He re- him like clockwork. Yet despite all this, into accounting, even though office work membered many details from his youth the great “tragedy” still occurred – his bored her. and childhood, but at the same time, he younger brother was killed when he fell off “He ruined my life,” said Mother very had difficulty recalling what day it was, a roof. Granddad recalled how he beat his often. or what year, or the identities of people sister Fanca a few days after it happened. Katka could never understand why around him, or even his own name. He had never done anything similar to Mother was unable to stand up to her Granddad sat in his old chair and that before. She covered her eyes with her father. The same with Grandmother. But mumbled something to himself. Katka hands, begged for mercy and then just they were afraid of him. It seemed that the didn’t understand a word. After Katka’s went silent. Later, it became easier for him cold lack of empathy within him had just mother had taken him home from the to administer such punishments. If his been allowed to fester unchallenged for hospital, his bones creaked, he barely ate brothers or sisters annoyed him, then he all these years. Katka could never forget and he couldn’t even stand up anymore. beat them. Later, it was the same situation how when she was very small, Granddad They told her that he wouldn’t be around with his own kids and also his wife. But deliberately trampled on a birds nest, for much longer. But after being released, only when necessary, of course… killing all the baby birds inside. his condition improved slightly. Katka looked at Granddad and took Katka stood in front of Granddad “Where am I?” he suddenly asked in an apple from a basket on the table. He chewing on her apple. The old man a loud and lucid voice. looked at those apples with a clear sense couldn’t remember what that round, “Home.” Katka answered, amiably. of longing, but he couldn’t have chewed juicy green fruit was called. He had “Home, where?” replied the old man. them up anyway. Before, he would have a dry feeling in his mouth. In his view, Katka almost believed that her grand- certainly found the energy to hurl some that woman next to him did not even father wasn’t deserving of such care. His kind of abuse at her. Today, he looked try to understand what he wanted. She whole life, he had just shouted at people. more confused than ever. He didn’t looked at him coldly and indifferently. When his wife had served him some soup even recognize her. Only yesterday, he She looked at him as if he were a strange and he thought it wasn’t hot enough, he scolded her for wasting time studying insect. He detested being pitied, and this was capable of simply pouring it onto the film and theatre at university. Granddad seemed just as bad. In his head, dark floor. Once, she saw how for no apparent was certain that girls shouldn’t study at imaginings surfaced, which only made reason, he beat up a dog until it bled. She all. At least if she had chosen some use- his mood more sombre. even suspected that when no one was ful school instead of studying film and He was only a young man, but already around, he raised his hand to his wife. theatre. He had never even once been to had a family and had just moved into That girl in the room was indeed very the cinema, and only once had he visited a new home. He found himself walking young, even if for Granddad people in the Czech National Theatre. along his big garden with its ripening their fifties seemed young. She reminded Granddad had forbidden both of his fruit trees, laborious vegetable plots and him of a sister-in-law – one that had been daughters and also his wife from attend- endless bushes. Before he managed to dead for years now. He recalled that his ing high school. She finished grammar reach the apple trees, his thoughts drifted own wife had also since passed away and school with distinction, but that was it. elsewhere. Suddenly, he was much older,

[ 56 ] the new presence / winter 2008 short story

wearing dirty boots, and in a foul mood. broken –young Katka was named after He sat home in the Next to him danced his young grand- her. room, staring vacu- daughter. He lifted her up so that she “Kateřina!” he remembered. “That ously. Suddenly he could see a nest full of young blackbirds. girl is my granddaughter and is called saw his mother, The birds looked so fragile and innocent. Kateřina, the same as my sister-in-law. wearing a flow- But blackbirds were not welcome here. He She has the same wild eyes.” Unlike her ery dress while thrust the nest to the floor and stamped sister, his late wife Maria, was as meek as he, now a young on the birds until they were no more. The a lamb – she even looked like one. Maria boy, was getting ready for little girl started screaming and banging had remained thoroughly subordinate to school. He asked her if her fists on her grandfather’s chest. He him throughout their marriage. In fact, he could go, but she pushed her away and went for a cigarette the more he made her suffer and the more said that he could into his small wooden garden hut filled he berated her, the more subjugated she not, because it was snowing outside and with stores of hazelnuts and apples. He became. But her sister was completely he didn’t have the right shoes. Until the could smell them all around him. It was different. snow outside thawed, his mother spent funny how clearly he could remember He remembered very well how back most of her time in bed ill. He promised the brand of cigarettes he smoked. in 1953, she came to him with her black her that if anything happened to her, he “Squadron” said the old man sud- hair and strong dark eyes. She was much would take care of his brother and sisters. denly. prettier than his wife, and far more But he didn’t manage to look after Jose- Katka jumped, before pondering rebellious. Back then they argued about fik. One day, he took it upon himself to whether Granddad had ever flown the co-op, whether the right people had climb up on the roof of the house. But a plane during his life, but she knew that gotten into power. he lost his footing, and fell, head first, he probably hadn’t. He had certainly “You are trying to destroy old Mr straight down onto the stone path below. experienced the Second World War as Mazura.” She shouted at him. “Because His brother told his sisters that crying a boy, but he surely never fought in it. In you had to work as a labourer under him for him was futile. But they were beyond fact, Katka knew almost nothing of his before. But he was never bad to you.” comforting. Since then, he hated to see life. They had never really spoken with She didn’t want him to enable the people crying, and absolutely forbade it each other properly. She only knew the authorities to take their plots, especially in himself. fragments that Mother had told her. The since they were relatives. But for him, He tried to explain to the others why old man had come from a poor family this was impossible. he didn’t fulfil what he promised. But and his favourite topic was to bring up “Now we will all be equal.” He told somehow he couldn’t find the right words. how as a child he had to eat anything to her, coldly. They remained hidden somewhere deep survive, even pigswill, or how he and his She laughed in his face. inside him, appearing for a second before sisters were made to collect their fallen “You are stupid. But I could forgive simply vanishing. It was like pressing the out hair so that it could be platted and that far more than the way you behave muted keys of a piano. sold. towards our Maria. You abuse the fact Grandfather asked Katka for forgive- Straight after the War, Granddad be- that she is so kind and innocent and the ness. He said that he always did his best. came a communist and in the Fifties he fact that she is not used to people like “I am really very sorry.” created a village farmer’s co-op. His wife’s you. You haven’t in you even a drop of She didn’t know whether he meant family had a plot of land and apparently, empathy.” how he had hurt his sister-in-law, his wife he helped to ensure that it was confis- His sister-in-law carried on her rant, or his daughter. She so wanted to question cated by the authorities. Grandmother’s but Granddad couldn’t remember what him more, but knew that it was too late. sister Katka tired to persuade him other- he told her. But what he could not forget “No one is angry at you,” she said un- wise, but instead he reported her to the is how she suddenly jumped up and easily, because she knew that she was not authorities too. She spent a year being grabbed him by the neck. That was too really speaking for herself. If only Mother interrogated. Katka was very fortunate much for him. He took her by the hair were here, she thought. It seemed that because the procurator was an acquaint- and shoved her to the ground. Then Katka’s reply had calmed him a little. But ance of her father and he had her arrested. When after a few then, she noticed him weeping. arranged for her to months they released her, her hair had He sat in his chair, head tilted back, avoid conviction. turned completely grey. tears running down his eyes, right down She returned from “Kateřina” he said suddenly. “Could into his ears. After all these years, it was incarceration you please get me something to drink?” the only real sound he had the energy to grey and She understood that her grandfather make. was having a lucid moment and passed him a cup of tea. She even helped him to Alena Müllerová is a writer for Czech Televi- hold it so he wouldn’t spill it. sion. This story was written for our sister “I have to go. My lessons start soon.” paper Přítomnost as part of their issue dealing He said, trying to get up. “It is quite far with old age. Translated and slightly edited away.” from the original Czech.

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 57 ] then and now

Democracy: Binding the Nation Together

In this section, we reprint articles from our sister paper Přítomnost, which show how little things have changed.

Přítomnost, 23rd September 1936 use these tools. Ironically, those that have German nationalism to mature – instead, most at stake in the national question as Czech-German Sudeten agitation are usually the least skilled in applying shows, nothing of the sort appears to ormer Czech President Masaryk of- democratic processes. Similarly to the have occurred. Indeed, in the German ten warned that our political parties old communists, they use democracy state, we see the threat of a new Empire, Fdo not yet clearly understand the only where they sense gain. They use organized through National Socialism kinds of social and political opportuni- it as a blunt tool, preferring to rely on in the traditions of Prussian imperial- ties presented by democracy. Masaryk authoritarian dictates. In the case of the ism. No doubt, this is contributing to considered democracy as a crucial tool, Sudeten German Party, democracy is the irrational sentiments of our German which we can use to tackle numerous population. pressing issues – if only we would learn German nationalism has already how to use it. He also warned that a dem- had one negative effect for Czechs. In ocratic constitution only represents the the formative years of our victorious essential building blocks of that process. Czechoslovak democracy, we forgot that Democracy, as he viewed it, was a pos- the Germans still exist and in no small itive opportunity for all, a path towards number. The defeat of their brand of na- the future, and if people protested, he tionalism in 1918 has created the illusion simply pointed out that even here, they that it has been forever defeated. Today, could organize, petition, and simply use Czechs, further strengthened by Slovaks, democracy as well! far outnumber our Germanic popula- If this approach is applicable to our tion. But the most important fact is this: political parties, then it is doubly so for the first time in history, democracy for our German population, who have has found a foothold and a voice in the recently flocked en masse to support the Czech lands – as has the German minor- nationalistic Sudeten German party. We ity – something that neither we nor they must not be confused by the fact that initially realized. Czech-Germans remain this party claims to support the Czech of the belief that this new experiment democratic process and constitution. Its represents a threat to their way of life. most basic flaw is that it views democ- only used to conceal the fact that at its Both Czechs and Germans are pre- racy as a tie that binds the Czech state core, the party is reactionary and utterly sented with the task of consolidating to Sudeten Germans, but not necessarily fascist. Theirs is a path that will eventu- democracy. However, in the current one that binds the Germans towards the ally lead all of us towards tough times. climate of Germany as well as our own Czech state. It uses democratic means to There is one way in which Germans and Sudeten lands, this seems a more and demand all rights for German Czechs, Czechs could reach national peace in this more remote possibility. We Czechs, but internally, it acts undemocratically, country – and that is through the contin- thanks to our social and historical devel- often according to totalitarian and- au ued rise of democracy. It is certainly the opment, have fared far better than they. thoritarian principles. Simply put, the most effective way for Czech-Germans, Thus, we can say with full confidence, party seeks to use democratic means in because no other regime can give them that nationalistic politics lead absolutely order to extinguish them. as much as a democratic one. nowhere  The question is, how to respond? In While Czech nationalism eventu- Czechoslovakia, we continue to grap- ally morphed into a peaceful, democratic ple with questions of nationhood. Our path towards national self-determina- democratic constitution offers us a good tion, German nationalism found no such base for addressing and solving these is- fate. Defeat of both the German and sues, but we still remain ill-equipped to Hapsburg Empires should have caused Zdeněk Smetánek

[ 58 ] the new presence / winter 2008 letter from… Verona

Dear Friends, empty, giving a slight feeling of the hotel French and Japanese being spoken. After in Kubrick’s The Shining. After a long day an amazing lunch of red wine risotto in The Italian city of Verona will always be of travel, we spent Friday night relaxing a very romantic small restaurant in the a very important city in the story of my in our room, drinking great wines and city centre, we went to see the Romeo life, even though I only visited it for two watching what seemed to be 700 chan- and Juliet balcony, at what they call the brief days in November. London is my nels of the worst television ever. It was “Verona Museum”. The museum should home town, which like most Londoners truly awesome to see how much junk was clearly just be called the “Romeo and I have an intense love/hate relationship out there, from inane Italian game shows Juliet Museum”, as it features literally with. I went to university in Manchester, to German infomercials. nothing but their story, featuring various where I met my girlfriend Lucy – but it Next morning we finally hit the artistic representations of the couple, the was in Verona, ten years after first meet- town, a bit hung-over but hyped up bed from the Zefferilli movie and even ing her, that I finally asked Lucy to marry on the day of our anniversary. There a bizarre bank of computers where you me. was first a minor embarrassment when can e-mail Juliet your romantic hopes I only knew two things about Verona I wondered downstairs to order two café and dreams. before we flew: it’s the home of I had a diamond ring burn- Romeo and Juliet (a fact the locals ing a hole in my pocket; I knew like to remind you of) – a text I’d that I wanted to propose sooner studied at school, and kind of en- rather than later, but the museum joyed, and also it is a city famous just felt so cheesy, and lunch had for its summer season of open air seemed too soon. So, wondering opera – music I enjoy when I hear around aimlessly, merry from wine, it but know little about. I suggested we visit the amphithea- Rather than shout and show tre. Inside, it was somehow smaller off and pout and preen about how than expected but beautiful and great they are, like most cities atmospheric, and as we sat on the I have fallen in love with, Verona stone steps, I sensed my moment. quietly shows you a way of life that Opting for a controversial side-by- is slower, more self-contented and side proposal (why is everyone so perhaps strangely more assured hung up on the one-knee thing?), than big city life, certainly less cosmo- lattes from a lady who clearly spoke no I asked Lucy to marry me, and happily politan but none the poorer for it. English. Feeling a bit smug about how far more shocked than I had expected (if Verona is a small Italian city, close to most communication is non-verbal you go out with someone for ten years, its far more popular neighbour, Venice anyway, I pointed to the menu, not real- everything you do becomes a potential in the wine growing Veneto region to izing that I was actually ordering two proposal site), she said yes. the north of Italy. More modern suburbs hot milks, not coffees; but instead of From then on, we spent the day surround the ancient city centre, but saying something right there, I instead wrapped up in our own world, drinking nonetheless it has seemingly avoided or boisterously nodded to signify to anyone champagne and wine at different bars, missed unnecessary modernization and who might be watching that, although soaking up the late Saturday afternoon has a slightly run-down but beautiful, perhaps unorthodox, this was the drink bustle as good-looking Italians stopped distinctly Italian look and feel. The peo- I had wanted all along to set me up for for coffee, then back at the hotel avoiding ple are not the cosmopolitan glamour the day ahead – two hot milks. “Those fat naked men in the sauna and back out pusses of Rome – they seem slightly crazy English!” I imagined them saying, at another incredible restaurant, eating shabbier, a bit lived-in and more real, but eyes rolled merrily upwards, while back seafood. Verona seemed dreamy and there is still a nice air of people quietly in my room I was grumpily drinking charming and pleasant, part of the bigger living a good life to be had on the streets, them while Lucy laughed at me. story. and tasted in the uniformly excellent Tourism in Verona seems quiet The next day we woke up and flew standard of food and drink to be found compared to the sheer overload of Ven- home. No matter what happens, Lucy seemingly everywhere. ice, particularly in the off-peak winter and I will always remember Verona.  We stayed at a hotel to the north of season, but nevertheless alongside our the city that was huge but almost totally own English voices we heard American, Matthew Clifton

winter 2008 / the new presence [ 59 ] parting shots

Presidents are Important

n Russia, President Putin, through sys- In the Czech Republic’s upcoming tematic suppression of the free press presidential elections, for the first time, Iand opposition, engineered a rigged incumbent president Václav Klaus has election to guarantee the continuation a real challenger in the way of Czech- of his autocratic rule and the oligarchic American economics professor Jan structure that goes with it. Švejnar, who was active as president In France, the recent presidential Havel’s advisor and who remains active elections produced a different result. At as Chairman of the Czech Republic’s stake was the battle between proponents most prestigious economics institute as of the status-quo with its bloated lais- well as of the Supervisory Board of one back on the words of Czechoslovakia’s sez-faire socialist state and reformers of the country’s largest banks. Švejnar is founding president T.G.Masaryk, who pointing to declining economic produc- running on a platform of EU integration, stated that “democracy is dialogue.“ The tion and rising racial and societal dis- economic reform, and open dialogue. fact that his position is even tolerated harmony. Unlike the election in Russia, Klaus is not running on a platform speaks much for the lack of maturity of the election of Nicolas Sarkozy is an at- based on anything, but instead claims Czech society. tempt to break with the past. that we should all be “familiar with his Will the country be willing to – albeit With less than one year to go, the positions” based on his “previous state- warily – embrace a new president who election in America is unprecedented- ments and actions.” Those statements is willing to lay out the true specifics, no clear front-runners have emerged in consist of a mélange of vague populist pitfalls and rewards of a path culmi- either party. But even in a very diverse jargon, such as “protecting our national nating in the emergence of a national field, the candidates can still be divided interests” (without once stating what identity, something that the Czechs into two groups – those who represent they are) and strengthening Czech xen- were never granted in their history? As true change, such as Barack Obama, and ophobia by labeling the EU a “threat.” former president Havel once told me, those who represent a continuation of Klaus appeals to the base instincts of “every twenty years or so, we Czechs the status quo, such as most of the Re- many Czechs, who like most Russians, build up enough courage to aspire to do publicans along with Democratic Sena- prefer a “strong leader.” Klaus refuses something politically good.” If my math tor Hillary Clinton. For America, this to debate any intellectual opponent, is correct, that time may be now. election will define the future of the na- including Švejnar, stating that “it is not tion and of the world. in my best interests,” thus turning his Martin Jan Stránský

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[ 60 ] the new presence / winter 2008