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December 30, 2000
November 1989, thousands of demonstrators mass
in Prague to protest against the Communist-led government.
Their action proved successful. January 2001, thousand
of
demonstrators repeat the process to protest against the
new general manager of Czech Television. They are partly
successful in that the manager ends up in the hospital
after
collapsing under strain. But the struggle for Czech TV
goes on and a special session of Parliament was called
to address
the situation. After 14 hours of debate, in which the prime
minister lashed out at everyone, its resolution was clear:
The general manager need not leave the hospital too early.
So who is Jiri Hodac and why do so many people despise
him?
His opponents charge that in the 1970s, he collaborated
with the Communist government on a normalization program
for news broadcasts. They see him as an apparatchik who
will simply do the bidding of the government as the general
manager of the station. His actions to combat the strike
would suggest, in fact, that he has the mentality of
an
apparatchik. Instead of blocking out the station's programming,
he would have done better to let the strikers play their
game and weed them out later. He would be more than justified
to dismiss them for the comical way that have been conducting
the strike. They decry the role of politics in television,
yet are seeking the support of the Coalition parties
and
the likes of Mr. Kühnl. (To get an idea of what this
man is like, try pronouncing his name.) The strikers stand
in the background of every unauthorized newscast, looking
stern and wearing little red and white ribbons, perhaps
to remind those not wearing them that scores will be settled
with this thing is over. But by acting like expected to,
Hodac has all but lost public support. The major dailies
have helped by going out of their way to vilify Hodac and
his team. Since the core issue is, supposedly, the law,
Dnes printed a list of all violations of the law thus far
and made sure that 99% of them were committed by Hodac.
Dnes has often been viewed as Havel's newspaper, particularly
in his fight against the reigning Democrats. Havel still
commands respect to such a degree that if he says this
issue
is about freedom of the press, foreign news services will
readily concur, as they have done in this case. Luckily
for freedom of speech, Havel isn't completely immune from
the Czech dailies. It's just that the leaders of the Democrats
and the Coalition are so easy to hate that Havel, the hero
of November 1989 who is now a sick and irrational president,
is still all that's left in January 2001.
December 23, 2000
Mrazik, or Grandfather Frost, is a Russian fairy
tale that was the Wizard of Oz of the Eastern Bloc. Still
a favorite among Czech viewers, it's scheduled to air
New
Year's Eve afternoon. Whether it will or not depends on
the latest crisis unfolding in this country. A couple
weeks
ago, the Czech Broadcast Council installed a new general
manager of Czech Television. The action led to a takeover
of the station, led by a rebellious news division. Their
contention was the new managing editor of the news, who
once worked for the leader of the Civic Democrats, wasn't
independent enough. What's more, they claimed, freedom
of
the press was at stake here because the Council is named
by Parliament, which is controlled by an opposition agreement
between the Civic and Social Democrats. The smaller parties,
which have formed a coalition to challenge the reigning
Democrats, quickly joined the rebels in protest. The
leaders
of one of the coalition parties not only spent the night
in the station with the rebels, but even brought their
pajamas
for the occasion. The only thing missing was an appearance
by the president, who has made no secret of his collaboration
with the Coalition against the Democrats. Havel didn't
show
up, but couldn't resist making another ludicrous comment.
What the Council did, he claimed, reminded him of February
1948. The reference was to the rise of the Communists,
which,
although legal, violated the spirit of the law. Havel should
check the history archives. The Communists came to power
with mass protests in the street on their behalf. In
any
event, a party leader in is pajamas is at liberty to make
comparisons between the Council and the Communists, but
one might expect a bit more decorum from the president.
As for violating the spirit of the law, if the new leadership
of Czech Television manages to get Mrazik on in time
for
New Year's, then it's doing all right by the people.
December 16, 2000
And now, a few words from the Prime Minister. "I
would like to address those of us gathering around their
Christmas trees with the most anticipation: Our children
and our youth. You who are growing up do not realize
how
many changes have taken place here lately. The trees are
still alight, presents are eagerly awaited, but this
idea
of Jesus lying in the manger next to a donkey is a symbol
of the old Christmas. Why? If Jesus can live in a barn,
then it's good enough for the working class, too. That's
how the rich and powerful used to speak to the poor and
the workers. When capitalism ruled, many poor people
lived
in barns and gave birth to their children there. But the
times have changed. Little Jesus has grown up, grown
a beard,
and has turned into Grandfather Frost. He no longer walks
about naked and scruffy, as neither do our workers and
their
children. Grandfather Frost comes to us from the East,
and many stars light up his way, not just the lone star
of Bethlehem.
A whole line of red stars in our mines, steel mills, factories
and construction sites. These red stars bring with them
the joyous news that your Mommies and your Daddies have
completed the fourth year of our first Five-year Plan.
The
more these stars shine forth, the more joyous will be our
holiday. The more productive their work, the more presents
we will receive from Grandfather Frost. Therefore, let
all
of us, big and small, promise our liberator, friend and
teacher, Comrade Stalin, that we will apply all our power,
in schools, factories and offices, so that the tasks
of
the final year of the Plan are fulfilled before next Christmas.
So that bright red stars of fulfilled obligations hang
over
all factories, farms, cities and villages. So that our
beautiful country blooms forth with new flowers of fulfilled
plans.
In this way, we shall block the criminal ideas of those
who would subvert productive work in favor of a new world
war, so they can again enslave our people and exploit
the
workers. We promise to defend peace and tranquility for
all people of good will!" Thus spoke Prime Minister
Antonin Zapotocky to Czechoslovakia just before Christmas
of 1952. He would become president the following year
and
lord over one of the most oppressive periods in this country's
history.
December 9, 2000
Thank God that's finally over with and America
can go back to pretending it has the greatest democracy
in the
world. What a spectacle that was, watching all these cross-eyed
bureaucrats holding the balance of power in their magnifying
glasses. The only thing halfway decent to come out of
it
was the humor, like David Letterman's observance that,
with all the top lawyers coagulating in Florida, a hurricane
could well give this drama a happy ending after all.
But
the rest of it was pathetic, especially where the media
was concerned. Take the New York Times, still a reputable
force in politics despite having endorsed such a shady
figure
as Madame Clinton for the Senate. The Times made a last-ditch,
mealy-mouthed appeal to the US Supreme Court not to base
its decision concerning the election outcome on politics,
as if it really didn't know that law and politics are
one
and the same. Granted, its columnists did a first-rate
job whining about the whole process, but at least they
could
have toned the arrogance down a bit. There was, for instance,
a column from one Thomas Friedman admonishing a potential
Bush administration to play democracy by the books for
the
sake of the world. He then went on to list several places
in the world where democracy is in trouble, places like
Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and...the Czech Republic.
Excuse
me? The Czechs also held a national election in November
and the smooth operation of it made the US look like
it
was the democracy that was in trouble. And mostly because
media outfits like the Times were cheering the cross-eyed
bureaucrats on.
December 2, 2000
If crazy ain't the word, it's one often heard
to describe President Havel's bizarre choice of words
these
days. In the latest twist to his struggle with government
over his appointment of the new Governor of Czech National
Bank, Havel claims that the prime minister and the former
governor of the bank tried to use extortion to get him
to
change his decision. His remark led several members of
parliament to wonder aloud whether the president has
done anything
that could make him susceptible to extortion in the first
place. That put the Castle spokesman in the position
of
explaining yet again what the president had meant to say.
Apparently, he was referring to political extortion,
perhaps
on the part of ex-Governor Tosovsky. Havel had named him
as interim prime minister a few years back, mostly on
the
presumption of his independence, and it must gall him now
to see Tosovsky joining the politicians against him.
If
anyone had achieved a reputation more stellar than Havel's
for rising above politics, it was Tosovsky. But now there
are rumors that it was all a myth to begin with, that
Tosovsky
entered the fray with two goals in mind: To succeed Havel
as president and to make sure that whoever succeeded
him
at the bank did not reveal any unpleasant secrets about
the bank's lax oversight during the years of plenty.
How
much the Castle is behind these rumors is anyone's guess.
The only thing we can take to the bank concerning this
mess
is an end to that other myth. Namely, that Havel is and
always was above politics.
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