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Carolina (English) No 002
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STUDENT'S E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Faculty of Social Science of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
C.S.F.R.
e-mail: FSVUKA@CSEARN.BITNET
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C A R O L I N A No 2, Friday, November 8. 1991.
The E-mail News from Czechoslovakia
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Events of last week /from Nov. 1 to 8/
Weeks news in review:
On wednesday November 6 the federal parliament of the Czech and
Slovak Federal Republic /FS/ aproaved the governments proposed
referendum law. According to the decision of the FS only those parties
that are represented in the parliament can participate in the pre
referendum campaign. The law also stipulates that at least 20 days most
pass between the announcement of a referendum and the actual voting. The
television and radio campaing begins 12 days befor the day of the
referendum and ends two days before. In order for the president of CSFR,
Vaclav Havel, to call for a referendum that would decide the future
existence of one, common, Czechoslovak state, the FS must decide upon
the very phrasing of the question that will be presented. Up until now
4 proposals have been presented and it is expected that this will be on
the parliaments agenda next week. We hope that in our next edition we
will be able to inform you about the final version of the question that
will decide the future destiny of Czechoslovakia.
Vaclav Klaus visits the School of Social Science
On Monday November 5 Vaclav Klaus addressed a crowded auditorium of
our School. The deputy prime minister of the federal government, the
minister of finance of the CSFR and the head of the Civic democratic
party devoted 90 minutes to the future journalists, economists,
sociologists and political scientists. The eloquence of the politician
in contrast to the lack of sophistication on the part of the questions
asked did not make for a heated exchange. The questions pertained to
political and economic problems. This minister - known for his strong
position and opposition - did not hide his opinion about the one time
idol of the "Prague Spring", Alexander Dubcek - presently the head of
the federal parliament - whose abilities are today brought into question
by virtually all right wing political parites. Not even the other
fraction of the onetime Civic Forum - the intellectualized Civic
Movement - was spared. Objection were also addressed at Czechoslovak
journalism which, according to Vaclav Klaus, sensationalizes the
oppositional economists. The news that the inflation is stagnating
/zero growth in October/ drew a round of applause. The audience did not
however appreciate the suggestions that it join the ODS party. Vaclav
Klaus identified the election results in Poland as the most troublesine
signal of the past days.
In spite of the differences in students reaction to the discussion, it
remains clear that the personality of Vaclav Klaus demands a response
and the formation of one's own opinion.
A Western Foundation's gift to our specialists
A celebration in the "National HallA" of Carolinum /Charles University
- Prague/ on the sixth of November marked the opening of the Educational
Institute for post-graduate sondy of experts specializing in case for
handicapped children and youth. The Institute was founded by the
Jewish-American Foundation Joint Distribution Committee in cooperation
with Charles University. The goal of the two months course, which will
take place at the pedagogical faculty in three stages over a period of
three years, is to introduce our experts to modern procedures in
specialized pedagogy. It will draw on experiences from different
specializations. The lectures will be conducted by world renown experts,
especially from the United States and Israel. Some of the lecturers will
be Stephan L. Rotchild, Stanley S. Herr from the University of Baltimore
and Paul J. Gitelman. It is expected, that some participants will get
directly involved in the activities of the institute.
About last week
The second annual conference of the Alliance of Universities for
Democracy took place from November 3rd to 6th in Bratislava.
Participants came from over 40 universitites. From the United States,
they were, for example the Christian Brothers University Tennessee, Iowa
State University, Lehigh University Bethlehem, Memphis State University,
Mississippi State University, Rochester Institute of Thechnology, New
York University, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma,
University of Utah. Representing the Czechoslovak side were, amongst
others, Charles University, Masaryk University Brno, Safarik University
Ko¨ice, Thechnological institutes from Prague, Brno and Bratislava,
economic and agricultural colleges, etc. In attendance were also
representatives of universities and colleges from Poland, Hungary,
Bulgaria, Romania, Germany and the university of Vilnius, Lithuania. The
chief goal of the meeting was to inform about the possibilities of aid
to East-European higher education in preparings and educating experts in
a democratic society.
C U L T U R A L S E R V I C E
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The Vinohrady Theatre /The Royal Vineyard Theatre/ was founded in
1907, at a time when every Prague theatre functioned under the auspices
of the National Theatre /founded in 1881/. Originally plays, operas and
operettas were performed there, with operettas as the main feature.
Gradually plays were performed more often until after much ado and
thanks to stage director Karel Hugo Hilar, the theatre went independent
with a repertoir of plays only. Because operas and operettas were no
longer performed there, K. H. Hilar could increase artistic activity in
the theatre to his liking and conditions were created to form a quality
ensemble and a strage production team. These afforts which were carried
on even by Hilar's followers, were greately disurbed by the outbreak
World War II.
The first of September 1944 all theatres were closed. After the May
revolution in 1945 as parts of the reorganization efforts conducted by
our theatre scene, the Vinohrady Theatre searched for an artistic
direction and for its place in the mozaic of our theatre world. Ji©¡
Frejka was made artistic director. His attempts at assembling
a compatable artistic team and a quality repertoire were interrupted by
political developments in our country. In 1950 the theatre's name was
changed to The Theatre of the Czechoslovak Army and J. Frejka was forced
to leave the theatre. Under the new directorship the theatre begat to
learn more and more toward political propaganda agitation and better
plays gave way to inferior ones. Presently Vinohrady Theatre again
belongs to one of our best. Under the guidence of its new director, Ms.
Jirina Jiraskova, who was a member of the actors' ensemble since 1951,
quality stage production has made a comeback and the theatre's actors
are becoming a solid entity.
November 15th the second premiere of this year's season will be
performed. The theatre's repertoire ranges from absurd drama /Ionesco
- Macbeth/, two conversational comedies /Feydeau - Such a Woman on My
Back, Wilder - Yentl/, to a drama of a contemporary playwright /Pavel
Kohout - A Pitiful Murderer/ and other authors. Of late a classic will
be added to the list: W. Shakespeare - Twelvth Night. The list of
quality plays is tairted by a poor production of a comedy by E. Kishon
"It Was the Lark". The Vinohrady Theatre is sold out almost every night.
Even though one of the reasons may be that the theatre's regular cast
includes actors made famous by television and film and this attracting
audiences from outside of Prague it is not the only one. A full house
always attests to quality.
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