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Carolina (English) No 094
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STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC
School of Social Sciences of Charles University
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cs
Fax: (+422) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 94, Monday, November 15, 1993.
EVENTS FROM THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 4-11
The Prime Minister negotiated in Paris and Bucuresti
"France sees as a state going toward a market economy from the
platoon of post-communist countries," said Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus
during a press conference after his return from Paris November 5.
During his official one-day visit in the French capital, Klaus met
with President Francois Mitterrand, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. The prime ministers agreed to establish
a French-Czech working group engaged in Balladur's project of stability
and safety in Europe.
A two-day visit by Klaus to Romania end November 8, with the signing
of an agreement to prevent double taxation and to support and
bilaterally protect investment. Representatives also signed a memorandum
on a planned free-trade zone.
While in Bucharest, Klaus spoke on the importance of
re-establishing normal relations between the previously communist
countries.
Weekend Negotiations of an Executive Council of ODS
The division of the Czech Republic into administrative units, and
a solution to the relationship between the state and churches were among
the main themes of the weekend negotiations of the Civic Democratic
Party (ODS) meeting in Potstejn.
According to ODS Executive Deputy Chairman Petr Cermak, his party
cannot yield to political pressures and estabilish the higher
administrative units by the time of local goverment elections in 1994.
These units, Cermak said, should be established by the parliamentary
elections in 1996. He also said reform shouldn't begin with creating
higher administrative units but it should end with it.
The executive council of ODS also discussed the question of
restitution of church property. According to ODS, only property now
owned by the state should be returned to former owners. Property now
used for businesses should not, however, be returned, nor should
compensation be paid for damaged or destroyed property. The property not
mentioned in the law regulating these relationships can be privatized
without further restrictions.
Only ODS Opposes Estabilishing Territorialy-Administrative Units until
Local Goverment Votes
None of the parliamentary parties agrees with the ruling Civic
Democratic Party (ODS) proposal to postpone reform of the administrative
unit arrangement of the Czech Republic.
The coalition partners Christian Democratic Union-Czech People's
Party, Civic Democratic Alliance and Christian Democratic Party, as well
as the opposition Left Bloc, insist that higher administrative units
should be established by the time of local goverment elections in 1994.
According to the opinion of the coalition parties and opposition, this
dispute shouldn't lead to the destruction of the coalition.
The same problem was also mentioned by parliamentarians for the
Movement for the Autonomial Democracy of Moravia and Silesia during
their meeting with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus. Klaus was
delighted by the fact that that the Moravian MPs are against creating
any new dualism, such as the Czech and Moravian Lands. However, he
didn't agree with a suggestion to form three autonomial lands.
Stock Market Begins Twice-a-Week Trading.
The Prague Stock Exchange began trading twice a week for the first
time November 4. The increased frequency of trading reflected, as
expected, a fall in the single-day volume of business.
Direct transaction raised mainly the shares of the Czech Insurance
Company (98.5 million crowns), and the Czech Energy Company (19.3
million crowns). The volume of shares in an independent computerized
trading system reached only 4.1 million crowns. The shares of Setuza
Company, Aero and CKD were leading sellers. Supply outstripped demand in
most cases, preventing heavier volume.
Shares of Commercial Bank rose to 3,945 Kc, the Czech Savings Banks
Insurance shares reached 4,160, the Trade Bank shares reached 4280 Kc,
the Investment Bank shares rose to 5,800 Kc and the Czech Insurance
Company hit 7,040 Kc.
A Sixteen-Year Old Student Tried To Burn Himself To Death
A secondary school student who said he was upset with the breakup of
Czechoslovakia tried to burn himself to death in a Moravian village in
the Novy Jicin region.
Shortly after midnight November 3, Martin Swiech spilled a bottle of
paint thinner over his clothes and struck a match. Although the
neighbors noticed him quickly and called for help, Swiech had burns
covering 70-80 percent of his body. According to the latest news, he is
not longer critical but remains in very serious condition.
According to Mlada Fronta Dnes daily, Swiech's mother confirmed that
Martin left a farewell letter. In it, he said he was immolating himself
because he disagrees with the division of Czechoslovakia, with the
recent celebrations of October 28, and with the policy of a current
Czech goverment.
Swiech's classmates described him as inconspicous, decent,
intelligent and a cautious recluse. They also said that Swiech mentioned
his intent to commit suicide but that no one took it seriously.
What do Czechs think of their countrymen
Only 14 percent of Czechs would permit voting by their countrymen
living abroad, according to a Public Opinion Institute survey.
However, more than 70 per cent of the 777 respondents favor
improving relations with ethnic associations abroad, the survey showed.
The survey also showed a widespread belief that Czechs living abroad
are wealthy and shouldn't be entitled to reclaim property. Seventy-two
percent said they believe that Czechs living in Western Europe or North
America are mostly wealthy people who should ask for nothing in the
Czech Republic. Restitution of property for foreign living Czechs was
opposed by 64 percent of respondents. The strongest opposition came from
retirees.
Forty-seven percent would allow countrymen who had paid social
security for limited time in the social welfare system, to be included,
while 37 percent would not. The survey was reported in the Czech dailies
Mlada Fronta Dnes and Lidove Noviny.
Smog Calamity in Northern Bohemia
Monitoring stations recorded excessive levels of noxious particles
in the air during the last ten days. On Thursday, November 4th,
a monitoring station Medenec in the Chomutov region noted
a concentration of 3438 mg of sulphur-oxid per cubic meter.
A signal for regulating big sources of pollution (heating plants,
power station) was announced by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
after limits of 500 mg per cubic meter were exceeded.
The conditions for dispersion were bad in Prague as well and after
announcing the signal, the Institute started considering limiting
traffic in the center. However, it didn't happen because conditions
improved rapidly by the beginning of the week.
In Northern Bohemia, where the smog calamities are usual in winter,
a few demonstrations against the ecological policy of the Czech
Goverment were organized.
Experts expect a considerable improvement of the dispersing
conditions and the end fo the first wave of the winter inversion by the
end of this week.
Greenpeace Demonstrating in Front of the Czech Goverment Office
Activists of the international ecological organization Greenpeace
blocked the main entrance to the building of the Czech Goverment with
barrels filled with a half-ton of power station flue ash.
Greenpeace members demanded the goverment accept stringent energy
programs due to an expected inversion. Greenpeace blamed the goverment
for squandering huge amounts of money allocated originally for
desulphuring old power stations. Greenpece thinks that much more
efficient are investments into energy savings and inventing new
production technologies.
According to this organization, it is possible to save as much as
52 percent of energy consumed nowadays. The Greenpeace members, wearing
gas masks, further expressed their disagreement with continued building
of the Temelin nuclear power station, which costs 4 million crowns
a day.
The goverment didn't discuss the originally scheduled theme --
marking the boundaries of the ecologically-afflicted areas.
Cafe Slavia once again center of attention
Cafe Slavia, the famous traditional meeting place of Prague
intellectuals and students, sprung back to life this week after being
closed for almost a year and a half.
In March 1992, the Music Arts Academy (AMU), which owns the building
where the cafe is located, rented the cafe to the American firm H.N.
Gorin. The 50-year-lease included a clause that coffee remain affordable
for students. The cafe closed, ostensibly for renovation, but no work
was done.
Czech President Vaclav Havel decried the continued closing of the
Slavia as a criminal attack on the spiritual life of the city. On
October 25, at a party for the publication of his first book of poems,
"Antikody," Havel read an open letter to the American firm.
"... We appeal to the firm H.N. Gorin, which rented the cafe, to
open it promptly to the public. If not, it may seriously damage the
relations of Prague's intellectuals towards capitalism and the U.S.A."
A newly established "Society of Friends of Slavia Cafe" forced the
reopening of the cafe. On November 8, its members cleaned and prepared
the cafe for the opening, after getting the keys from Ladislav Provaan,
a partner of the Prague branch of H.N. Gorin.
Provaan said he did not know why the cafe had remained closed, and
supported the demands of the Society of Friends of Slavia that Gorin
withdraw from the rental contract and return the cafe to Czech
management.
The next day, Jaroslav Ostry, dean of the music academy, withdrew
from the contract. He said his main reasons were Gorin not obeying the
agreement to keep the cafe in its original state, and Gorin's failure to
pay rent for the previous month. Moreover, the firm rented the adjoining
restaurant Parnas, which it controlled under the same contract, to
another investor without permission of AMU. A court will likely rule if
the contract cancellation was proper.
If the contract is ruled still in force, the cafe could remain
closed for the full 50 years of the contract. The contract is silent on
the questions of opening the cafe, or conditions of cancelling the
contract.
High-School Fights Against AIDS
"Thinking that our children younger than 18 are not having sex is
not fit with reality. To me, this is the greatest idiocy." With these
words, the headmaster of the high school in Prostejov defended
installation of two condom dispensing machines in the school's
lavatories, Mlada Fronta Dnes reports.
School officials say the decision should help fight AIDS, other
sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. According to the
headmaster, information in the form of pamphlets and posters or meetings
with specialists will not be of any help; far more necessary is to take
concrete measures.
No negative reactions have been received by the school.
Heroin, Marihuana, LSD, Crack And Pervitin In Czech Republic
Heroin is easily available in Prague bars, and addicts are starting
to appear, according to experts. Some have even developed a 100,000
crown a month habit.
Dr. Jiri Presl, of the Drug Prevention Center Drop-In, told Mlada
Fronta Dnes November 11 that he hasn't heard anything about heroin and
cocain gangs dealing with marijuana and that his center doesn't deal
with marihuana.
LSD, at 250 crowns a dose, is the so-called drug of young people.
Known since the '60s, wn since the sixties. The drug was brought to the
Czech Republic from England and it's fostered in house parties.
Crack, which first appeared some years ago in America, is not
sniffed but is smoked using special pipes.
"Crack is flammably cocaine mixed with soda. Crack cocaine is
baked, so it can't be sniffed," Ivan Douda told Mlada Fronta Dnes
November 5. Although police specialists don't see crack on the Czech
Republic's street market, some Prague junkies say it's only a matter of
time. They say Czechs have experimented with producing crack from
cocaine paste imported to the Czech Republic. Specialists think that
crack is one of the most dangerous drugs.
"Crack is being used by addicts who don't care for anything. These
people come especialy from socialy weak groups" said Jiri Vacek, who
until recently was helping police against drugs.
Cheap, widely available and chic in many circles, pervitin, an
amphetamin, has become the drug of choice in the Czech Republic, as well
as the country's biggest drug export. Made from the ephedrine, commonly
found in cold syrup, it has spread from the clubs of Prague to the
discos of Amsterdam and across the sea to North America. Because it is
relatively easy to manufacture and difficult to control, Czech police
worry that pervitin's popularity at home and abroad will climb despite
their best efforts to fight it.
"The Czech Republic is the number one producer of pervitin in
Europe" said Miroslav Bornik, commander of the Narcotics Division of the
Czech Criminal Police, in the November 3 Prague Post. "Our cookers are
so good that they have been brought to Germany to show people how to
make the drug."
Pervitin has long roots in the Czech Republic. The German Army
produced a nearly identical stimulant in north Bohemia during World War
II and sold it to the Japanese, who gave it to kamikaze pilots.
Today, German police are working closely with their Czech
counterparts in the fight against pervitin. The drug affects the nervous
system and, according to those who use it, works like cocaine. One gram
costs 1000-1500 Czech crowns and provides 10 hits. Most people agree
pervitin is exremely dangerous.
Sir Edmund Hillary in Palace of Culture
Sir Edmund Hillary gave the final lecture of his visit to Prague at
the Palace of Culture November 5.
Aided by two transalators, Hillary talked to an audience of 2,500.
Bright slides accompanied the script as the guest of honor described his
days as a mountain climber and fundraiser.
Hillary, who reached the top of Mt. Everest in 1953 with fellow
climber the Sherpa Tenzing Norkay, was approached in 1961 by the Sherper
head lama. "Our children have eyes, but they can not see," the lama
said. "They must have an education." Since then, Hillary has been
helping the Himalayan Sherpers build schools and hospitals, both laying
stones and raising money.
In a question-answer session following the lecture, Hillary said
that although he doesn't personally care for the commercialization of
climbing, mountaineers will have to raise more sponsorship, in order to
meet the $10,000 Everest peak fee.
University Collaboration Will Aid Biotechnological Developement in
Science and Business
In collaboration with New York University (NYU), Charles University
arranged an international science conference on "Biotechnology and
Enterprise" in Prague.
The goal of the November 7-9 conference was to negotiate meetings
between scientists from the field of biotechnological research, and
representatives or managers from industrial businesses and stores.
Universities and their scientific workplaces had the chance to contact
enterprises concerning manufacture of relevant products or institutions,
which could finance this enterprise.
About 200 participants from 17 countries attended, with more than
100 coming from the Czech Republic. Fifty American scientists and
entrepreneurs took part, and Hungary, Romania, Russia, Croatia, Canada,
Germany, and other countries were represented. Charles Vice Dean Zdenek
Lojda and NYU Dean Gerald Heeger opened the conference in the historic
Karolinum Great Hall.
David Baltimore, Nobel Prize winner for biotechnology, and professor
of biology at Massachusettes Institute of Technology, introduced the
thematical block of lectures Monday in the Hotel Atrium.
Conference organizers professors Sanford Rosenburg of NYU and
Jaroslav Drobnik of Charles said they were pleased with the conference.
Charles University representatives were especially pleased with an
American proposal to test Czech patent projects without charge. Other
attendees promised to contribute to the effort.
FROM SLOVAKIA
Collalition Government Is Formed
Slovak President Michal Kovac named six ministers of
the coalition government November 10. The new vice-chairmen are Jozef
Prokes, 43, from the Slovak National Party (SNS), Marian Andel,
43, from SNS, Julius Toth, 58, from the Movement For
A Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Sergej
Kozlik, 43, from HZDS.
Jan Ducky, a 49-year-old independent, will become minister of
economics, and Jaroslav Paska, 49, HZDS, will be minister of education.
Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar will handle the unfilled post of
minister of privatazation.
Meciar gave the proposed government list to Kovac
November 5 with the demand that it be accepted in whole or not at all.
Nonetheless, Kovac declined to appoint Ivan Lexa to the government,
citing a lack of public trust.
The opposition also criticized the selection of Ducky as economics
minister, a post he held under the communist government before the 1989
revolution.
CULTURE
Czech Movies Most Attended In The Czech Republic
In the third quarter of this year, movies made in the Czech
Republic were the three most popular, even though they represent only
a minority share of the market, trailing foreign, especially American,
movies.
Most movie fans were drawn by Dusan Klein's "The end of Poets in
the Czech Republic," the fourth in a series.
The second most visited movie was Vit Olmer's "Nudity For Sale."
The Czech-American Kaja Triskova, daughter of the actor Jan Triska,
played the role of an American journalist getting familiar with
criminality in the Czech Republic.
Third place was taken by the "Inheritance or Kurvahosigutntag" The
producer of the movie, Vera Chytilova, was one of the most recognized
personalities in the sexties by the movie New waves.
All three movies show the writers' efforts of reflecting the new
circumstances that appeared after the 1989 revolution. Olmer uses the
action movie form while Klein and Chytilova are taking advantage of
comedy in order to describe today's life.
Exchange Rates of Czech National Bank (valid from November 11)
buy sell
Britain GBP 42,08 44,92
France FRF 4,81 5,21
Canada CAD 21,73 23,51
Austria ATS 2,43 2,55
Germany DEM 17,02 17,94
USA USD 28,85 30,25
SPORT
Lendl Plays Bratislava, Missed In Prague
Czech-born American tennis player Ivan Lendl played November 7 in
Bratislava against ninth-ranked Austrian Tomas Muster.
Lendl, 33, who once ruled the tennis world and now finishes in the
top twenties, returned to Bratislava after 14 years. On the same courts
in 1979, he won the title of Czechoslovak Champion.
At a press conference, he said he hasn't given up thoughts of
becoming world champion once again.
Lendl also said he wouldn't appear at the Czech Tennis Centennial
December 3 in Prague. Although Czech trainer Pavel Slozil contacted him
in the spring, no one has made a concrete offer, Lendl said.
Another tennis great of Czech origin, Martina Navratilova, will play
at the Prague exhibition.
FORECAST
All week, the Czech Republic has been cloudy and grey, occasionally
with light rain or fog. Temperatures have been moving between 2 and 10
degrees Celsius.
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