Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Carolina (English) No 316
CCCCC AA RRRRR OOOO LL II NN N AA
CC AA A RR R OO O LL II NNN N AA A
CC AA A RRRRR OO O LL II NN N N AA A
CC AAAAAA RR R OO O LL II NN NN AAAAAA
CCCCC AA A RR R OOOO LLLLLL II NN N AA A
STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Charles University in Prague
Faculty of Social Sciences
Smetanovo nabr. 6
110 01 Prague 1
Czech Republic
e-mail: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz
tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 24810987
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C A R O L I N A No 316, Friday, January 22, 1999.
FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (January 13 - January 20)
Czech Republic Commemorates Death of Jan Palach
The deed of Jan Palach, who burned himself alive 30 years ago to
protest the Warsaw Pact invasion of August 1968 and the following period
of normalization, was commemorated January 16 in his birthplace of
Vsetaty in the Melnik region. The commemorative ceremony was attended by
President Vaclav Havel and Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova. Havel
unveiled a bust of Palach in the local grade school and gave a speech
during the ceremony in the cemetery, joined by about 1,000 people. He
branded Palach's deed a mirror raised for men of every era. "Today that
mirror shows us our selfishness, opportunism and everything that was
called creeping collaboration in Palach's times." Another commemorative
ceremony took place on Prague's Wenceslas Square and Olsany Cemetery,
where Palach was first buried. The Chamber of Deputies January 15 held
a minute of silence to honor his memory.
While a student of Charles University's College of Humanities
(Filozoficka fakulta), Palach 30 years ago (January 16, 1969) doused
himself in gasoline and set himself alight at the top of Wenceslas
Square. He did not die on the spot and spent three days in the hospital
before finally succumbing to the burns. He left a letter, where he
demanded the abolition of censorship and a ban on the Soviet-occupation
newspaper The News (Zpravy). Palach's funeral was the largest mass
gathering in Czechoslovakia since the Warsaw Pact invasion five months
before, Prague students began a hunger strike for the fulfillment of
Palach's demands. Other self-immolations followed: student Jan Zajic in
Prague and worker Emil Plocek in Jihlava. The secret police (StB)
secretly exhumed Palach's remains in 1973 and he was re-interred in his
native village of Vsetaty.
In January 1989 on the 30th anniversary of Palach's deed,
unprecedented anti-government demonstrations came together. Six
demonstrations, each of thousands of people, were later named Palach's
Week. Riot police used brutal force to suppress the protests, arrested
dozens of people, including Havel, and at night dumped them at different
places throughout central Bohemia. Nobody has been charged in connection
with the repression, although it was more violent than in November 1989.
Other commemorative ceremonies took place on the day of Palach's
death - January 19. Havel, Prime Minister Milos Zeman and many others
laid flowers at the statue of Saint Wenceslas on Wenceslas Square.
Palach's university arranged a meeting of teachers and students. The
Palach Prize, for the best master's thesis, was received by graduate of
Romantic Studies Jana Gruberova.
Czech Television broadcast a document from the series Our Czech
Character (Ta nase povaha ceska) about Palach. The authors showed that
many young people do not know who he was. Journalist Premysl Vachalovsky
said Czechs like to forget their heroes and need symbols only in bad
times. Sculptor Olbram Zoubek, who created Palach's death mask 30 years
ago, said it is easier to perceive the world in gray and to belong to
the gray average; Palach showed the border between light and dark and
that is, for many Czechs, subconsciously unpleasant.
Jakub Jirovec/Jakub Jirovec
Parliament Approves Deficit Budget
For the first time in the Czech Republic's history, Parliament
deputies January 15 approved a deficit budget. The governing Social
Democrats (CSSD, 74 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies) managed
to push through a budget deficit of 31 billion crowns with 114 votes,
thanks to support from the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the
Communists (KSCM). The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Freedom
Union (US) did not vote for the expenditures of 605.1 billion crowns and
revenues of 574.1 billion crowns.
The Social Democrats said they were very satisfied, especially
with the Christian Democrats' cooperation. KDU-CSL acting Chairman Jan
Kasal said he is already counting on his party's participation in
preparing the state budget for 2000. Because of the common vote of the
Christian Democrats, Communists and Social Democrats, the Freedom Union
parliamentary club asked the party's National Committee to consider the
party's withdrawal from the Four-Party Coalition with the Christian
Democrats, the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) and the Democratic Union
(DEU), but the request was rejected.
The Communists managed to pass amendments dedicating 350 million
crowns for creating new jobs in the Ostrava-Karvina Mines (OKD) and 250
million crowns for developing northwestern Bohemia, which suffers the
country's highest unemployment rate. The Christian Democrats managed to
passed amendments dedicating funds for housing, transportation,
environmental care and 100 million crowns for clients of the Morava
Insurance Company affected by the 1997 floods. Forty million crowns were
moved from the Office of the Government's budget to the Security
Information Service (BIS). Deputies did not approve 150 million crowns
for the plans of the Prague - European Culture Metropolis exhibit, or
290 million crowns for completing Prague's metro or the reduction of
Senate expenses by 80 million crowns.
Robin Rohrich/Sofia Karakeva
After Vacation, Havel Meets with Klaus, Benesova and Zeman
Czech President Vaclav Havel and Parliament Chairman Vaclav Klaus
discussed common political problems during their meeting January 18.
Both said they were pleased, though they admitted some of their opinions
differ. The Czech daily Hospodarske noviny commented on the meeting with
the headline Just a Polite Meeting. After the meeting, Klaus said that
the most important thing for the Czech Republic is political stability
and thus it is important to respect the political scene arising from the
last elections and not to doubt the president's office.
Havel spoke about the next presidential election. "...in four
years my presidency will come to an end, I cannot run again, and so the
road is open, and the sooner new candidates will be discussed the
better. At least the election will not be improvised, will not be
unsuccessful, will not be another embarrassment." He was reacting to
speculation on Klaus' possible candidacy in 2002.
One day later Havel met the remaining highest-ranking
Constitutional officials. While the reason for the afternoon meeting
with the Senate Chairwoman Libuse Benesova was described as the
"informative and acquainting" one, the evening dinner with Prime
Minister Milos Zeman and his wife at the newly reconstructed Kramar
Villa, where the Zemans will reside, was a private affair.
Pavel Novotny/Sofia Karakeva
IN BRIEF
* British Deputy Home Minister Mike O'Brien, who was on a two-day
visit in the Czech Republic January 12-13, strongly criticized the
situation of the Romany (Gypsy) minority. He described Romany conditions
as unacceptable and pointed out that this problem may jeopardize Czech
membership in the EU.
* Parliament decided January 13 to establish an investigatory
committee to deal with the suspicion that SPT Telecom's privatization
involved the corruption of state officials (see Carolina 314, 315). It
should be a 10-member committee, with two members from each party
represented in Parliament: committee Chairman Dusan Tesnar and Jaromir
Schling from the Social Democrats (CSSD), Jan Vidim and Tomas Teplik
from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Vaclav Exner and Dalibor Matulka
from the Communists (KSCM), Cyril Svoboda and Vlasta Parkanova from the
Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and Marie Machata and Vladimir Mlynar from
the Freedom Union (US).
* Parliament January 14 rejected for the third time a change in the
Election Act which would allow Czech citizens abroad to vote. Against
the Freedom Union's (US) motion stood the Communists (KSCM), the Social
Democrats (CSSD) and Civic Democratic Party (ODS) representatives. CSSD
explained its standpoint by saying its minority government will change
the act completely, so there is no reason to amend it. ODS said it is
not against the change but would welcome a different form.
* Parliament January 14 rejected during the first reading a Communist
(KSCM) proposal to abolish the Screening Act. The law that forbids
certain former high-ranking Communists from holding certain state
offices will remain valid until 2000.
* Almost 500 young people demonstrated January 16 in Prague's Old
Town Square. With slogans like There Are More than a Small Amount of Us
or Prevention, Not Repression, they stated their disagreement with the
new anti-drug law, according to which the police can prosecute from
January 1 anyone possessing "greater than small amount" of drugs.
Pavel Novotny/Sofia Karakeva
FROM SLOVAKIA
Slovak National Assembly Decides on Direct Presidential Election
The Slovak National Assembly January 14 adopted an amendment to the
constitutional law on the election of the president, according to which
the Slovak president shall be elected by a direct vote of the electorate
and not by a voting of the legislature. Of 150 deputies, 108 voted, but
the 93 deputies from government coalition parties voted for the
amendment and the necessary two-thirds majority (90 votes) was reached.
The vote demonstrated the unity of coalition parties, which was later
praised by the Premier Mikolas Dzurinda as exemplary. The presidential
election date has not been set, but it is said that the end of May or
the beginning of June will probably be chosen.
Slovakia is without a president since March, after Michal Kovac's
term expired and the National Assembly was unable to agree on
a successor. In the meantime some presidential powers were divided
between the premier and and the Slovak National Assembly chairman.
Direct presidential election was an important part of the election
campaign of the government coalition.
A presidential candidate must be older than 40 and his candidacy
has to be proposed either by a petition signed by 15,000 Slovak citizens
or by a proposal from at least 15 legislators. The amendment is more
specific about the powers of the president. The right to dissolve the
Assembly has been strengthened. The president can be recalled only by
a public vote, which can be initiated by the Assembly if the motion is
passed by 90 deputies (a two-thirds majority). Amnesty declared by the
president must also be signed by the premier.
The Czech daily Pravo published results of poll conducted by the
Markant Agency. According to the poll, the best chance for election
belongs to Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) Chairman and Kosice Mayor
Rudolf Schuster, who was supported by 45 per cent of poll respondents.
Kovac's candidacy has also been announced. According to the daily,
a petition for the candidacy of actress and former Czechoslovak
ambassador to Austria Magda Vasaryova has been started. Vasaryova is
being very careful about her candidacy, but she did not say no. Another
possible candidate is Jan Svec from the Slovak Democratic Coalition
(SDK), but this would contradict the governing coalition's support
promised to Schuster. Schuster is not very popular among members of SDK
because of his Communist past. This problem will be discussed at the
next coalition meeting.
Lenka Ludvikova/Katerina Kolarova
Meciar Violently Attacks Journalist
From the first time after leaving public office, former Premier
Vladimir Meciar appeared in public on the occasion of the funeral of
former Minister Jan Ducky (see Carolina 315) at the Sport House in
Bratislava January 15. Meciar attracted the attention of the media with
his profane attack on the Czech station TV Prima's photographer Vladimir
Misauer, who had been taking Meciar's picture. Other reports said Meciar
also physically attacked the journalist.
Lenka Ludvikova/Katerina Kolarova
ECONOMY
1998 Budget Deficit Increased to 29.3 Billion Crowns
Revenues of 537.4 billion crowns were not enough to cover state
expenditures of 566.7 billion crowns in 1998, producing a final budget
deficit of 29.3 billion crowns. The January 15 information from the
Finance Ministry was published in the media one day later. According to
the daily MF DNES, the state debt has reached about 11 per cent of the
Czech gross domestic product.
Lida Truneckova/Milan Smid
And Then There Were Four: CSOB Suitors Advance to Final Round
Banque National de Paris, Deutsche Bank, HypoVereinsbank and
Belgium's KBC Bank were chosen as finalists for the purchase of the
state's 66-per-cent share (worth an estimated 20 billion crowns to 25
billion crowns) in the Czechoslovak Trade Bank (Ceskoslovenska obchodni
banka). The selection was made January 19 by a committee comprised of
representatives from the Finance Ministry, Czech National Bank and the
National Property Fund.
The sale should take place by the end of June, according to the
daily Hospodarske noviny. The privatization process was begun by the
government of former Prime Minister Josef Tosovsky, who has since
returned to his chair as governor of the Czech National Bank, while the
current government approved the list of suitors in November (see
Carolina 309).
Lida Truneckova/Milan Smid
Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid January 22)
------------------------------------------------------------
1 EUR = 36.040 CZK
country currency CZK
------------------------------------------
Australia 1 AUD 19.846
Great Britain 1 GBP 51.246
Denmark 1 DKK 4.845
Japan 100 JPY 27.628
Canada 1 CAD 20.502
IMF 1 XDR 43.686
Hungary 100 HUF 14.404
Norway 1 NOK 4.182
New Zealand 1 NZD 16.797
Poland 1 PLN 8.790
Greece 100 GRD 11.172
Slovakia 100 SKK 84.227
Slovenia 100 SIT 19.113
Sweden 1 SEK 4.024
Switzerland 1 CHF 22.483
USA 1 USD 31.158
Exchange Rates of countries particpating in the euro
(converted from the euro rate)
country currency CZK
-----------------------------------------
Germany 1 DEM 18.427
Belgium 100 BEF 89.341
Finland 1 FIM 6.061
France 1 FRF 5.494
Ireland 1 IEP 45.761
Italy 1000 ITL 18.613
Luxemburg 100 LUF 89.341
Netherlands 1 NLG 16.354
Portugal 100 PTE 17.977
Austria 1 ATS 2.619
Spain 100 ESP 21.660
CULTURE
Europalia '98 a Partial Success
Europalia '98, which presented Czech culture, said good-bye to its
host city of Brussels after three months. Czech culture was presented
through 160 projects. Musical and theater productions were a great
success. The Czech pop group Laura and Her Tigers and Forman brothers'
puppet theater Shack (Bouda) garnered great applause. On the other hand,
the central exhibit Prague in the Metamorphosis of Styles was rather
embarrassing, if only for the reason that Prague's Art Nouveau seems
poor in comparison to Brussels. The Czech Republic was the first
post-Communist country to be presented in Brussels. Europalia '99 will
be devoted to Hungarian culture.
Zuzana Janeckova/Zuzana Janeckova
CULTURE IN BRIEF:
* The exhibit of painter Jakub Schikaneder's work was extended. The
curators of the exhibit acknowledged the response of the people standing
in front of the exhibition hall every day. Schikaneder's exhibit is
quite unique, Schikaneder didn't identify himself with any school, he
remained a painter of Prague, light and the tragedy of human destiny.
* Sir Tim Rice, the author of Evita's libretto, came to see Prague
and Prague's version of Evita. It was splendid and different from other
versions, and it sounds very good, said Rice in an interview with the
daily Lidove noviny.
* American punk group The Offspring, which brought out the album
Americana last year, is coming back to Prague to play at the Krizik
Pavilion.
Zuzana Janeckova, Pavel Sladky/Zuzana Janeckova
SPORTS
Loprais Wins Rally to Dakar for the Fifth Time
Karel Loprais, with Radomir Stachura and navigator Josef Kalina,
his teammates from the Fisher Tatra Marathon Team, secured his fifth win
in the Granada-Dakar Rally on the coast of Rose Lake near the capital
city of Senegal.
Three Czech motorcycle riders did not finish the rally.
Vladimir Vorechovsky/Mirek Langer
Australian Open: Czech Men Advance, among Women only Novotna Moves on
This year's first Grand Slam in Melbourne is strangely inconsistent
for Czech fans. Four of seven Czech men advanced to the third round
(Petr Korda, Martin Damm, Jiri Novak and Bohdan Ulihrach). On the
contrary, Czech women's tennis is represented in the third round only by
Jana Novotna.
Korda's doping case (see Carolina 314 and 315) is a story of its
own. Although Korda is under great pressure from the media, he keeps
winning. The reigning champion defeated Spain's Galo Blanco in the first
round after a five-set battle.
Vladimir Vorechovsky/Mirek Langer
Hockey Extraleague: 27,000 Fans Watch Three Games in Pardubice
The ice-hockey Staropramen Extraleague continued with three rounds
during last week. The teams' struggle to fit in first eight places in
the standings, which will earn them berths in the playoffs, has suddenly
becomes the main topic.
Pardubice played beautiful hockey. The schedule prepared them three
games on its own ice and the players prepared great experiences for
three sell-outs (each game was visited by some 9,000 spectators).
Pardubice defeated Zlin and tied Sparta and Trinec.
Opava's fans did not enjoy too much hockey as 12 Opava players fell
ill with the flu. Two games (against Kladno and Jihlava) were postponed.
Exhausted from illness, Opava then lost on Slavia's ice. The Prague team
improved its position after a debacle in Litvinov, where it lost 10-1.
The game between two top Moravian teams, Vsetin and Zlin, was the
most exciting game of the 36th round. Zlin proved again it can play very
well in Vsetin.
Karlovy Vary's winless streak reached nine games.
Results of the 34th round: Vsetin - Litvinov 5-0, Vitkovice - Ceske
Budejovice 5-2, Kladno - Sparta Prague 3-3, Karlovy Vary - Trinec 0-3,
Slavia Prague - Plzen 3-4, Pardubice - Zlin 8-5, Opava - Jihlava
postponed.
Results of the 35th round: Zlin - Jihlava 7-1, Trinec - Kladno
7-3, Pardubice - Sparta Prague 3-3, Plzen - Vitkovice 3-6, Ceske
Budejovice - Karlovy Vary 6-4, Litvinov - Slavia Prague 10-1, Opava
- Vsetin postponed.
Results of the 36th round: Vsetin - Zlin 1-3, Karlovy Vary - Kladno
1-5, Ceske Budejovice - Plzen 6-4, Slavia Prague - Opava 6-2, Vitkovice
- Litvinov 3-1, Jihlava - Sparta Prague 2-5, Pardubice - Trinec 1-1.
Standings: 1. Vsetin 50, 2. Zlin 49, 3. Trinec 48, 4. Sparta Prague
43, 5. Plzen 38, 6. Ceske Budejovice 37, 7. Slavia Prague 35, 8.
Vitkovice 35, 9. Pardubice 34, 10. Litvinov 32, 11. Karlovy Vary 30,
12. Opava 27, 13. Kladno 26, 14. Jihlava 16.
Jirka Wazik/Mirek Langer
SPORTS IN BRIEF
* Alexander Rezes, AC Sparta Prague soccer club owner, sold key
player Martin Cizek for 1.2 million deutschmarks (21.6 million crowns).
The transfer of the national team member to Munich 1860, the German
league's fourth-place team, was made by Rezes without the knowledge of
Sparta management.
* Goalkeeper Tomas Vokoun, a 22-year-old rookie on the NHL club in
Nashville, overshadowed the weekend performances of his compatriot
Dominik Hasek, as he recorded his first career shutout.
* Katerina Neumannova won both classic and freestyle events in the
Czech Republic Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, while the men have
two champions: Vaclav Korunka (classics) and Martin Koukal (freestyle).
Robin Rohrich/Mirek Langer
WEATHER
Winter presented us its warm and cold faces. This week temperatures
fluctuated around the freezing point as if they were on a swing.
However, the maximum highs did not far exceed 5 degrees Celsius/41
degrees Fahrenheit, and the maximum lows did not reach minus 5 degrees
Celsius/22 degrees Fahrenheit. A holiday in the mountains could be
recommended. Despite some local temporary thawing, snow has been
plentiful throughout the mountains, and the pollution inversion brought
the sun above the clouds. On the other hand, foggy, chilly and raw
weather has made a life in the city unpleasant.
Jirka Wazik
English version edited by Michael Bluhm.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA.
Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Please send
them to the address:
CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz
To subscribe to CAROLINA news, send an e-mail message to the address
LISTSERV@cesnet.cz
The text of the message for subscription to the English version must be:
SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name
or for the Czech version
SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name
To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers, send
the following message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz:
SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS
We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. You can
temporarily stop receiving Carolina by sending the command:
SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL
All Listserv commands should be sent to the address:
LISTSERV@cesnet.cz
Please, don't send the commands SUB, SIGNOFF, NOMAIL etc to the address
CAR-CS@listserv.cesnet.cz or CAR-ENG@cesnet.cz!
Past issues of Carolina are available at the address
www.cuni.cz/carolina.
