WHAT'S ON BRITSKÉ LISTY
20. 3. 2010
The decade-and-a-half-old Czech opinion Internet daily Britské Listy ("British Pages" - www.blisty.cz), of which this www.CzechFocus.cz is an English language offspring version, has had a public discussion about an article by former top economic advisor to the previous regime František Nevařil. We reproduce here its main points.
20. 3. 2010 / Karel Košťál
Singer Jean Ferrat, who protested against the Soviet-led invasion that ended the experiment of "socialism with a human face" of the Prague Spring of 1968, has died.
CZECH TELEGRAPH
20. 3. 2010
Czech scientists make breakthrough discovery on the fight against cancer, another Gypsy family attacked, a Senator who thinks they faked it, a former president going Green again, the railways getting new trains, the medical association appologizing to Jews, Cardinal Vlk about homosexuality in the Church, gay icon former premier and the latest election research polls... Seven Czech days in review.
CZECHOPEDIA
20. 3. 2010
Former center right prime minister Mirek Topolánek was recorded making politically incorrect jokes about gays, the Catholic Church and Jews. He claims they were not meant seriously, but were just pub type of humor. In one of them, the leader of the Civic Democrats (ODS) mentions the current caretaker government premier Jan Fischer, mocking his Jewish roots. Nevertheless, the Czech nation has been notorious for its historical tolerance of Jewry.
CZECH TELEGRAPH
17. 3. 2010
Jan Fischer's cabinet trying to fix long-due holes before a new government (and months of chaos) arrives
CZECH TELEGRAPH
17. 3. 2010
Former president Václav Havel trying to influence more voters to choose the Czech Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) in the upcoming May general elections
16. 3. 2010 / Petr Jánský
On the 4th of March there was a full page interview on daily Mladá Fronta Dnes with [historian and head of the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (USTR)] Jiří Pernes, who has been recently been witch-hunted by the media for having studied at a communist school: "I am Not a Communist or Leftist".
A Czech version of this article is in
16. 3. 2010 / Ladislav Žák
The statement by the Czech Police that there is nothing there is no evidence that the Molotov cocktail thrown into a Gypsy family's home Saturday, falling in a room where a 14 year old Romany girl was sleeping, was an act of extremism, which is how a racially motivated would be officially categorized, is making me wonder if it is just me, or the world has gone mad?
A Czech version of this article is in
CZECH TELEGRAPH
16. 3. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo
A new attack against a Romany family's home was reported Monday by the Czech public television news. A Molotov cocktail was thrown inside the house of a Gypsy family in Ostrava, almost victimizing the family's 14 year old daughter. She managed to water down the bottle and nobody was hurt. In 2009 a 2 year old Romany girl was severely burned in almost all her body after a similar racially motivated attack. She spent 7 months interned in a hospital, going through dozens of operations and constant pain. There has been a renewed anti-Gypsy wave in the Czech Republic, propelled by economic frustrations (Romany families are accused by haters of milking the State for social benefits and of being chronicle pet criminals).
17. 3. 2010
China's Information Office of the State Council published a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009" yesterday. The full text of China's State Council assessment of U.S. human rights violations as published in Xinhuanews follows.
The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009 on March 11, 2010, posing as "the world judge of human rights" again. As in previous years, the reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China, but turn a blind eye to, or dodge and even cover up rampant human rights abuses on its own territory. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009 is prepared to help people around the world understand the real situation of human rights in the United States.
CZECH TELEGRAPH
15. 3. 2010
Czech Finance Minister Eduard Janota said the earliest date for the adoption of the euro by the country is 2015. Before it lowers the public finances' deficit to less than 3 percent of the country's GDP, Czech Republic cannot even start the process for being accepted in the eurozone. In 2009 the budget deficit went to 6.6 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but the Finance Ministry estimates a drop to 5.3 percent. The overall deficit of Czech public finances for 2010 is estimated to be about 160 billion Czech crowns.
15. 3. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo
The most touristic and important street in Prague, Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí), changes color every evening. With the dark, come the Nigerians. They are a group of about 600 who "work" hunting drunk foreign visitors, trying to convince them to go to a nearby cabaret/brothel. Prague's center is packed with casinos and go-go girl places, thanks to the traditional Czech liberalism towards prostitution and quiet drug use.
15. 3. 2010
The majority of Czech Romanies were killed in the Holocaust. Many of them moved through two camps set up by Czechs (independent from the Germans). Czechs never took responsibility for the atrocities committed against Czech citizens of Roma and Sinti origin in their land. The vast majority of Roma who live in the Czech Republic today are descended from the Slovak Roma branch.
12. 3. 2010 / Štěpán Kotrba
The Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) is having an unlucky week. On Monday the data regarding industrial output and construction progress was made public. The report was peculiarly poor, though. That was because it didn't contain the data about the development of each industrial sector. The next day an announcement could be found on the Czech Statistical Office's webpage, explaining that this was because of technical reasons, which they were investigating.
12. 3. 2010 / Daniel Strož
I don't want to be so pretentious as to say that it was because of my articles on Britský Listy that helped move the current political activity against the systematic bullying of Czech citizens crossing the borders of Germany and Austria.
Important is that, after the unsuccessful attempts by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Kohout, who too easily got satisfied with the declaration of his German counterpart, Quido Westerwell ("In no way we intend to discriminate against the citizens of such a wonderful country as is the Czech Republic", or the Salomon-like "we are not breaking the letter of the Shengen Agreements, but in many cases it may happen that its spirit is not being fully respected"), other of our country's politicians started to fulfill their obligations. They are in politics exactly so that they can defend their people not only against internal, but also external wrongdoings.
CZECH TELEGRAPH
8. 3. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo
Czech Trade union leader Jaromír Dušek provoked outrage after telling newspaper Lidove Noviny that the transport sector was run by a mafia of homosexuals. He claimed that gays have a conspiracy to run the transport system, with directors intermingling with fellow homosexual members of government. He refused to apologize and was criticized by Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who together with the Transport Minister and a series of political figures declared they no longer consider Mr Dušek a partner for negotiation. The leadership of Czech Trade unions invited him for a meeting on Monday, to explain his words.
CZECH TELEGRAPH
10. 3. 2010 / Fabiano Golgo
340 illegal methamphetamine laboratories were uncovered in the Czech Republic last year, the highest number in any EU country. Crystal meth has become a serious problem in the United States and some studies show that the drug made its way to America from gay tourists in the 1990s, who in turn got to what is called Pervitin in Czech Republic from local male prostitutes, a group among which the drug is widespread. Pervitin, or piko, as it is nicknamed, was widely used by the Axis forces during the Second World War to keep soldiers awake. The drug was later forbidden, but stayed alive in the underground in Czechoslovakia. It is the most widely consumed illegal drug in the country (considering that cannabis use is regulated, but legal). Its production is made easy by the over-the-counter sale of medicine containing pseudo-ephedrine, a crucial substance for the production of metamphetamine, found in common headache pills like Paralen.
CZECH TELEGRAPH:
11. 3. 2010
Last year, immediately after finishing their university courses, 60 out of the 780 new doctors went abroad to work for better wages. Hundreds of soon-to-be doctors are planning a protest meeting in Prague this Saturday, and hope to discuss directly with the Health Minister, Dana Jurásková, who promised to come to the event. One of their main complaints is that, as students, they have to do the so-called residency time in hospitals and clinics, but that they are seldom able to do it for more than a couple of hours per week, getting paid such low wages that it is impossible to survive with dignity from them. Many hospitals take advantage of the money they get paid by the State to take in the Medicine students for residency stints, but they misuse their cheap labour. Some members of a Facebook group that unites over a thousand young doctors are asking for a general resignation: they want to make themselves heard by quitting en masse their residency jobs. Their gains of 2,600 Czech crowns per month (plus the State aid of about 8 thousand) are lower than those of an illiterate construction worker.
9. 3. 2010 / Kateřina Švidrnochová
In a text extracted from Romano Hangos- -- Kateřina Švidrnochová tells us about a yearly meeting that happened on the second week of February -- promoted by NGO Slovo 21 (that congregates foreigners in Czech Republic) -- of Roma/Gypsy students who wish to enter the university. Twenty-two students came, mostly from Brno, Pardubice and Prague. During the weekend they went through a series of tests that should show their personal and educational expectations.
A Czech version of this article is in