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Current AffairsShock therapy capitalism marks 20th anniversary
Twenty years ago, in January 1991, Czechoslovakia began a crash course in
capitalism as the old system of central economic planning that had been in
place for the previous four decades was dismantled. In spite of resistance
from some quarters, Czechoslovakia, opted for a fast, shock therapy reform,
differing from the more cautious path taken in Poland and Hungary. More
Current AffairsFirst post-communist Czechoslovak foreign minister Jiří Dienstbier dies
Czech Senator Jiří Dienstbier, a leading figure of the Czech dissident
movement and the country’s first post-communist foreign minister died
over the weekend at the age of 73. A former dissident and journalist, Mr.
Dienstbier served on many committees and worked as a UN rapporteur on human
rights in the former Yugoslavia, but in people’s minds he will always be
remembered as the man who stood next to the former West German foreign
minister Hans Dietrich Genscher and cut through the barbed wire of the Iron
Curtain. More
MailboxMailbox
This week in Mailbox: The 21st anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, a
“Czech” week in Denmark, the Czech hard candy Hašlerky. Listeners
quoted: Ruth O'Connor, Hans Verner Lollike, Chun-Quan Meng. More
SpecialChildren of the Revolution: politics and writing in today’s Czech Republic
A few days ago Radio Prague and the Czech Literature Portal, this country’s foremost website promoting Czech
literature abroad, got together to hold the first of a series of public
literary discussions. David Vaughan’s guests were two of the Czech
Republic’s best known literary figures, the novelist Petra Hůlová and
the critic and translator Martin Machovec. They were joined by an
international audience at one of Prague’s most atmospheric literary dens,
the Shakespeare and Sons bookshop, tucked away in one of
the ancient houses in Prague’s Lesser Quarter. The subject was politics
and literature; twenty years after the fall of communism, are the two in
any way compatible here in the Czech context?
More
One on OneMisha Glenny - UK writer with close ties to Prague
The English journalist and writer Misha Glenny is perhaps best known for
his work covering the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the hit 2008 book
McMafia. His first book The Rebirth of History, published in 1990, focused
on the post-communist political landscape of Eastern Europe, including
Czechoslovakia, a country with which he had a close association. Indeed,
Glenny had studied Czech in Prague, and remembers with fondness his time
here in the early ‘80s. When we spoke recently at the close of the Forum
2000 conference in the city, he recalled his very first visit, towards the
end of 1980. More
Current AffairsNewly uncovered footage shows how Communists wanted to depict events of ‘89
Historians at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes have
announced they recently uncovered previously unknown video footage in the
archives on the events of 1989. Footage shot – and heavily manipulated -
by the former regime’s secret police, the StB. Carefully presented images
and a propagandistic voice-over in the “documentary” were meant to give
a diametrically different picture of public demonstrations which shook the
country 21 years ago, suggesting they were a provocation and a sham.
Swiftly overcome by events, though, the Communists soon shelved the
material, and it was subsequently forgotten.
More
Talking PointCzech Republic plays for high stakes in Temelín nuclear power plant tender
The contract to build two new nuclear reactors at the current south
Bohemian site of Temelín with the option for another three elsewhere has
been described as the tender of the century. The deal will be worth
hundreds of billions of crowns, but there is more than the money at stake.
The decision offers a stark choice between US, French and Russian companies
and technology with the Czech Republic looking to get key strategic
know-how and spin off contracts from the winner.
More
Current AffairsItalia ’90 a World Cup to remember for Czechoslovak fans able to travel freely after fall of communism
With just days remaining until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa,
football fever is beginning to grip fans around the globe. The Czech
Republic failed to qualify this year, but many will have fond memories of
the 1990 World Cup in Italy, when supporters from Czechoslovakia were
finally able to travel freely to a major soccer tournament.
More
Current AffairsGeneration 89 meets to debate the past and plan the future
Generation 89, currently underway in four European capitals, is a project
intended to bring together young people from different backgrounds and
different experiences to debate their common future in the European Union.
Participants from nine EU member states are meeting in Bucharest, Brussels,
Prague and Warsaw to talk about where they came from and where they want to
go. The project was initiated by the Romanian Cultural Institute to mark
the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and
co-financed by the European Commission. Dan Mitra Duta, the project
manager, explains the idea behind it.
More
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