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 RR R OO O LL II NN N N AA A CC AAAAAA RRRRR OO O LL II NN N N AAAAAA CC AA A RR R OO O LL II NN NN AA A CCCCC AA A RR R OOOO LLLLLL II NN N AA A 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 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 2, Friday, November 8. 1991. The E-mail News from Czechoslovakia *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* 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 Košice, 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 ------------------------------- 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©Ą 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. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* To subscribe Carolina send the e-mail message with subject text "Subscription" on our e-mail address. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated.