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 STUDENT'S E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA School of Social Science of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 C.S.F.R. e-mail address: CAROLINA@CSEARN.BITNET *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 13, Friday, February 7, 1992. LAST WEEK'S EVENTS (from January, 29 to February, 5) The Board of Ministers CSCE in Prague. The board of ministers of CSCE convened on January 30th and 31st, in Prague, presided over by the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister, Jiri Dienstbier. Ten countries of the Union of Independent States have become full-fledged members, and Slovenia and Croatia have acquired observer status. One part of the document is an appeal to all member coutries and states that acquired independence only recently to participate in the negotiations on conventional weapons. The document stresses the member states' willingness to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile technology. As to the confict in Yugoslavia, the ministers stressed the necessity to respect international bonds, the rights of the ethnic minorities, the integrity of inner and outer borders, and to guarantee that no state will make territorial claims upon its neighbours. The next meeting of the board of ministers is to be in Stockholm in December. The Joint Session of Both Houses of Parliament Disrupted on Friday, Jaunary 31st. On February 17th, discussion will continue on the report issued by the Parliamentary Investigative Commission to Parliament on January 30th. The commission, whose task it was to clarify the events of November 1989, excluded the conspiracy theory. A stormy discussion arose in Parliament after footage released by Christian Science Monitor Television was aired on Czech TV the evening before the commission released its findings. The footage showed Stanislav Devaty, who, in the presence of another two commission members , quoted from secret documents about the positively-screened deputy of the Federal Assembly Jan Kavan. Only the next Parliamentary session will reveal whether it was an illegitimate leakage of information or whether the commitee was unrestrained in its use and distribution of information. All that is clear today, is that the deputies, who gave the information to the American team, lied to the Czechoslovak public, because until the footage was shown on TV they denied its existence. Constitutional Court Born Again. President Havel appointed 12 constituional court justices (one woman and eleven men) on Friday, January 31st. He also selected 38-year-old Slovak Ernest Valko as Chief Justice. The court was sworn into office in a formal ceremony at the Prague Castle the same day. All the appointed justices had to forfeit their elected offices (such as Federal Assembly deputies, Government membership or posts in political parties). The seat of the Constitutional Court will be Brno, the largest Moravian city. On the occasion of the court 's opening on Monday, February 3rd, the Deputy Chairman of the Federal Goverment, Pavel Rychetsky, said that one of the tasks of the new constitutional body will be to harmonize the Czechoslovak laws with the constituion. Private citizens will also be allowed to appeal directly to the court, if they feel that their human rights as defined in the constitution have been violated. Millions of Share-Holders 8,236.000 Czechoslovak shareholders registered their voucher books by January 31st. The citizens's interest in voucher privatization far exceeded all expectations (4 million). The registrations increased in January, mainly due to the activity of investment funds, promising investors a fifteen-fold increase on their money within a year. The voucher booklets cost 1035 crowns. With the increasing number of registered people, the property value to be acquired in the privatization decreases. The registration of voucher booklets continues until February 29th. Hunger Strike Miloslav Marecek of Kyjov has been on hunger strike since December 25th in protest against the manner in which the General Prosecutor of the Czech and Federal Republics is handling his complaints. M Marecek demands that the authors of the 1989 "baton law" be revealed and prosecuted. The law was used against the signatories of the petition "Just a Few Sentences". His second demand concerns the handling of his official protest by the prosecutor. He is also protseting against the prosecution's dismissal of his charges of psychiatric abuse against the doctor who tretaed him. In a statement issued February 2nd, the prosecution insisted his complaints were legally unfounded. Mr.Marecek refuses to accept their decision and continues with his hunger strike. SCHOOL SERVICE Deadline for University Applications February 29th. We remind all people intersted in studying at Czechoslovak Universities that all applications must be mailed by February 29th. In Carolina No 11, we informed you that - like last year - every student can apply to several universities and take several entrance examinations. Depending on the branch of prospective study, some faculties require additional materilas, such as a curriculum vitae , a medical certificate and examples of the student's creative work. Universities can ask the students to pay a fee to cover the expenses of the entrance exam. Last year the fee was about 100 Czechoslovak crowns. CULTURAL SERVICE Boris Hybner and the Gag Studio. Twenty five years ago, Boris Hybner read the book The Greatest of the Pierots by Frantisek Kozik and saw the film The Children of Paradise starring J.K.Deburau. It was a natural step for him then to exchange light athletics for mime. He wrote a letter to Ladislav Fialka of Theatre Na zabradli, but never received an answer. So he hitch-hiked from his small town of Vyskov to Prague to meet him personally. The theatre Na zabradli became his mime crandle. Nevertheless, he soon relaized that the poetic and distinguished style of Ladislav Fialka didn't suit him, and he decided to pursue his own way. He was a member of theatre Alhambra and Magic Lantern. He was one of the founding members of Pantomima Alfreda Jarryho, a group which attracted a great deal of attention with their performance Harakiri after August, 1968. Soon conflicts arose between the regime and Boris Hybner. Fate took him to the Czechoslovak state Ensemble of Songs and Dances. In 1979 Boris Hybner founded The Original Society of Slapstick Comedy, Gag. It became mainly for its trilogy of scenic slapstick comedies, "At the End of the Garden Called Hollywood". The TV serial Gagman, which was based upon it, was shown on TV in many countries and, in 1989, it was awarded the Bronze Rose at the festival in Montreau. In the same year the "velvet" revolution occured, and with it Boris Hybner's desire to have his own theatre resurfaced. After visiting a couple of places and halls he fell in love at first sight with a small room in the passage of the Metro in Narodni trida. And he got it! So the ensemble Gag, which started its career in the theatre Atelier and later toured all the Prague suburbs as well as the world, found its permanent stage in the centre of Prague. Boris Hybner is not only a mime, gagman and script-writer, but also a theatre director. On the small premises of the Studio Gag, a gallery, a bar, a theatre agency a film company of the same name can be found. Recently a private school of mime for young talented people was established. The visitors to the theatre Gag can see the performance Stars (a second sequel to "At the End of the Garden Called Hollywood"), Mizz (an evening of improvizations based on evergreens of world mime), Gagman (a story describing the hard job of inventing gags), and Some Like It Horror (a rough Comitragedy from dreary London). And that is not all! The Gag Studio in their performance Gag-Session hosts musicians, composers, lyrics writers as well as foreign guests. The End of the Theatre Festival. The last performance of the Week of the Czech and Slovak Theatre was a performance by the Slovak National Theatre in the Prague theatre Labyrinth. The comedy by the Czech - British author Tom Stoppard That's the Right Thing, starring Emil Horvath and Zdena Studenkova, was a great success. The next, music, set and the performance of the actors created a dynamic, witty as well as philosophical display. A Ball in the Opera. After more that fifty years, a ball in the opera will be held in Prague. One thousand guests are expected in the Smetana Theatre on February 8th. The patron of the evening is the millionaire Ivana Trump; other distinguished guests are expected: Rafael Kubelik, Sir Peter Ustinov, the Czech Minister of Culture, Milan Uhde, the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jiri Dienstbier. As czech press commented, the ball will be attended by people whose income allows them to pay the steep ticket price. One ticket without a seat reservation costs 500 crowns, a table for two 2,800 crowns and a box for six 17,500 crowns. University students (but only a very limited number, as stressed on the invitation), can enter after submitting student ID cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. To subscribe Carolina please send the e-mail message with subject "Carolina/Eng: Subscription" for the english version (and "Carolina/Cs: Subscription" for the czech version) on our e-mail address above. To drop sending you replace the word Subscription" by "Unsubscription". The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated.