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 54, Friday, December 18, 1992. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dear subscriber Soon Czechoslovakia will cease to exist; a state created in 1918 and comprising two nations, Czechs and Slovaks. We would like to know your opinion concerning this event. If we have received enough interesting submissions from subscribers we shall use them in a special issue of Carolina. We are looking forward to your reactions. editors ----------------------------------------------------------------- Czech republic adopts constitution On Wednesday night the members of Czech National Committee (Czech parliament) voted on the adoption of the proposed constitution for Czech republic. After a lengthy discussion lasting several hours 172 members voted in favour of adoption, 15 members from SPR-RSC, HSD-SMS and one member of LSU voted against, while 10 members of the same parties abstained. After the vote the Czech part of the Czechoslovak anthem was played. Eva Human rights supported A rally in support of human and civil rights and freedom was held on December 10, on so-called Day of Human Rights. The event was organized among others by Helsinki Committee, Committee for defence of unjustly prosecuted, OH (Civic Movement) and Real-Young Liberals. The rally was held at a highly symbolic location, Skroupa's square in Prague, where four years ago one of the first anti-communist demonstrations took place. Then, of course, the square was packed full, while on Thursday a handful of about hundred people showed up. Among speakers at the rally were Radim Palous, the Rector of Charles University in Prague, Frantisek Miklosko, one of the foremost member of Slovak opposition, and also students from Trnava University which the Slovak government is trying to abolish in blatant violation of academic freedoms guaranteed to universities by law. Bratislava skinheads in action During the night on December 11 a group of skinheads broke into the college dormitory named after L.Stur. They requested a list of foreign students living in the dorm, whom they later attacked in their rooms, injuring some and damaging the rooms. On Monday night the foreign students begin a protest march in front of the Park of Culture and Recreation in Bratislava that continued to the location of National Committee of Slovak Republic (Slovak parliament). The students demonstrated against insufficient action of the police, and their aim was to turn attention of the members of the parliament to the unacceptable situation that developed in Bratislava in the last few days. The director of the dorm Mr. M. Onufrak strictly denied that the skinheads had broken into the dorm. By his account only a fist fight between Slovak and foreign students took place. Some of the participants of the protest rally claimed that not only the police had not helped the students in the dorm, it had rounded some of them in front of the Park of Culture and Recreation. Four of them had been ordered face to the wall, and after the police had checked them for weapons, they had beaten the students over their legs with truncheons. The commander of the City police department lieutenant I. Angyal asked the injured students to contact their respective police departments and promised an inquiry into the police action in front of the Park of Culture and Recreation. Lenka J. Svoboda still leads the party The 2nd congress of Czechoslovak Communist Party took place in Kladno during the weekend of December 12 and 13. J. Svoboda, who was again elected the chairman of the party, is currently recovering from a December 5 armed attack by an unknown assailant. Mr. Svoboda's recovery is continuing without complications. "The parties represented in parliament used the results of the election to destroy the 74 year old co-existence of Czechs and Slovaks.", charged the incoming/outgoing party chairman in a speech recorded on tape and sent to the congress. The change of the name of the party was also on agenda of the congress, but the conservative majority in the leadership of the party rejected the idea. Lenka, Michal Various versions of proposed Czech Senate (from MF Dnes, Dec. 14) The final proposal of the Transformation bill by the Czech government sent to the Czech National Committee (Czech parliament) contains two versions. According to the first version, the temporary Senate will comprise all 174 Czech members of the federal parliament. By the second version, only 81 members of the federal parliament will be incorporated into the temporary Senate, as it is the number of seats in the Senate as stipulated by the new constitution. In the latter version the allocation of seats to political parties in the temporary Senate will be done according to the distribution of seats in the federal parliament and the individual senators will chosen by a lottery. The Czech government had considered some other variations before adopting the above proposal as the most acceptable. The original idea, by which the members of the federal parliament were transferred to the temporary Senate according to the number of votes (including preferential votes) they obtained during the last election, was abandoned. Radka Acting Chairman of Czech Press Agency Tomas Kopriva, the chairman of Czechoslovak Press Agency till December 31, was named acting chairman of CTK (Czech Press Agency). The chairman of CTK will be selected by mid February 1993 at the latest by a competition. Lenka Tax relief for entrepreneurs The Czech government under the guidance of the minister of finances I. Kocarnik is set to lighten the tax burden for entrepreneurs. It is a reaction to the growing discontent among businessmen to the low amount of tax deductions of health and social insurance contributions. The latest proposal of the tax law stipulates that twice the amount of the insurance contribution may be deducted, while the current version allows only to deduct the single amount. According to the minister, this amendment will smooth the curve of tax burden and will eliminate the differences the businessman had called attention to. Radka New Czech bank notes The complete set of new Czech bank notes in denominations ranging from 10 to 5000 kc (Czech crowns) is to be ready for the one-time exchange slated for the period July - August 1993. If the monetary union is abandoned by one of the republics before that date, the old federal bank notes will have to be stamped. The new bank notes will carry likenesses of historical personalities (in parentheses the denomination and the colour hue are stated): Duke Svatopluk (10 kc - brown), Premysl Otakar I. (20 kc - blue), St. Anezka (50 kc - red), Karel IV. (100 kc - green), J.A. Komensky (200 kc - yellow/orange), Bozena Nemcova (500 kc - brown/black), Frantisek Palacky (1000 kc - purple), Ema Destinova (2000 kc - red/brown), and T.G. Masaryk (5000 kb - blue/back). In the State Mint only the 200s and 1000s bills will be printed. The rest of the bills will be printed by the English firm Thomas de la Rue. The new notes will be equipped with a metal stripe with a negative microtext and a hidden image (hologram) that can be created only by so-called deep-press method and can be viewed only under a certain angle. This is supposed to make counterfeiting very hard. Michal August Rodin in Prague After ninety years the works of French sculptor August Rodin can be viewed again in Prague. And in several expositions - in Anezsky monastery, Old City Hall, and Rudolfinum. They will be open till December 31. Lenka The Bartered Bride The famous opera of Bedrich Smetana (music) and Karel Sabina (lyrics) can be seen again on the stage of National Theatre. This time under the direction of P. Smok and musical direction of the conductor B. Gregor. Lenka Weather No surprises there. The temperatures hover around zero, very little snow. In lower altitudes the snow cover is quite rare, in mountains there is snow cover of about 20 to 50 cm's. The exception is the mountains of Jeseniky where the skiers can enjoy almost 1 meter of snow. The air-pollution index is not bad. Jan Sport Hockey league The fall part of the national hockey league ended with the first two matches of the super-structure based on the results of the regular season. In the regular season Litvinov defended first place and so met with last-placed Plzen in back-to-back games. In the first game Litvinov lost in Plzen 1:10, while back home it won 5:0. First overall after the fall part of the league is Ceske Budejovice which defeated Pardubice 3:2 and 5:2. The next round will be played on January 8. Jan Money Exchange Rates to Kcs as of December 16, 1992 buy sale USA 1$ 27.80 29.20 Kcs FRG 1DM 17.69 18.61 Kcs U.K. 1L 43.04 46.18 Kcs CAN 1$ 21.37 22.93 Kcs FRA 1F 5.16 5.42 Kcs AUS 1S 2.52 2.64 Kcs translated by: franya@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Franya Franek) ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. To subscribe to CAROLINA you have to send the e-mail message on the address LISTSERV@CSEARN.BITNET. The text of the message is: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name for the english version or SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name for the czech version. Tu delete your subscription from the list you should send the message to LISTSERV: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS