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 STUDENTS' E-MAIL NEWS FROM CZECH REPUBLIC School of Social Sciences of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic E-mail address: carolina@n.fsv.cuni.cz Fax: (+422) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 134, Tuesday, October 25, 1994. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE LAST WEEK (October 12 - 19) Havel: Non-Politicians Better for Nobel Peace Prize Czech President Vaclav Havel said that although he appreciates the efforts of this year's winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, politicians may not be the most deserving of the award. "I surely appreciate the courage shown by Jicchak Rabin, Shimon Peres and up to a certain extent even Yasser Arafat in trying to find a peaceful solution, which if successful would really be of historical importance," Havel said in an interview with Lidove Noviny. "On the other hand, it could be said that the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded more to people like Mother Theresa or Albert Schweitzer, people who struggle for human rights, a better world and peace as citizens and are not practically paid for it as are politicians." Ludek S. Stanek Czechs React to Kohl Victory Czech leaders generally reacted positively to the success German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his coalition partners in elections October 16. Czech President Vaclav Havel congratulated Kohl on winning a fourth term as chancellor. Havel said the quieter post-election atmosphere would leave more time for Czech-German dialogue on mutual issues. Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus said the election results showed German stability. "When I see it from the perspective of the Czech Republic, it is a positive result, because we need to go on a clear way to a distinct market economy," Klaus said. Defence Minister Vilem Holan, of the Christian and Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party, said that even such a "difficult operation as uniting two parts of the country" did not endanger the stability of Germany. Christian-Democratic Party Chairman Ivan Pilip was pleased that there will be no extreme rightists and only a small number of representatives from the reformed communist Democratic Socialist party in the new Bundestag. The success of the Democratic Socialists was welcomed by Jaroslav Ortman, of the Left Block, and Miroslav Grebenicek, chairman Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. Milos Zeman, chairman of the Social Democratic party, said the razor-thin margin in the Bundestag will produce a stalemated government. Jiri Schneider Czech Ambassador Detained in Ukraine The Czech Ambassador to the Ukraine, Tomas Masa, was detained Sunday by Ukrainian policemen while traveling to a community of Czechs in the Zaporozi region. He was allowed to continue on his way after paying a fine levied for no specified reason. On Tuesday, Masa said the incident arose from the personal initiative of local police in the Dnepropetrovsk region, and that he was more afraid for his own safety during the 20-minute action than for the future of Czech-Ukraine relations. According to the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Immunity, police are not allowed to force diplomats to get out of a car or to pay fines. The ambassador was traveling to participate in a celebration marking the founding of the Cechohrad settlement, and was to lay a foundation stone for a Catholic church. The church is to should stand at the place of a cathedral torn down in 1930s. The ambassador took with him a message from Czech President Vaclav Havel. In this letter, Havel said he appreciates the "courage and steadfastness" the ethnic Czechs displayed in maintaining a spirit of coexistence with the Czech nation regardless of obstacles. As well, he praised the fact that there are 18 nationalities in Cechohrad living in "friendly harmony." Cechohrad with its 1,300 inhabitants is the largest settlement of Czechs in the Ukraine. It was founded by Czech immigrants who came following the visit of Palacky and Riegr, famous Czech politicians and historians, in the second half of the 19th century. Due to their arduous work, they were able to establish prosperous Czech villages on the Dnepr river. Later, as volunteers, the village inhabitants were fighting in the Czech Legions, which contributed to the birth of Czechoslovakia. The time of Stalin's terror brought deportation to many Czech settlers from the region to Siberia, and saw the tearing down of churches and the forbidding of any national activities. The communities were reborn with the death of Soviet Union. Yet, initiatives still meet resistance from Ukrainian officials and ignorance from Czech officials. The arrival of the Czech ambassador and the message of the president mean the first important step towards the improvement of Czech relations towards these ethnic Czechs. Petr Roubal Anniversary of First Jewish Transport Marked A memorial to the victims of the first massive Jewish transport during World War II was dedicated October 18 in Ostrava. Prague Rabbi Karel Sidon said at the ceremony that Ostrava was the site of three sad first in Czechoslovakia. It was the first town where the synagogue was burned, the first town from which a Jewish transport was sent, and the first Czech town occupied by the Nazi German army. President Vaclav Havel said that although "Nazism was defeated, it would be naive to hope that the spirit of racism and collective hate has disappeared from this world." The memorial was financed by Yad Vashem, the Isreali Holocaust memorial organization. Guests at the dedication included Israel Ambassador Moshe Yegara, Polish Ambassador Jacek Baluch, and World Jewish Organization deputy Jack Friedman. Jiri Chvojka Witness Laws Overturned By Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court in Brno has ruled unconstitutional two paragraphs in the criminal code designed to protect witnesses. The laws, which were to take effect next March, were challenged by 44 members of Parliament. One of the laws allowed for anonymous witnesses. Parliament is expected to attempt to rewrite the overturned laws. Jaroslav Ortmann, a member of parliament who opposed the laws, said they limited the right of the accused to prove his or her innocence. Jana Maruskova Presidium of the Civic Democratic Party Supports Cermak The Civic Democratic Party is standing by its vice-chairman, Petr Cermak, who has been embroiled in scandal following revalations that he had free use of a Mercedes from the German firm Helbig. The loan of the car led to charges of conflict of interest against Cermak. But party officials expressed confidence in Cermak and said the matter was being whipped up by opposition parties in advance of local elections. Martina Vojteckovska Despite More Attacks on Gypsies, Interior Says No Extra Measures Needed Mlada Fronta Dnes is reporting that despite an increase in the number of racially-motivated attacks, the Interior Department is not suggesting addition measures to cope with the problem. Between January 1 and July 30 this year, police investigated 94 cases of racially-motivated attacks, according to a report submitted to the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and Nationalities October 13 by Martin Fendrych, deputy minister of interior. Of the 94 incidents, 74 involved criminal acts. In all of 1993, only 55 cases were investigated. The ministry is not calling for addition steps or increased penalties to curb such attacks. Officials said such cases could utilized existing laws against defaming races or nations, promotion movements to supress rights and freedoms, or promoting national or race hatred. Shah Muhammad German Driver Shot by Police Dies A 26-year-old shot by police in an incident that apparently grew out of a parking dispute in Pribram October 9 died four days later in a Prague hospital. According to the policeman's version of events, Markus Rankel attacked him, attempting to strangle him and ripping off his epaulettes. According to police, the officer's gun accidentally discharged when he struck Rankel with it in the head. But witnesses quoted in Mlada Fronta Dnes October 10 said the policeman was controlling Randel, had knocked him to the street and was kneeling on his back when the gun went off. The case continues to be investigated. The officer involved in the case has not been publicly identified. Rankel is the second German driver shot by Czech police in the last month. Bavarian authorities are warning Germans at the border to avoid any actions that could possibly be construed by Czech police as provocative. Jakub Knezu Charles University Honors Singer Kryl Karel Kryl, the Czech singer, writer and poet who died this spring, was posthumously awarded the Silver Medal of the Charles University for the moral and spiritual development of the Czech nation. University Rector Karel Maly presented the prize to Kryl's widow, Marie Magdalena Krylova, October 19 in Prague's Carolinum. The proposal to give the award to Kryl originated with the Student Chamber of the University Academic Senate. Tomas Kopecny FROM SLOVAKIA Negotiations On Government Continue It's more clear in Slovakia who will be outside the governing coalition than who will be in it. Jan Carnogursky, chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement, said negotiations with the Movement For a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) have failed to produce agreement on issues the Christian Democrats view as essential for cooperation in coalition. He said the most important issues are the the attitude towards President Michal Kovac and the HZDS's attempt to challenge the election results of Prime Minister Jozef Moravcik's Democratic Union. This failure comes on top of an announcement from Democratic Left Party Chairman Peter Weiss that his party would not participate in a coalition. A group of three Hungarian parties is unacceptable to prime minister-designate Vladimir Meciar, as is the Democratic Union, composed of former HZDS deputies. There are reports of an agreement between HZDS and the Slovak National Party and the Worker's Party. In an interview with the weekly Domino Efekt, Workers Party Chairman Klement Kolnik said that a HZDS-SNP coalition would get his party's quiet support, giving Meciar support of 85 out of 150 members of parliament. Kolnik also said that the union could not go into the government directly, because such thing would be political suicide. Karolina Polakova Leadership of Democratic Left Party Doesn't Resign The leadership of the Democratic Left Party, with Peter Weiss, will not resign despite disappointing results in the Slovak elections. The leadership received firm support at a party conference, with the party council refusing to even take a vote on the matter. There had been talk about a change in leadership after Common Choice, a coalition with the Democratic Left as the main partner, got only 10.4 percent of the vote, half of what was anticipated. The decision will affect negotations on forming a new Slovak goverment. The Democratic Left leadership has said it will not cooperate with the Movement for Democratic Slovakia, which won the elections, in forming a government. Lukas Zentel CULTURE New Sverak Film Debuts A new movie from director Jan Sverak aims to be the Czech equivalent of the American "road movie." The movie stars Jakub Spalek, Radek Pastrnak and Anna Geislerova. Art critic Martin Dostal collaborated on the script with Sverak. F. A. Brabec was the cinematographer. Sverak, the son of popular actor Zdenek Sverak, is best known for his film Obecna skola, which received an Academy Award nomination in 1991. Unlike Sverak's last movie, Akumulator I, which cost nearly forty million crowns -- one of the most expensive Czech movies -- production of Jizda cost only one million. Jindrich Jirasek Writer's Conference Examines Violence and Brutality The Writers' Club in the Czech Republic called for restraints on the images children receive at a conference on Criminality and Literature October 14. Writer Ludvik Vaculik, an organizer of the conference, was quoted by Mlada Fronta Dnes saying he wants to limit brutality on television. "The children are forced to decide what is the brutal reality and what is monstrous fantasy," he said. "Even if it is not clear where is the border between normal and perversed reality." Some artists signed a petition to parliament to "regulate the public performance of brutality on TV and in cinemas." Andrea Rihova ECONOMICS Largest Central Europe Computer Trade Fair Opens in Brno The Invex Computer '94 international trade fair opened October 19 in Brno. The fair focuses on computer systems and information technologies. It is the largest and most prestigious activity of its kind in Eastern and Central Europe. More than 600 participants from 12 countries all over the world is involved in the fair. Invex Computer has larger exhibition area than the well-known Ifabo fair in Vienna. Some new computer systems had their world debut at the fair. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, spoke to the fair October 20 on his views of the future of information channels in the world. The Invex fair ends October 22. Martin Kupka Foreign Currency Reserves Fall Foreign currency reserves shrunk from 8.1 to 7.8 billion dollars during September, according to Czech National Bank spokesman Ondrej Kvacek. In April and May reserves stagnated, but the first fall occurred only last month. Reduction of reserves in the Central Bank accounted for two-thirds of the fall but reserves also declined in commercial banks. In September, the exchange rate of the dollar to the crown dropped below 28 crowns, a two-year low. Petr Hosek Shares Decline on the Stock Exchange Declining share prices and trade volume has been seen on the Czech Stock Exchange since the beginning of September. The investment funds suffered the greatest loss, especially Harvard Investment Fund. Share for Czech Energy Enterprises (CEZ) and the powerplant at Opatovice also dropped. A slightly positive change in trading has been registered at the beginning of this week. Petr Hosek 10,000 Employees Strike at Skoda Mlada Boleslav An hour-long strike hit five factories of the joint-stock company Skoda-Volkswagen October 17 over disagreements about layoffs, factory organization and quantity of production. Richard Falbr, chairman of Czech and Moravian Labor Union, promised to support the union workers, and called the strike a success. But Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, saying that the Czech Republic doesn't have a corporatist structure, said the union shouldn't concern itself with long-term management issues. From Lidove noviny Michal Vynohradnyk SPORT Jihlava and Litvinov Lead Ice Hockey Extraleague After a great start that put Olomouc atop the hockey Extraleague, the team has fallen and been replaced by Litvinov and then Jihlava. At the bottom of standings are the finalists from the last federal play-offs: Vitkovice a Sparta Prague. New coaches in the league are running teams in Kladno, where Jaromir Jagr, Sr., father of the famous Pittsburgh Penguin, has taken over, and Sparta Praha, where long-time coaches Frantisek Vyborny a Stanislav Berger were replaced by Pavel Wohl and Josef Horesovsky. In 1990, Berger took Sparta to the championship. 9th round: Vitkovice - Sparta Prague 2:1, Olomouc - Ceske Budejovice 1:3, Vsetin - Zlin 2:6, Pardubice - Litvinov 2:1, Slavia Prague - Jihlava 2:6, Kladno - Plzen 4:4 10th round: Sparta Prague - Kladno 3:6, Ceske Budejovice - Plzen 2:1, Jihlava - Vitkovice 3:2, Litvinov - Slavia Prague 3:0, Zlin - Vitkovice 3:2, Olomouc - Pardubice 1:3 11th round: Slavia Prague - Olomouc 1:3, Pardubice - Ceske Budejovice 2:4, Plzen - Sparta Prague 2:0, Vitkovice - Jihlava 3:7, Vsetin - Litvinov 5:2, Kladno - Zlin 5:4. Tomas Kopecny Tenth Round of Football League Viktoria Zizkov, which defeated Union Cheb 3:2 at its home stadium, is still in first place. It has two points over Slavia Prague, which managed only a draw at the stadium of Sigma Olomouc. Thanks to a 5:0 victory in Benesov, Slovan Liberec has moved into third place. Josef Obajdin scored four goals, so he moved to the top of the scorers table. His league premiere finished well for Jurgen Sundermann, the new coach of Sparta Prague. His team beat Zlin 3:0 to move into fourth place. At the bottom of the standings are Petra Drnovice, in spite of a 1:0 win over Plzen, and Hradec Kralove, which lost 0:4 to Ceske Budejovice. Other results: Jablonec - Brno 1:0, Ostrava - Bohemians 0:0 Rudolf Cernik Success of Slovak Football Slovak football players drew with Israel on the way to the Euro 96. In Tel Aviv, they led 2:0 after the first 15 minutes on goals from Stefan Rusnak and Lubomir Moravcik. But Israel caught up. Slovakia is fourth in Group A after the first two rounds. Slovan Bratislava continues its successful campaign in the UEFA Cup. It defeated powerful Borussia Dortmund 2:1 in the first match of the second round. Slovan leads the Slovak league, as well. It has six points over second-place Banska Bystrica. Miroslav Langer American Wins ATP Contest in Czech Republic MaliVai Washington of the United States won the IPB Czech Indoor tourney last week in Ostrava-Vitkovice. He defeated France's Arnaud Boetsch two sets to one. The best Czech showing in the singles came from Martin Damm, who fell in the semifinals to Washington. However, the Czech pair of Damm and Karel Novacek won the doubles championships. In Ostrava, players of the Czech Davis Cup team expressed their doubt in coach Vladimir Zednik, and recommended he be replaced with Vladislav Savrda. Tomas Kopecny WEATHER Smog days in the northern part of Bohemia are over Residents of northern Bohemia suffering from increased concentrations of noxious substances in the air can finally breath easier. A cold front arrived at the beginning of the week, dispersing pollution and allowing a smog warning to be cancelled. The smog situation lasted a week. On October 11, sulpher dioxide concentrations passed the 400 micrograms per cubic meter level, setting off preliminary regulations. The cool air of this week cleared northern Bohemia considerably. While on Sunday, October 16, the SO2 concentration rate reached 898 micrograms per cubic meter, on Monday, October 17, it was only 17 micrograms. Vera Vitkova *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Dear readers, Students in the first year of journalism took over production of Carolina at the beginning of October. We transmit every Friday, with the exception of October 28, a holiday marking the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1918. Back editions of Carolina, for which some of you are writing, are available at the address: gopher.cuni.cz. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. 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