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 Faculty of Social Science of Charles University Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic e-mail: CAROLINA@cuni.cz tel: (+42 2) 24810804, ext. 252, fax: (+42 2) 24810987 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 229, Friday, January 10, 1997. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST 21 DAYS (DECEMBER 18 - JANUARY 8) Havel Gets Married January 4 Eight days after his release from the hospital, President Vaclav Havel secretively married theater and film actress Dagmar Veskrnova in what the Associated Press called the wedding of the year. The two had often been seen together in public previously, and the relationship was openly acknowledged by the Office of the President. The newlyweds said "I do" at the Prague 3 Zizkov City Hall in the presence of only their witnesses, actors Jan Triska and Tane Fiserova, and the bride's daughter Nina. Veskrnova took Havel's name, and as the first lady of the Czech Republic will take part in all official functions. On January 5, in the first of his weekly radio "Talks from Lany" recorded since his illness, President Havel said, "I believe, or at least I hope, that we will be happy, and even further I believe that this new stage will in certain respects help me to be better than I was before." At the same time, he added that his late wife Olga before her death recommended that he remarry, which at the time he categorically rejected. "I haven't married Dasa to replace Olga, but simply because we found that we love each other and want to live together." Olga, who died January 27 of cancer, will remain, according to Havel, "an irreplaceable and crucial part" of his soul. Havel underwent surgery on December 2 in which a cancerous tumor was removed, along with half of his right lung. He then came down with pneumonia and at the time the public was not informed of how critical the president's condition was. His gradually improving health allowed him to go home after Christmas, where he, however, remains under medical supervision. Lucie Vackova/Andy Faust Who Is Dagmar Havlova (nee Veskrnova)? Dagmar Veskrnova was born March 22, 1953, into a Brno family of artists. She became popular primarily owing to her TV and movie roles. Among her most well-known movies are her early films China Girls (Holky z porcelanu) and A Girl You Could Kill (Holka na zabiti). She also appeared in satirical comedies, two historical films and in a concentration camp drama. After her studies at Brno's Janacek Academy of Musical Arts she worked at a number of theaters, including Brno's Theater on a Leash (Divadlo na provazku) and Prague's Semaphor Theater (Divaldo Semafor) and the Old Town Theater (Divadlo na Starem Meste), which was then the Jiri Wolker Theater. Since 1979 she has belonged to the troupe of Vinohrady Theater. For some time Veskrnova had been among President Vaclav Havel's close friends. In recent months she had accompanied him at cultural and social functions. While he was ill she was a great support for him and she often visited him in the hospital. This is her second marriage and she has a 20-year-old daughter named Nina, who is intending to study Hebrew. Lucie Vackova/Andy Faust Havel's New Year's Address Despite his recent serious illness, on January 1 President Vaclav Havel delivered his New Year's message to the nation. The head of state's television appearance was short, but still very personal. Havel called for a search for a deeper meaning in the things around us. He called the numerous scandals which have accompanied Czech economic reform and social transformation warning signs which should produce soul-searching in everyone. "Didn't we commit a great error - even if in good faith - when we made man a mere creator of profit, whose initiative would automatically contribute to the general welfare? Certainly no one other than a free person can produce things, but are human beings no more than that? Aren't they at the same time creatures who would gladly exhange three privatization funds for one kindly smile or loving caress? Are they at the same time creatures who don't take seriously any forms of order, norms, and regulations, whose only goal is to cheat and rob each other? Isn't a human being someone who selflessly wants to take part in public life and do good things for his loved ones, and at the same time is someone who disparages all basic rules of human coexistence? All this is a mystery by the name of "humanity", and any politician who for even a moment forgets that will commit perhaps a fatal error for society." At the beginning Havel mentioned that twice last year he came face to face with death - first when his wife Olga died, and when he recently had a lung cancer operation. "To my own surprise I perceived both of these experiences as a great call to a new and far deeper thinking about the world." According to Christian Democrat Chairman and Vice-Premier Josef Lux, during his address the president did not hesitate to name the "troubles of our time," and such courage is needed most of all by politicians. A Social Democrat spokesperson said the speech impressed Chairman Milos Zeman with its deep humanity. Prime Minister and ODS Chairman Vaclav Klaus was pleased with Havel's improving physical condition, but he did not make any comment on the content of the New Year's message. Lucie Vackova/Andy Faust At Year's End Klaus Threatens ODS' Exit from Coalition Five days before the Christmas holidays, Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus threatened that the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) would leave the government coalition if Parliament deputies passed the retirement and agriculture law proposed by the Social Democrats. Klaus also called the political situation in the Czech Republic very serious and said the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) had de facto renounced the coalition agreement through their latest steps (i.e., voting for the above proposals and supporting Petr Pithart, who is unacceptable to ODS, for the chairmanship of the Senate). Klaus stated for the daily Lidove noviny: "At present, there are laws being discussed, which, if passed, we would interpret as an essential threat to principles of not only economic but also social and healthcare transformation, as something we would not be able to participate in, and would have to leave the government." KDU-CSL Chairman Josef Lux said the prime minister's words do not correspond to reality. On the contrary, Lux blames ODS for breaking the coalition agreement when they, in spite of KDU-CSL opposition, put through the law on increasing the retirement age last year. However, Lux admitted that his party is trying to make its coalition partners support the KDU-CSL retirement and agriculture proposals. Michal Schindler/Denisa Vitkova Foreign Ministers Sign Czech-German Declaration The Czech-German declaration, which is to resolve the relations between both countries in the past and to build a basis for future cooperation, was signed by German and Czech foreign minister Klaus Kinkel and Josef Zieleniec in Prague December 20. The document, in the works for more than a year and a half, had already been approved by the governments of both countries. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus should initial the treaty in Prague at the end of January. In February, the declaration will be presented to the nations' Parliaments. "There will not be changes in the text," said Kinkel, according to the daily Pravo, in response to the question whether he expects Parliament interference in the document's text. In connection with this, Zieleniec expressed his hope that Parliament would approve the declaration. In his words, he feels the will to bring the lengthy debates to an end. However, in contradiction to this, Chairman of Parliament and Social Democrat Chairman Milos Zeman has asked for thorough discussions in the Parliaments, including changes in the text of the declaration. According to press reports, Zeman's attitude is not alone in the Czech Republic. On the other hand, the declaration has been accepted mostly positively in Germany. Michal Schindler/Denisa Vitkova First Female Minister Czech President Vaclav Havel accepted Justice Minister Jan Kalvoda's resignation January 7. Kalvoda, former chairman of the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA), resigned from all positions after admitting using the title Doctor of Law without being one (see Carolina 228). In the short history of the Czech Republic, Vlasta Parkanova (ODA), who has replaced him, is the first woman to hold the position of minister. Naming Parkanova was a compromise between two conflicting factions in ODA. Opinions that the necessity of agreement became more important than the candidate's qualifications for the job are surfacing. Parkanova was born November 28, 1951 in Prague. She graduated from Charles University's Law School, passing the rigorous exam neccessary for her title in 1988. During the 1989 revolution she helped found the Tabor branch of the Civic Forum, which she represented one year later in the Federal Assembly. Parkanova has served on many committees, including the commitee responsible for the Soviet military's departure. She joined ODA in 1990, and a year later represented Parliament in the European Council. She worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and most recently at the Interior Ministry as director of the vice-minister's seretariat. Parkanova is married and has one daughter. Michal Schindler/Andrea Snyder Charter 77 20 Years Later Leading Czech dissidents published Charter 77 January 1, 1977 in response to the Czechoslovak government having signed an international agreement on human rights in 1976. Charter 77 warned that the government was not upholding the agreement, in areas such as free speech, opportunities to implement freedom in daily life, etc. Many internationally-known figures were involved with Charter 77, which was created over a three-month period. The text was put together by playwright Vaclav Havel, 1968 Prague Spring politician Zdenek Mlynar and writer Ludvik Vaculik. The first to speak for Charter 77 were also those most severely punished, like 1968 Foreign Minister Jiri Hajek, philosopher Jan Patocka and Havel. The regime responded by persecuting the signers and by publishing the "Anticharter", signed by tens of thousands of people. By January 1990, roughly 2,000 people had signed Charter 77. The unofficial association of signatories was dissolved two years later, after nearly 16 years of activity. Charter 77 was the first dissident association in the former Soviet Bloc. Michal Schindler/Andrea Snyder ECONOMY MARKETS AND COMPANIES * The PX 50 index has been climbing since the New Year. The president's January 4 wedding may have had some effect; the January 7 session closed at 547.3 points, not seen for a long time, although it seems that the trend may continue. The volume of trading has not improved, but decreased, perhaps due to less interest in the SPIF Cesky fund. * The total volume for the 1996 Prague stock market was 393 billion crowns, only 29 billion, however, was traded on the central market. The over-the-counter RM-System traded 100 billion crowns worth of shares. However, both were surpassed by the Securities Registry; Czech citizens transferred 630 billion crowns in shares over their counters. This situation has long been decried by capital market critics, who point out the reason for the volume at the registry - prices and trade parties are not public there, though recent legislation is moving toward reform. * The RM-System listed Vertex as being the most traded shares. Their volume of trading hit 6.5 billion crowns, which is three to four times the value of the entire glass-fiber factory. * British beer-brewing concern Bass bought an additional 10 per cent of the Radegast Brewery's share, uping their share to 30 per cent. Radegast was once agian named the Beer of the Year in the beer industry publication The Beer Courier (Pivni Kuryr). * A little more about beer - in Ceske Budejovice, Budvar sold more than a million hectaliters of beer, probably with a pre-tax profit of roughly 320 million crowns and sales around 1.6 billion. Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky Prazdroj) plans to meet last year's record sales of 4 million hectaliters, Radegast should sell 2 million hectaliters, and Prague Breweries (Prazske pivovary) will probably sell 1.9 million hectaliters of beer. However, Krusovice increased sales by 50 per cent to 750,000 hectaliters. The five largest companies hold 60 per cent of the Czech market and are planning a massive attack on the Russian market. * The Rudolf Jelinek Vizovice company, known for its liquors, recorded 77 million crowns of turnover last year. Profits of about 2 million crowns are expected. Exports decreased from 1995, though interest in slivovice remains strong in the U.S. * Brno Fairs and Exhibitions (BVV) finished 1996 with profits of about 160 million crowns on a turnover of 1.7 billion crowns. * Seven members of the management of the Krkonose Paper Factory in Hostinne gained control of the company with the acquisition of a 49-per-cent stake. The company has trade capital in excess of 1 billion crowns. * Koprivnicka Tatra provided the first military special vehicles to the United Arab Emirates, as part of their 180 million USD deal. Martin Cermak/Andrea Snyder Exchange Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid from January 10) Great Britain 1 GBP 46.297 France 1 FRF 5.131 Japan 100 JPY 23.534 Canada 1 CAD 20.175 Austria 1 ATS 2.465 Slovakia 100 SKK 84.654 Germany 1 DEM 17.340 Switzerland 1 CHF 19.994 USA 1 USD 27.342 ECU 1 XEU 33.657 IMF 1 XDR 39.140 CULTURE Hippies Era Returns in Musical Hair The famous musical Hair, a cult favorite of the Hippies era, was presented December 20 in Prague's Pyramid Theater by directors Karel David and Radek Balas. The premiere starred Ilona Csakova, Roman Vojtek and Martin Havelka, though Czech audiences are more familiar with the work through the film adaption of Czech emigre director Milos Forman. The 29-member choir sings with a great enthusiasm and dances even the most difficult figures with immeasurable energy. The Czech version of the musical leaves the classic atmosphere of the flower children society, but tries to bring in today's reality as well. A soundtrack album is expected. Luciano Pavarotti in Prague The world's most famous tenor, Italian Luciano Pavarotti, presented a concert December 22 in Prague's Sport Hall, which has recently hosted shows by the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam. The singer begun with an aria from the opera Luisa Miller and continued with the overture to the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. In the second half Pavarotti performed part of an opera by Pietro Mascagini, the famous aria Laugh from the opera The Comedians by Ruggiero Leoncavallo and one of his four encores he dedicated to Prague. The spectators also asked for the song O sole mio, which was Pavarotti's farewell. Some tickets for the concert cost many times more than the average Czech monthly salary (about 9,000 crowns) - the cheapest ticket cost 1,250 crowns, and the most expensive ticket, which allowed the owner to come to the reception after the concert, cost as much as 37,500 crowns (see Carolina 224). Evita in Czech Republic The story of a poor girl, Eva Duarte, who became the wife of Argentinian president Juan Peron, and was better known as Evita, had its Czech premiere January 2. The movie is directed by Alan Parker, who alo directed Pink Floyd's The Wall. For the film version of the musical Evita, which was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the English director chose the American celebrity Madonna. Hot new star Antonio Banderas, who once acted in the films of Pedro Alomodovar, plays revolutionary Che Guevara. For the Czech audience, the most pleasing aspect may be the subtitles, in the poetic translation of Michael Prostejovsky. Culture by David Vlk/Petra Sevcikova SPORT Milan Jirasek to Lead Olympic Committee Ski-union candidate Milan Jirasek was voted the Czech Olympic Committee (COV) president on December 19. He replaced Vera Caslavska, who did not run for re-election but remained a committee member. Jirasek, 60, is head physician of the Prague Army Hospital's orthopedic department. As a doctor he took part in four winter Olympic Games and still works in the International Ski Federation FIS and the Czech Skiers' Union. After his election win, he told daily MF DNES: "I don't well know, if I should consider my election as my life's greatest success, but the prestige of the Olympics is huge and I probably can't imagine anything more beautiful." Hockey Extraleague Results 29th round: Opava - Vsetin 2-6, Plzen - Sparta 2-3, Trinec - Kladno 1-2, Slavia - Jihlava 4-5, Zlin - Pardubice 6-3, Vitkovice - Litvinov 3-4, Olomouc - Ceske Budejovice 3-3. 30th round: Jihlava - Sparta 5-5, Ceske Budejovice - Trinec 1-1, Litvinov - Olomouc 8-2, Pardubice - Vitkovice 2-1, Slavia - Zlin 7-3, Kladno - Opava 5-1, Vsetin - Plzen 5-3. 31st round: Sparta - Vsetin 3-3, Vitkovice - Slavia 2-3, Plzen - Kladno 2-1, Opava - Ceske Budejovice 0-5, Olomouc - Pardubice 2-3, Trinec - Litvinov 4-4, Zlin - Jihlava 4-0. 32nd round: Pardubice - Trinec 3-1, Jihlava - Vsetin 2-5, Kladno - Sparta 3-5, Ceske Budejovice - Plzen 4-6, Litvinov - Opava 6-2, Slavia - Olomouc 1-3, Zlin - Vitkovice 4-5. Vsetin still leads the standings with 43 points, five points ahead of Pardubice. World Champions Fail in Izvestiya Cup With three points from one win and one tie, the Czech hockey players finished fourth, or second-to-last, in the final standings of the 29th year of the Izvestiya Cup. Sweden won, ahead of Russia and Finland. The tournament was played December 16-22. The Czechs lost the first match with Russia 1-3, then they tied with the Swedes 3-3, defeated Canada 3-1 and in the last match lost to the Finns 2-5. Top 1996 Soccer Player Has Two Winners Czech Republic representatives Karel Poborsky and Patrik Berger both became 1996's top soccer players, after each tallied 199 points. Pavel Nedved finished third with 75 points. Last year's winner Radek Drulak became 1996 League Personality. Dusan Uhrin, who lead the Czech team to the Euro '96 silver, won the best coach award for the fifth time. The ceremony took place in Teplice December 22. In the 33 years of the poll's history, it was the first tie, a result which gave rise to many negative and contradictory reactions. Ivan Hasek, two-time Top Soccer Player (1987 and 1988), said to the daily Pravo: "I am not sure this will be understood abroad." Jozef Chovanec, 1986 survey winner, added: "I think the poll was devalued by that and we made ourselves look ridiculous to the world ." SPORTS IN BRIEF * Czech hockey players finished fourth in the world under-20 championships in Switzerland, when they lost the bronze medal match with Russia 1-4. * Eva Nemcova, 24-years-old Czech representative and forward for the French team Bourges, became Europe's top female basketball player for 1996, according the Italian Gazetto dello Sport daily. Sport by Roman Jedlicka/Mirek Langer WEATHER After a number of muddy years, the Czech Republic finally had a really White Christmas. In the last days of 1996 temperatures constantly fell until the mercury reached -33 degrees Celsius/-20 degrees Fahrenheit in the Sumava region. It was the lowest recorded temperature in the last 15 years. Roman Jedlicka/Michael Bluhm English version edited by Michael Bluhm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with "CAROLINA" designation. The subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Send them please to the address: CAROLINA@cuni.cz To subscribe to CAROLINA news you send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz The text of message for subscription of the English version must be: SUBSCRIBE CAR-ENG First name Last name or for the Czech version SUBSCRIBE CAR-CS First name Last name To delete your subscription from the list of subscribers you send the following message to the address LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. You can temporarily stop receiving of Carolina by sending the command: SET CAR-ENG NOMAIL All Listserv commands should be sent to the address: LISTSERV@listserv.cesnet.cz Please, don't send commands SUB, SIGNOFF, NOMAIL etc to the address CAR-CS@listserv.cesnet.cz or CAR-ENG@listserv.cesnet.cz!