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 THE CZECH REPUBLIC Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Smetanovo nabr. 6 110 01 Prague 1 Czech Republic e-mail: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz ISSN 121-5040 tel: (+4202) 22112252, fax: (+4202) 22112219 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* C A R O L I N A No 417, Friday, May 4, 2001. FROM THE EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK (April 25 - May 3) Peaceful May Day Celebrations Expected clashes between extremist groups celebrating May Day, that feared by the Interior Ministry, did not occur. About 300 anarchists gathered after 11 a.m. on Palacky Square (Palackeho namesti) in Prague, where they criticized the present social order, which they believe based on inequality, and attacked proposed changes in the Public Assembly Act. Then, armed with banners and flags and accompanied by samba music, they set out on a march, peacefully passing an ultra right-wing rally on Peace Square (Namesti Miru). The two groups were kept apart by police, who had more than 1,000 men patrolling all day. A skirmish occurred at the end of the march on Tyl Square (Tylovo namesti), where anarchists met a group of skinheads chanting nationalistic slogans. The anarchists dispersed at about 3 p.m. About 150 sympathizers of the ultra right-wing Nationalist-Social Bloc gathered after midday on Peace Square. In their speeches they promised to take over the state. Musical accompaniment was provided by two members of the racist group Hlas Krve (Voice of Blood). The event ended without incident before 4 p.m. A traditional site for May Day celebrations is the Letna plain, where the Communist Party was supported for the most part by elderly people. Communists and anarchists had rallies in Brno as well and the far right also demonstrated in Karvina. May Day is one of the least popular holidays in the Czech Republic, mainly for its associations with the communist regime. From Prague Radim Hladik/Stepan Vorlicek Kasal Willing to Resign The Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL) will probably have a new chairman. Incumbent Chairman Jan Kasal volunteered to resign in favor of former Vice Chairman Miloslav Vyborny at the party congress to take place later this month. Vyborny has 10 days to decide whether to accept. If Vyborny runs, he would most probably defeat Cyril Svoboda, who has the support of the Prague party organization and some of the regional branches. Kasal said he will run for re-election if Vyborny turns down the offer. If Vyborny accepts, Kasal said he will probably run for vice chairman. Katerina Komadova/Stepan Vorlicek Protests against Temelin at Borders The weekend of April 28-29 witnessed rallies at the Czech-Austrian borders to protest the Temelin nuclear power plant. The Austrian activists peacefully demonstrated at the Dolni Dvoriste-Wullowitz border crossing, creating a spontaneous but serene border blockade. The police did not intervene; they only diverted traffic to other crossings. A similar event took place at the Czech-German crossing of Strazny the next afternoon, April 28. The anti-Temelin rally, organized by the Bavarian Green party and the Platform Against Nuclear Danger from Freyung, had about 3,000 participants with banners. Accompanied by a brass band, they demanded the power plant be shut down for frequent failures. The last protest occurred April 29 in Szczecin, Poland. Ecologists from Poland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands demonstrated against concealing the route of the train transporting uranium fuel for the Temelin plant. Information about nuclear fuel transports are state secrets in both the Czech Republic and Poland, and the police are now investigating if releasing this information was not a misdemeanor. Gabriela Pribilova/Stepan Vorlicek Czech Army Forced to Use War Reserves The Czech media informed about the desperate situation in the maintenance and supply of Czech Army units. The Czech Air Force is suffering from a lack of spare parts and basic equipment like helmets, fatigues and oils and liquids needed for operating planes. The crisis stems from the bureaucratic system of purchasing, centralized in the Defense Ministry and its Central Office of Material and Services. According to the daily MF DNES April 28, the office has been paralyzed by fear and anxiety to make any decision after several officers were arrested because of corruption charges. The newly appointed Deputy Defense Minister for Economy Affairs Jaroslav Tvrdik, 32, said he is ready to change the system. Tvrdik's determination is supported by Chief of Staff Jiri Sedivy and by Air Force Commander Ladislav Klima. Katerina Komadova/Milan Smid NEWS IN BRIEF * The government April 25 approved a bill on freedom of religion and the position of the church and religious organizations. Churches with at least 300 members could be registered. Now, 10,000 members are needed. Using corporate status would mean minor tax relief. They would, however, have to wait 10 years before they could be effective in the army and prisons and to receive state budget funds. * President Vaclav Havel returned April 27 from a two-week vacation with his wife at their villa in southern Portugal. * According to the daily MF DNES, the fight against greenhouse gasses in the Czech Republic has been successful. Greenhouse-gas production went down by 27 per cent over the last 10 years. The Czech Republic wants to lower emissions of carbon dioxide by another 8 per cent by 2012. * The government April 25 approved a proposal for a social insurance agreement between Germany and the Czech Republic. Citizens of both countries would have the right to be provided with healthcare in the other state. It would mean Czech citizens would not have to pay supplemental insurance when travelling to Germany. Katerina Komadova, Gabriela Pribilova/Ondrej Maly FROM ABROAD IN BRIEF * Iraq expelled a Czech diplomat in reaction to the same move made by the Czech Republic last week. Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani was expelled because, according to the Czechs, it is incongruous to be a consul and second secretary of the embassy at the same time. The London Iraqi newspaper Az-Zaman said Al-Ani was acting against Iraqi opposition in Prague. Dana Zlatohlavkova/Ondrej Maly FROM SLOVAKIA EU Temporarily Stops Programs for Slovakia The European Commission April 26 decided not to send money for the PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programs in Slovakia, and has cancelled tenders for projects paid by these funds. The reason is that Roland Toth, head of the Foreign Aid Division of the Office of the Government, is suspected of manipulating tenders, taking bribes and favoring companies owned by him or his friends. He is said to have defrauded up to 60 per cent of the 3 billion SVK provided by the EU. Brussels was warned about the situation by non-governmental organizations lead by the ecological movement Friends of the Earth. Pavol Hamzik, Slovak Vice Premier for European Integration, immediately removed Toth from office, and the government began to deal with the situation. Political pledges were strong enough and the EU cancelled the orders and promised the conflict would not influence the membership talks with Slovakia scheduled for April 27. The political opposition is calling for the resignation of Hamzik. Robert Fico, chairman of the Direction (Smer) party (the second strongest in Slovakia, according to the polls) and an independent legislator in the National Assembly, told the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and the Slovak National Party (SNS) to call for a vote of no confidence in Premier Mikulas Dzurinda's government. The SNS agreed to do so, the HZDS did not. Zdenek Sloboda/Adam Fendrych FROM SLOVAKIA IN BRIEF * Slovak hockey players, runners-up at the last World Championships, met teams from Japan, Austria and Finland in Group B of the 2001 World Championship in Germany. Slovakia defeated Japan 8-4, Austria 5-0, and lost to Finland 2-5. Slovakia finished second in the group, advanced to the semifinal group and is among the 12 teams with a chance to win. ECONOMY IN BRIEF * A European Commission predicts the Czech Republic's HDP growth this year to be 3.5 per cent, with a prognosis of 4 per cent for 2002. If the estimates are right, the Czech Republic would again begin catching up to the EU, which is expected to grow this year at a rate of 2.85 per cent. * The Commerce Bank (Komercni banka, KB) April 26 requested the court to confiscate the property of Czech-Moravian Football Union Chairman Frantisek Chvalovsky. He owes the bank some 280 million crowns, based on a promissory note given to the bank by one of his firms. The group of companies under his control owes the bank a total of 2.4 billion crowns. Ales Borovan/Michael Bluhm Rates at the Czech National Bank (valid May 4) -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 EUR = 34.645 country currency CZK ------------------------------------------ Australia 1 AUD 20.240 Great Britain 1 GBP 55.626 Denmark 1 DKK 4.640 Japan 100 JPY 31.902 Canada 1 CAD 25.285 IMF 1 XDR 49.095 Hungary 100 HUF 12.961 Norway 1 NOK 4.286 New Zealand 1 NZD 16.416 Poland 1 PLN 9.820 Slovakia 100 SKK 79.822 Slovenia 100 SIT 16.000 Sweden 1 SEK 3.801 Switzerland 1 CHF 22.460 USA 1 USD 38.785 Exchange Rates of countries participating in the euro (converted from the euro rate) country currency CZK ----------------------------------------- Germany 1 DEM 17.714 Belgium 100 BEF 85.883 Finland 1 FIM 5.827 France 1 FRF 5.282 Ireland 1 IEP 43.990 Italy 1000 ITL 17.893 Luxemburg 100 LUF 84.883 Netherlands 1 NLG 15.721 Portugal 100 PTE 17.281 Austria 1 ATS 2.518 Greece 100 GRD 10.167 Spain 100 ESP 20.822 CULTURE Finale 2001 Has Two Winners Two films were awarded the Golden Kingfisher (Zlaty lednacek), the the main prize at the Czech film festival Finale 2001, which took place in Pilsen (Plzen) during the last weekend of April The winners were Jan Svankmajer's fairy-tale horror Greedyguts (Otesanek) and Petr Vaclav's Parallel Worlds (Paralelni svety). In the competition, restricted to new Czech films, there were 20 works, including four feature-length documentaries. One of them, The Battle for Life (Bitva o zivot), won the Special Festival Prize. "The whole jury positively liked it, because the film is not banal, it vindicates documentary film and pleased us with its joyful tone," said to the daily MF DNES director and jury member Sasa Gedeon. The viewers' prize went to the retro musical Rebels (Rebelove), directed by Filip Renc. The jury was chaired be Czech emigre actor Jan Triska, while Spanish director Vicente Aranda came in connection with the retrospective of his films. Vera Vonavkova/Veronika Hankusova The Glory of Baroque Bohemia Shows Bright Facets of "Dark" Age The exhibit The Glory of the Baroque in Bohemia (Slava barokni Cechie), this year's largest project organized by the National Gallery, was opened April 27 in Prague. The exhibit is taking place in four galleries. The part documenting life and death in the era is at Kinsky Palace. The Prague Castle Gallery hosts Baroque Triumphs - objects related to religion and the church, travel, industry and science. Two more thematic collections - Baroque Festivities and The Great Power of Baroque - were placed in Wallenstein Riding School and the St. George's Monastery in the Prague Castle, respectively. Organizers of the exhibit say they are trying to change stereotypes concerning the Baroque period in Bohemian region, connected to the forced reconversion to Catholicism and regarded as an era of darkness. Additional information about the exhibit can be found at the URL http://www.barokng.cz/eng/index.html. Vera Vonavkova/Milan Smid Terry Pratchett in Prague British writer Terry Pratchett visited Prague last week. The author of fantasy literature and the series about Discworld, also a passionate collector of hats and gardener of carnivorous plants, came to Prague to attend the theater premiere of his Wyrd Sisters in the Longstreet Theater (Divadlo v Dlouhe) April 27. In the Krakatit Bookshop, where Pratchett signed autographs April 28, he presented the Czech translation of his first novel, Carpet People. On the same day the writer celebrated his 53rd birthday. Pratchett has published almost 40 books and 35 have been translated into Czech. From the Krakatit Bookshop Katerina Komadova/Veronika Hankusova SPORTS Czech National Hockey Team Advances at World Championships in Germany Czech hockey players finished first in Group A at the 2001 World Hockey Championship in Germany. The qualification round in four groups started April 28. Three teams from each group advance into two semifinal groups of six, from which the top four will comprise the final group. The Czechs, last year's champions from St. Petersburg, beat Belarus 5-1, tied Germany 2-2 and defeated Switzerland 3-1. The Czech team advanced with Germany and Switzerland and got three points for the semifinal group with its showing. Russia, Canada and Italy are the next opponents in the group. Adam Fendrych/Adam Fendrych Soccer League: Slavia Still Hopes for Champions League With a 1-0 win over Viktoria Zizkov in the 26th round, Slavia got back in the battle for second place in the Czech soccer league. Sparta Praha secured the league's regular-season crown in the last round (see Carolina 416). Results of the 26th round: Drnovice - Brno 2-2, Ceske Budejovice - Jablonec 2-1, Blsany - Ostrava 3-0, Slavia Praha - Zizkov 1-0, Liberec - Sparta 1-1, Plzen - Olomouc 1-1, Stare Mesto - Pribram 0-1, Bohemians - Teplice 2-1. Standings: 1. Sparta Praha 61 points, 2. Olomouc 45, 3. Pribram 44, 4. Slavia Praha 43, 5. Zizkov 41, 6. Teplice 39, 7. Liberec 39, 8. Drnovice 35, 9. Bohemians Praha 33, 10. Blsany 32, 11. Stare Mesto 30, 12. Jablonec 29, 13. Brno 27, 14. Ostrava 26, 15. Ceske Budejovice 25, 16. Plzen 16. Petr Adam/Adam Fendrych International soccer: Czech Republic - Belgium 1-1, friendly match April 25 in Prague. SPORTS IN BRIEF * Tomas Enge won the third race of the Formula 3000 FIA International World Championship. He now ranks second in the overall standings, one point behind Justin Wilson, his teammate at Coca-Cola Nordic Racing. Enge took the lead from the second position at the start of the race and never lost it. Bas Leinders finished second, Wilson third. Adam Fendrych/Adam Fendrych WEATHER Wow! Is spring ever here - temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius/81 degrees Fahrenheit broke records. May 1 was so beautiful that Prague's Petrin Hill was crowded to overflowing by those taking the traditional holiday walk there. Dana Zlatohlavkova English version edited by Michael Bluhm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This news may be published only with attribution to CAROLINA. Subscription is free. Comments and remarks are appreciated. Please send them to the address: CAROLINA@mbox.fsv.cuni.cz To subscribe to CAROLINA news, send an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz The text of the message for subscription to 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, send the following message to the address LISTSERV@cesnet.cz: SIGNOFF CAR-ENG or SIGNOFF CAR-CS We ask you not to send automatic replies to our list. 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