Sitting here in New Jersey -- wrestling with our own US train wreck - health care reform - it's hard for me to criticize the politics of another country. Or the voters here or in the Czech Republic who, it seems, are too easily led or too apathetic or too uninformed -- or all three.
But truthfully -- if someone were trying to write a political whodunit novel--- he or she couldn't possibly imagine the current Czech political disaster. For those who haven't been following the debacle --it started last spring in the middle of the Czech Republic's 6 month rotating Presidency of the European Union. CSSD (center left Social Democrats) called a vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament which failed and brought down the center right government led by ODS (Civic Democrats). A caretaker government of supposedly apolitical technocrats was appointed to serve until early elections set for October. About a month ago the election campaign began. Then a deputy challenged the early elections in the Czech Constitutional Court, claiming he had the constitutional right to serve a full term. The Court ruled in the deputy's favor. Chaos ensued. Politicians hatched another plan for elections in November but then that was torpedoed when CSSD withdrew its initial support. Are you dizzy yet? Now no one knows what to expect.
I've seen all kinds of unsourced editorials and columns from Prague about which party or corporation or lobby influenced the other and why CSSD (The Social Democrats) changed its stance on early elections and what the true motive of the Czech Constitutional Court might be etc. etc. I hope one of the more journalistically inclined newspapers or magazines or even TV operations has a crack team of investigative reporters hard at work to peel back the opaque political layers and get at the truth of what happened and why. Most importantly why!!! I'm returning to Prague in November to watch what I hope will be a big celebration for the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which ended Communism in then Czechoslovakia. But if this political circus is all 20 years of "democracy" has wrought --- Czechs themselves may well ask -- "why bother?"
Showing posts with label Velvet Revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Velvet Revolution. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, February 25, 2008
Beauty and the Beast in Prague
The last time I saw Prague (to paraphrase a classic song) it's heart was great -- and glorious. The old part of Prague is a storybook city -- dating back to at least the 12th century. Its buildings are so incredibly beautiful it is as if you had stepped into the pages of a fairytale -- complete with the fanciful illustrations common in the 18th and 19th centuries.
My husband and I have been spending time in Prague since just after the 1989 Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the Czechs' long Communist nightmare. As in many post-Communist cities -- with fear of Big Brother gone -- graffiti soon marred many buildings; democracy -- as we have heard many times - is messy.
But that was nearly two decades ago; The Czech Republic is now a member of the European Union and its economy is arguably the most successful of the newer entrants. So why, suddenly, has the graffiti on buildings and walls gotten worse? Early on, it was understandable. People who had just freed themselves from a restrictive government and ideology were eager to explore that freedom in any and all ways. And most buildings looked so bad anyhow -- a little scribbling didn't make much difference.
But today - greater Prague has turned from a mostly crumbling brown and white concrete city into a sparkling, multi-colored, cared-for place. Buildings have been painted in bright colors. The infamous Communist "panelak" buildings (with pre-fabricated concrete panel exteriors) have been refurbished. And there are almost as many flower boxes on window sills as you see in Germany. Apartment building lawns are actually being mowed. For the first time in the Hostivar neighborhood where my husband and I now own an apartment, I actually saw someone clipping the hedges!!! and parks are now just beautiful. (They were scraggly and overgrown for years after Communism because people felt no personal responsibility for them and because no one seemed to understand who SHOULD be responsible for them.)
But marring it all is this awful graffiti! We've complained to lots of different Prague residents about it; no one seemed to care. Not even to agree that, yes, it's awful but what can we do? (A frequent answer when I complain about something obvious). In fact one friend who lives in the upscale Vinohrady section of Prague told us that school children are taken to a nearby park by their teacher and actually encouraged to draw on the park walls -- as a lesson in creativity!!!
I got so upset by all this that I actually wrote a letter to the Mayor of Prague - Pavel Bern. How foolish of me to expect an answer: Communism may be long gone -- but bureaucrats and politicians still don't respond to much except a mass protest. And, apparently, certainly not to a mere American.
So why does a city with a very good sense of itself as a flourishing economic center and hot tourist destination see nothing wrong with graffiti?? WHY don't building owners, local police/officials, apartment owners clean it up and try to stop it? WHY isn't there a city-wide crackdown? And most of all -- WHY do the people of Prague -- who have now traveled abroad and seen how lovely other "world" cities are -- continue to shrug their shoulders????
Back in the '90's when Rudy Giuliani (he of the failed Republican Presidential campaign) was Mayor of New York City -- he cracked down on major crime by focusing first on what he called "quality of life" crimes -- public urination, homeless people sleeping on doorsteps, even j-walking. And yes -- there was a major effort to wipe out graffiti. Anyone who was caught was required to clean off his graffiti and/or repaint the area (which worked because graffiti "artists" like to see their work and show it to others.) And spray paint can sales were restricted to people over 18. (As is still the case today in NYC). The campaign didn't totally wipe out graffiti. But it got rid of most of it.
So - Mr. Mayor of Prague -- why don't you start something like that? You've scaled Mt. Everest and lived to tell the tale; you should be able to take on a few undisciplined youths who just need to have their heads cracked together.
My husband and I have been spending time in Prague since just after the 1989 Velvet Revolution peacefully ended the Czechs' long Communist nightmare. As in many post-Communist cities -- with fear of Big Brother gone -- graffiti soon marred many buildings; democracy -- as we have heard many times - is messy.
But that was nearly two decades ago; The Czech Republic is now a member of the European Union and its economy is arguably the most successful of the newer entrants. So why, suddenly, has the graffiti on buildings and walls gotten worse? Early on, it was understandable. People who had just freed themselves from a restrictive government and ideology were eager to explore that freedom in any and all ways. And most buildings looked so bad anyhow -- a little scribbling didn't make much difference.
But today - greater Prague has turned from a mostly crumbling brown and white concrete city into a sparkling, multi-colored, cared-for place. Buildings have been painted in bright colors. The infamous Communist "panelak" buildings (with pre-fabricated concrete panel exteriors) have been refurbished. And there are almost as many flower boxes on window sills as you see in Germany. Apartment building lawns are actually being mowed. For the first time in the Hostivar neighborhood where my husband and I now own an apartment, I actually saw someone clipping the hedges!!! and parks are now just beautiful. (They were scraggly and overgrown for years after Communism because people felt no personal responsibility for them and because no one seemed to understand who SHOULD be responsible for them.)
But marring it all is this awful graffiti! We've complained to lots of different Prague residents about it; no one seemed to care. Not even to agree that, yes, it's awful but what can we do? (A frequent answer when I complain about something obvious). In fact one friend who lives in the upscale Vinohrady section of Prague told us that school children are taken to a nearby park by their teacher and actually encouraged to draw on the park walls -- as a lesson in creativity!!!
I got so upset by all this that I actually wrote a letter to the Mayor of Prague - Pavel Bern. How foolish of me to expect an answer: Communism may be long gone -- but bureaucrats and politicians still don't respond to much except a mass protest. And, apparently, certainly not to a mere American.
So why does a city with a very good sense of itself as a flourishing economic center and hot tourist destination see nothing wrong with graffiti?? WHY don't building owners, local police/officials, apartment owners clean it up and try to stop it? WHY isn't there a city-wide crackdown? And most of all -- WHY do the people of Prague -- who have now traveled abroad and seen how lovely other "world" cities are -- continue to shrug their shoulders????
Back in the '90's when Rudy Giuliani (he of the failed Republican Presidential campaign) was Mayor of New York City -- he cracked down on major crime by focusing first on what he called "quality of life" crimes -- public urination, homeless people sleeping on doorsteps, even j-walking. And yes -- there was a major effort to wipe out graffiti. Anyone who was caught was required to clean off his graffiti and/or repaint the area (which worked because graffiti "artists" like to see their work and show it to others.) And spray paint can sales were restricted to people over 18. (As is still the case today in NYC). The campaign didn't totally wipe out graffiti. But it got rid of most of it.
So - Mr. Mayor of Prague -- why don't you start something like that? You've scaled Mt. Everest and lived to tell the tale; you should be able to take on a few undisciplined youths who just need to have their heads cracked together.
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