Background: I’m currently on vacation in Prague with some of my family. Considering I’ve never been here, I came with the intention of doing very little writing. I had planned on maybe finishing an article I have been working on, or maybe writing a little on some Oregon politics that I have been following. What I was not expecting was to write something totally new on Czech politics. Yet here we are.
The first day here we went up the Petite Eiffel Tower (it’s a replica, but there’s a great view at the top, see above). From the top we could see what looked like a parking lot full of people (look straight to the right from the tall green spire – I know they’re tiny). It was obviously a lot of people. We all remarked on it but none of us knew quite what was happening there. As we walked down through the park we could hear speeches over loudspeakers, but because none of us speak Czech we were still in the dark. Later in the day when we hiked up to the castle, we finally started to get some answers. There was a group of people demonstrating in front of the Presidential Palace, with flags, a loudspeaker and music. The police were standing by.
It was the police who explained to us that there were protests happening against the government. A little bit of research told us that the crowd we had seen that morning was the largest protest in Prague since the Velvet Revolution. Short history aside: The Velvet Revolution was a non violent protest that happened in 1989 and resulted in the Communist Party ceding control of the Czech Republic, which then eventually split from Slovakia (they were formerly Czechoslovakia) and formed its own parliamentary republic in 1993. Now, nearly 30 years later, Prague once again has protestors in the street. So what is happening?
I don’t have all the details, but I have gone hunting and the short story seems to be this: The Czech Republic has an elected prime minister named Andrej Babis. Mr. Babis is coming under suspicion for a variety of reasons. Before we go into them, here’s some background on Mr. Babis – mostly pulled from Wikipedia:
- He was born in Bratislava which is the capitol of modern day Slovakia.
- He was affiliated with the Communist Party from 1980 to 1989
- He was a successful businessman and is the former CEO and sole owner of the company Agrofert, which in turn owns two of the largest Czech newspapers.
- He is the second richest man in the Czech Republic.
- He founded the political party ANO 2011 – which is an acronym for “Action of Dissatisfied Citizens” in Czech. Ano also means yes in Czech, clever!
- He was the first Prime Minister to be elected from outside of their major two political parties. He was elected from his own ANO party which is a Centrist / conservatively liberal party. More research needed on this, I’m confused.
Perhaps most importantly for the sake of this article, Mr. Babis has two investigations pending against him. These investigations are the cause of the protests that we saw yesterday. The first investigation is regarding a farm/conference center he was developing called Stork’s Nest – the police say he misappropriated EU subsidies in the development of it, and have recommended that he face fraud charges. The second investigation is being undertaken by the European Commission, who audited Mr. Babis and found that he was not impartial in the distribution of subsidies when he was the finance minister, and has continued to be biased as prime minister. They claim he distributed them in such a way that his company, Agrofert, stood to gain. They further claim that the gains of Agrofert made their way back to his pocket. (According to BBC coverage and the New York Times – links 1 and 2)
Corrupt politicians are certainly bad news, but this story takes an even more alarming turn with the inclusion of suspicious staffing drama. At the same time as the police recommended that Mr. Babis be prosecuted for his fraudulent activity, his Justice Minister Jan Knezinek resigned. He was soon replaced by Marie Benesova – who is strongly suspected of being an ally of Mr. Babis. This is important because while the police can suggest that the Prime Minister be prosecuted, only the office of the Justice Minister can officially begin the prosecution (thanks BBC).
Late in the day we went for a walk up to Letna Park, to see if people were still there. The atmosphere was almost like a festival, lots of young people hanging out at the giant Metronome, which sits on the pedestal of what was once an even huger statue of Stalin. We continued through the park to the field where the protest had occurred. Hundreds of port-a-potties lined the edge of the field, and the stage was halfway taken down, but you could tell that a large, well organized, and well funded event had taken place. We ambushed some red cross volunteers to ask about the event. When we asked how many people had attended, one of the young men said “250,000 maybe more” (this is roughly the same number estimated by the New York Times). He said he didn’t know who had put on the event.
While the daily workings of the city appear to be more or less unaltered by the rising political tension, hints of it can be found in posters, flyers and signs all over the city. Through the nationwide demands for his resignation, the Prime Minister has remained undeterred. He has spoken out against the media, claiming that they were lying and that the public should not believe them (odd, considering his ties to the company that owns two of the biggest newspapers in the country). He has also discounted the protestors and their demands. Speaking earlier this month in Slovakia Mr. Babis commented “The Czech Republic is not going to change the government because of protests in the street”. (New York Times)
I’m curious to see how this story develops in the coming weeks and months. We Americans are no strangers to this type of leader: ties to big business, hatred for the media, attempted (or successful) obstruction of justice. These similarities have piqued my interest and made me wonder what will happen in our own country in the coming months, as we draw nearer to election season. As I learn more I will keep you updated. Thanks for being here.
1. https://nyti.ms/2ZNfA5z
2. www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-48737467
