| SVU |
CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES |
Benjamin Kuras
(Published
in the Prague Post)
One respected British citizen, single handed and with his bare hands, without any support
from law-enforcement authorities, assisted only by a handful of loyal Czeczech natives
faithful to the principles of parliamentary democracy, has for over two weeks successfully
defended the Czeczech televison building against attacks by hordes of Czeczech terrorists
trying to overthrow the fragile fledgling Czeczech democracy in Prague, the city which has
become Czeczechia's new capital since the destruction of Grozny by the Russians (must
have, surely?). The terrorists have occupied the newsroom and placed the building under
siege, burning Christmas candles and menacingly waving Czeczech national flags at
the respectable British citizen whose unwavering calm and steadfastness have slowly but
steadily been winning the fight without resorting to violence. Who says the best Kipling
tradition of British stiff upper lip superiority over the forces of lawless barbarism died
after the Falklands war? This is approximately how the average British editor will see the
Czech TV revolt when it finally grabs his attention. And it will grab his attention only
after at least ten people have died, of whom at least one is a British citizen. Which is
meant to be taken as a simple piece of information on the scope of interest of British
journalism, not a call for action, reader, please, note. Anyone who has been following
last year's various "direct actions" of organised European citizens against
government stubbornness will recognise the Czech TV revolt as being a part of the same
vibration of civic discontent. It stems from the discovery that, in country after country,
democratically elected power-hungry politicians are becoming a class of their own,
cultivating ways of bypassing their accountability to voters, betraying election promises,
ignoring citizens' and nations' interests, and generally doing whatever they find useful
to strengthen their power. This includes dismantling institutions which serve as
traditional checks and balances, forming inter-party alliances which make ruling cliques
unassailable, weakening parliamentary opposition by reducing the powers of Parliament and
handing them over to unelected bureaucrats and spin-doctors. Creating a political system
which insightful analysts describe as electoral dictatorship or kleptocracy.
Czech TV, which is a public institution funded from viewer's licences and some advertising, looks like the next target of assault on independent institutions which provide a modicum of citizens' control. This control is to be guaranteed and supervised by a TV Council, appointed by the Parliament, with the legal provision that it must remain independent of party-political interests. All the alleged breaches of law by the TV staff or the newly appointed director have been made irrelevant by the discovery that the TV Council has become representative of political parties and is therefore itself in breach of the very law which it was set up to uphold, thus all its decisions and appointments have probably been unlawful. This exposes one of the great charms of Czech politics which few foreigners can ever begin to appreciate and which Czechs take so much for granted that it doesn't even make them wink. The charm is this: Czech laws are mostly about protecting those who break them, provided the law-breakers are of use to those who create the laws in the first place specifically for this purpose. (You might want to pose here for a while to wrap your mind around this).
Underlying
all these laws is the ingenious Czech version of the law on "parliamentary
immunity" which was one of the first laws enacted by the post-communist Parliament.
In the Czech version, the law protects parliamentarians from prosecution for any offence
whatsoever. From drunken driving to theft, fraud, and, presumably, murder. If you rob a
bank, the safest way of escaping justice is to have yourself elected for the Senate. The
great miracle of Czech politics is that, with such laws at their
fingertips, Czech politicians are not infinitely more crooked than they are already.
As a jewel
in the crown of Czech political ingenuity, the nation has at long last proudly created the
office of Ombudsman whose job, mark well, is to prosecute politicians whom he cannot
prosecute because the law prevents him from doing so.
The Czechs do have a lot to teach the world.
Benjamin Kuras is an
Anglo-Czech writer and author of Czechs and Balances and As Golems Go
e-mail: benkuras@aol.com
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