It Takes Two To Tango

Commentary on the May Conference at the Czech Embassy

On 17-18 May 2002, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC organized a special conference with the general theme, "The Czech Republic
and Czech Americans: Mutual Ties and Joint Partnership." The aim of the conference was to strengthen ties and enhance cooperation between the Czech
Republic and Czech Americans.

SVU, which was one of the instigators and silent partners of the conference, was well represented, as were the major Czech American organizations throughout the US. Generally speaking, the conference fulfilled its major aims, by opening the dialogue between the two sides and giving an opportunity for the Czech Ambassador to present his views on the subject, and to listen to how the Czech American community thinks. That he listened was reflected in copious notes he was making as well as from his frequent comments throughout the conference.

The conference was comprised of four parts. The first part was introductory in which the Ambassador outlined the goals and presented his views regarding
the Czech America. The other three dealt with specific topics, including Politics, Lobbying and Media; Culture and Education; and Business and Trade with Czech Republic.

Each session began with an introductory talk by one of the Embassy staff, followed by an open discussion. Anybody in the audience had the opportunity to raise his or her hand and make comments as he she saw fit. This type of format was certainly very democratic but a bit unruly, causing unnecessary duplication and frequently bringing self-serving comments from the audience. Should another conference of this sort be held, more structure would be recommended, in terms of speakers, discussants and the audience. The discussion might have also been more productive, if each side had presented its point of view which would be followed by discussion. This way, presentations were largely from the Embassy side.

The first topic relating to politics, lobbying and media , except for the presentation from AfoCR of what they have been doing, did not bring much new in terms of what ought to be done in the future with respect to improving the Czech Republic's image in the US and influencing the political, or commercial scene. A number of comments expressed concerns about the occasional bad publicity in US media which is more often than not left unanswered from the official Czech channels. There seemed to be a consensus that in situation like that, when the people of the Czech Republic are being pictured as Nazi sympathizers, or the country accused of violation of human rights, that it is the responsibility of the Embassy to respond. If no one from the official quarters responds the public is left with the feeling that the criticism must be right. An outright denial is not enough in the US, there has to be some analytical discussion, and one has to present a balanced view wherever the chips may fall. Some ‘admission of guilt' is more appreciated than outright denial.

The business and trade session could have used some beefing up. Besides the official presentation from the Embassy staff, there was relatively very little input from the Czech American side. The reason for it was obvious - the right people who could have contributed to the subject were not there. There were hardly any individuals present who were professional business men or business women.

The cultural component enjoyed the most attention and there were many participants who voiced their view. The discussion could, no doubt, have continued for at least another hour, had time permitted. There were three major presentations, including that of Petr Gandalovic, General Consul of New York, Dan Baldwin, Director the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, IA and my own, all dealing with the question of preserving Czech cultural heritage in America.

Having been permitted to serve as a co-moderator of the cultural session, I made an effort to put the discussion into some context, and referred to the previous three conferences SVU held that led to the launching of a new ambitious long-term project to preserve historical sites and monuments, as well as archival material relating to Czech Americans. I underlined the fact that it was carried out in cooperation with major Czech-American organizations, associated with the National Heritage Commission. The results of the survey were two comprehensive reports, "Czech-American Historic Sites, Monuments, and Other Memorabilia", and "Czechoslovak American Archivalia" which were presented to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under whose sponsorship they were prepared. The reports which were passed around generated lots of interest with recommendation that they be published.

Peter Gandalovic's talk which focused on the efforts to preserve one of the Czech historic buildings in New York City, the Bohemian National Hall, was a logical follow-on . He gave a fascinating overview of the events that eventually led to the selling of the building for a symbolic price of one dollar to the Czech government which committed itself to restore the building to its original beauty and glory. Everybody expected some discussion of pro and con, as the project is somewhat controversial in the opinion of its opponents. However, there was hardly any discussion of the legal issues.

Dan Baldwin, in turn, talked about their National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, their exhibits and some of their collections. Here
again, it would have been useful to have some archivists present, as well as representatives of other depositories, so that the subject of the various problems relating to the preservation of Czech archival material abroad could be discussed in a systematic and practical manner.

Then came a presentation by Jakub Skalnik, followed by commentary from Jitka and Ron Stiles of Nebraska, which opened up the subject of education and the
exchange programs between the Czech and US universities. There were quite a few comments from the audience referring to specific projects or programs in
different areas of the country.

There were a number of other cultural aspects, which could not be discussed because of the lack of time, including the question of teaching Czech in America, how to enhance interest in Czech Area Studies abroad, how to involve young people in various activities, how to best assist Czech students in the US, how to stimulate cooperative cultural projects between the US and the Czech Republic, how to enhance cooperation between US universities and Czech institutions of higher learning etc.

I would be amiss not to also mention the reception at the Embassy which was held on Friday night before the conference started. It was a great opportunity to meet people with the same interests who came to Washington from afar. In retrospect, it would have been better to have the reception on Saturday night since most of the out-of–town visitors were staying until Sunday anyhow and in that way they could have come to Washington a little later.

Generally speaking, the conference was very interesting and enjoyable but it ended without any conclusion. This was the way the conference was perceived
at the end by most participants. There ought to have been another session added, on Sunday morning, in which the discussions could have been summed up,
with the agreement on the key issues and the next steps to be taken toward the chief aim of the conference, i.e., "Strengthening Ties and Enhancing  Cooperation between the Czech Republic and Czech Americans".

Having said that, speaking overall, I give the conference an "A" for the efforts the Ambassador put into it and in terms of the positive feelings the conference generated and for opening a dialogue between the two sides, as well as demonstrating the Embassy's interest in Czech America.

Miloslav Rechcigl
SVU President

~~~

SVU HOME PAGE, SVU PRESIDENT'S CORNER