| SVU |
CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES |
The 21st SVU World Congress
Senator Petr Pithart's
Remarks
at the Official Opening of the SVU World Congress
Pilsen, June 24, 2002
There are many places in the world where Czechs and Slovaks continue
gathering, sometimes still as Czechoslovaks, as if nothing happened back home. The word
"Czechoslovakt' is no longer used to refer to a nation, but rather to an ideal. In
its institutionalized fonn, the ideal has failed the test of freedom, but - if I may speak
with a bit of pathos - it still lives in the hearts of Czechs and Slovaks.
Iam not surprised that most of our expatriot groups around the world see themselves as
both Czech and Slovak. Some of them have even expressly refused to accept the split of the
federation. Of course, nobody can force them to. I feel they are perhaps expressing a
grudge about the split and those who are responsible for it. They go on playing both
national anthems on festive occasions. We get to listen to the two anthems in succession
only at the airport in Prague or Bratislava when one president visits the other.
We have entered the new millenium as two separate countries, even if our borders are still
more open than others. Although our two countries will never reunite, let us hope that
Europe will unite and embrace both Slovaks and Czechs. However, it does give us a
nightmare. The nightmare is called a Schengen border. Although a Schengen border is,
fortunately, politically permeable, it is physically sealed. With a bit of exageration, it
can be likened to the Iron Curtain. A Schengen border drawn through the center of the
meandering Morava River, crawling up the grassy ridges of the beautifhl Javorniky, and
climbing up and down the steep slopes of the Moravian and Silesian Beskydy, would be a
real nightmare. The split of Czechoslovakia was originally just a challenge, even if a
risky one. If such a border were drawn, the split would turn out to be a tragedy. It would
be a tragedy if the Slovak Republic or the Czech Republic did not acceed to the EU, either
because we Czechs and Slovaks did not want to or because a member state did not eventually
ratify our accession. If we enter the Union, everything will be alright. Even now, as we
approach the Union, everybody is already pleased with the Czech-Slovak and Slovak-Czech
relations. When the two countries split, many people likened their relationship to a
maniage, and spoke of divorce. Let me take that simile one step further. Not only that the
divorced couple remained friends; the distance has paradoxically drawn them closer
together. They no longer feel the need to argue or engage in nasty fights about little
technical details like, among others, money. They seem to look at each other with a fresh
liking. They see in each other strengths they failed to perceive in the past.
Let me be specific, and speak for myself I miss hearing the Slovak language more often. I
now realize how gentle and melodious it sounds, particularly when spoken by women. I miss
Slovak mountains: Czech mountains look like buns compared to Slovak ones. I perceive
Slovak generosity:
particularly in their hospitality, though not only there. It is now more obvious to me how
enclosed we Czechs are in the fortress of our mountainous borders. As far as I can judge
from reviews and magazines, the Slovak intellectual scene is self-critical, yet confident
in a European way. May I say, however, that we are quite similar in how we bungle
politics...
I don't know what Slovaks miss. Perhaps they miss Prague. We miss each other, but there is
no reason why we should agonize over it. Instead of attending
mandatory meetings planned by officials, we can now get together spontaneously, because we
want to, because we are interested in each other, and because we admire each other.
Yes, the cloud in our relations had a silver lining; people on both sides of the border
realized how different they were. And different we are, though it wasn't so obvious under
the previous regime. Many people couldn't bear the newly discovered differences. I - along
with many others - saw them as yet another good reason to live together. My counterparts
enrich me by being different, by giving me the opportunity to see myself through their
eyes and to deepen my self-awareness. It is a pity that so many people were not able to
cope with a Slovak minor, through which we could have seen ourselves in ways that are not
narcistic, but it was done, and it can not be undone. It makes not sense to cry over it,
to hold grudges, or nurse sentimental nostalgia. We had simply gotten a divorce, then
spent some time looking at each other reproachfully, and although we now begin to like
each other again, there will be no wedding. The last century of the last millennium was
terrible. Terrible things happened here, in and around the home of Czechs and Slovaks.
Nationalistic and communist ideologies made us hate others and wage world wars, civil wars
and cold wars. We ask ourselves at the threshold of the new millennium: is it over? What
can Czechs and Slovaks do to make sure that it is over?
The world admired us for getting a divorce without slapping each other across the cheeks.
We let the world praise us, although we know very well that we had never hated each other
and therefore had no reason to slap each other. We enjoy hearing nice things about
ourselves. But let us admit that there still are skeletons in the closet. We should take
them out as soon as possible. Slovaks live with more tan half a million Hungarians.
Czechs, Moravians and Silesians still feel pain in their old wounds. That's how it is; one
tends to feel occasional phantom pain in an amputated limb. Germans used to live here;
they no longer do, and it is not all nice and dandy. Relations with minorities is an issue
we need to resolve first and foremost, both with regard to the current ones and those who
once lived here and no longer do.
Everybody is a multiple minority here in Central Europe, always in relation to a different majority. It can either make us much richer, or throw us, time and again, into conflicts.
May academics from all over the world, whatever language they speak and
whether they claim Czech or Slovak heritage, help us in the coming days toidentify our
issues, explore them in a wider context, and thus solve them. That was perhaps one of the
reasons to meet here. May we, enriched by your wider and global perspective, face a
realistic picture of ourselves with due confidence and truthfulness?
Thank you for making such a long journey to come here from all over the world. We
appreciate it. We are interested in you, and proud of what you have
accomplished in the world.
~~~