| on 04-07-2008 09:52
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Published in : , Politics |
By Nick Clarke, Písařov.
During the last two weeks I have read lots of commentaries in the ex-pat press (Prague Post, Prague Monitor, Czech Business Weekly ) on the token strike recently taken by a huge number of Czech people. What seems to be the thread in all of them is a negative attitude to any dissent taken by the Czechs. 900,000 people officially protested and many more sympathized with the protest. So what do we get in the press?
(Prague Post June 25-July 1st)
"I don't know what's going on," said the driver of tram 18.
"You're holding everyone hostage," a passenger yelled. "Unions are dinosaurs of a bygone era." (Is that an actual quote?)
The article then quotes a union spokesman in response. Where is the objectivity in the reporting?
Why not interview some normal workers who took some action to protest against the government's plan to transform health-insurers and teaching hospitals into business companies and also close down un-economic hospitals, clinics and chemists. Why not interview some people who will be affected by the reform plans of the government to raise the retirement age to 65 by 2031? And why not interview someone who is on long term sick leave and ask their thoughts on the plans to decrease employees' sick pay? And, lastly, why not ask any Czech person what they think about the growing inflation that has decreased real pay in education, health care and the public sector?
What we got instead was an 'I'm alright Jack' attitude to the protest.
‘I do not consider the doctor fees as a threat to the people; on the contrary, I am glad the waiting rooms are no longer packed.’(Tomáš Piňos, 30. 06. 2008 Czech Business Weekly).
Now for Mr Piňos it is nothing to pay this small fee but for many it is becoming more and more difficult to afford good health. I live in a small village. In the surrounding area lots of small health clinics and chemists have closed already or are in line for closure. This means that people have to travel on a bus for over an hour to get a prescription, see a doctor or a specialist. That's fine if you live in Prague but for a pensioner in a small village it's a problem. Mr Piňos, why not ask some of those people if they supported the protest?
It seems funny that people were shouting for freedom of speech under communism and then, when the people actually voice any dissent, journalists and politicians quickly attack them. This is understandable from conservative Czechs, and they have the right to voice there opposition, but it seems very strange to me that I have not seen one article in all the English Language press here written by an ex-pat or re-printed by a Czech reporter that supported the right of the Czech people to voice a protest.
Strange that! Is it that all the English language press or Journalists are all right wing? Surely not!
‘It would certainly be a nice, ideal world in which strikes would be apolitical while only organized street protests would be permitted to be political' Jan Macháček, 30. 06. 2008 (Reprinted in Czech Business Weekly)
Mr Macháček nails his political colours firmly to his right leaning mast.
'The government should actually celebrate. The strike had no proper goal. And the government has not been given any proper demands. If 1 million people actually protested, there were 5 million of us who went to work as per usual.'
The problem with the Czech unions is they have no history of actual trade union struggle. They are seen as being old organs of the communist party. The people who control the unions are obviously careerists and bureaucrats who want to keep a lid on any actual meaningful protest. The fact that so many people did show some sort of protest is a good sign for the Czech trade union movement and surely a sign of an increase in people taking advantage of their hard-fought-for democratic freedoms.
Again I ask: Where are the journalists not championing the Czech people's historic protest?
The protest actually showed that lots of people are against the new political and economic policies proposed by the government, but have little idea of what to do about it. The Union leaders, in typical UK union leader fashion, want to control any protest and sit down and work out a cosy compromise between the government and themselves. What is actually needed is more militant action by workers, not token strikes and stoppages. Look to France, when the government wanted to introduce educational reforms. The school kids and teachers went on all-out strike, which led to other workers stopping working until the government backed down. What is needed is a stronger leadership, more involvement by the membership of the Unions and stronger more meaningful protests against the government or /and employers. This will mean all-out strikes against wage cuts, closures, redundancies and economic cuts that will inevitably come in the near future.
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