Protest! Petitions! Oh, and I'm not a fascist btw

on 28-10-2008 13:44

Published in : , Politics

By [an ANGRY DJ!]

Everybody following the Czech news, then? The stuff about the Radio Council accusing Radio Wave of "promoting fascism" by playing Primal Scream's "Swastika Eyes "?

In case ya missed it...

Last Friday, a Radio Council meeting was held in Ostrava, safely away from Prague journalists and the like. And they had a bit of a return to the good old days of communist purges:

"This is a very controversial, radical rap metal group, which at its concerts are of the revolutionary opinion, very critical of the U.S. domestic and foreign policy. This assessment, as indicated by Mr. Voglje, is from encyclopedia Wikipedia, " "said Broadcasting Council member Anthony "Zelenka.

"Board Chairman Jiri Florian said that the council had been too tolerant of Radio Wave. ""And this extraordinary tolerance has led us to fascism,"
he added.

see: ( http://www.digizone.cz/clanky/rada-ceskeho-rozhlasu-obvinila-radio-wave/ )

Censorship and misuse of political terminology still evidently strikes a very raw nerve here. I'm delighted to say that the Czech media has jumped on them like a ton of bricks this time. My favourite reaction so far has gotta be Ondrej Bezr in Mlada Fronta:

"The entire Council brings to mind Skorvecky's stories on the situation of jazz at the time of the Nazi occupation, and the position of the communist establishment against rock 'n' roll and the New Wave. It is not only their desperate ignorance and their linguistic inability (the absurd translation of the lyrics to "Swastika Eyes" is riddled with factual errors to draw unjustified conclusions as to the promotion of fascism), but particularly the monstrous totalitarian vocabulary used by almost all participants in the meeting… It raises the question: what kind of creatures have been handed the right to decide what is appropriate for young listeners and what is not?"

( http://zpravy.idnes.cz/rada-cro-obvinila-radio-wave-z-propagace-fasismu-ft4-/media.asp?c=A081024_183239_media_dp )

And from there it just gets better and better... Follow the discussions on www.digizone.cz , which has more or less turned into a rolling news service for expressions of support and calls for resignations.

PROTEST - TODAY AT 5.00 PM

Outside Cesky Rozhlas headquarters, Vinohradska. Angry Wave listeners. Angry music journalists. Angry people who're just angry about public figures using allegations of fascism and the language of the Stalinist purges to achieve political ends.

It's looking large - this seems to have started with the kids on the Wave discussion board, then it spread to all the media boards, and then became an official news item. See e.g. http://aktualne.centrum.cz/kultura/hudba/clanek.phtml?id=620324

Hope to see you there!

Next, PETITIONS!

Top music publicist Petr Vizina asks you to copy and paste this lengthy critique / demand for the Radio Council President's immediate resignation.
http://www.digizone.cz/tiskove-zpravy/vyzva-k-odstoupeni-predsedovi-rady-cro/

Martin "Destroyer" Prikl of Czech alt-rockers the Prostitutes has another petition going, this one in a handy anonymous click-here-to-express-your-anger layout.
http://survey.easyresearch.cz/9Fk2SCLYcUyMsljOLhcW3kWjM.aspx