They want to stray from the flock, but where to? A "Democracy Czech-Up" happening, 17th November 2009, Prague.

Youngsters to the rescue, sort of

Increasingly disillusioned with the powers that be, students in Prague have decided to confront the political establishment with their own views. Their object is to change course and pave the way for a democratic renaissance.

Published on 30 November 2009 at 13:25
They want to stray from the flock, but where to? A "Democracy Czech-Up" happening, 17th November 2009, Prague.

In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, some Czech students began mulling how to shore up democracy in their country. The upshot was “Democracy Czech-Up”, an initiative that eventually changed the way they see politics – and themselves. “Let’s stop picking on politicians and look at ourselves instead.” This was the slogan the “Democracy Czech-Up” initiative hit upon to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the collapse of Communism in Czechoslovakia. Ten years after the “Thank you, now leave!” opposition movement bent on ousting the ruling class at the time, Czech student activists are now about-facing to urge an introspective approach.

We tend to think we know all about this generation. They travel abroad, know Facebook inside and out and don’t ask too many questions about our country’s Communist past. But we are mistaken if we see them that way. Over the past few weeks this generation has burst into the public arena several times exhorting hundreds of people to be active citizens. “I’m not sure I can achieve that goal myself. But I don’t want this to end like all the initiatives that don’t lead to anything concrete,” explains Réza Vlasáková (24), a sociology student. But one thing she does know, a year after the “Democracy Czech-Up” project was launched, leading student activists to assail politicians with a list of demands to change the status quo: she has no desire to go into politics. “Politicians don’t play fair. But it’s basically our own fault, we’re the ones who allow it.” So she spent a year probing the why and wherefore of this prevailing passivity with 15 other students.

Red stars don't bother them

Back in November of 1989, they were all still wee tots. Later on they had to come to their own conclusions about the meaning of our country’s Communist past. “It isn’t so much the red star on Hotel International that bugs me: it’s more the fact that people are living out this hard-won freedom all wrapped up in their cocoons, and they couldn’t give a hoot about the whole damned mess around them,” deplores Réza Vlasáková. Like her fellow students, she doesn’t read the daily papers or the news online. She keeps herself in the loop by perusing magazines, habitually blogs and, most importantly, hashes out the issues with her friends.

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And what do they do at the polls? They have yet to decide whom to vote for. “I write off the two main parties from the get-go,” explains Tereza Selmbacherová, another 24-year-old sociology student. “This year I realised they don’t have a clear-cut vision, they need each other, and together they smother the small parties. Then, of course, I eliminate the Communists. Finally, I’ll take my pick from among the parties left over, carefully studying their platforms.”

To join a party or not

This past year has radically changed how young people perceive politics – and themselves. Not only have they learned to address an auditorium, work in a team and communicate with the authorities, they have also come to realise the political elite they thought so out of reach are actually like everyone else. They called on a score of political leaders and asked them to withdraw four patently “absurd” pieces of legislation – and filmed the interviews with a camcorder lent by Charles University [in Prague] as part of a project co-funded by the EU.

In the footage of the first organised meetings with politicians, the students’ shortcomings are glaring: they don’t know how to argue or ask questions. “After a while,” recounts Jakub Bachtík (24), a student of art history and Czech, “we ended up concentrating more on ourselves than on the politicians, and that’s when we really started learning.”

From the “Democracy Czech-Up” rostrum at Wenceslas Square, ex-president Václav Havel delivered an address exhorting the student gathering to join a political party. But they still feel young and too inexperienced to do so, and above all they want to be able to finish their studies in peace. However, not all of them think along those lines. “Two months ago I said I’m not going to go into politics either. But I changed my mind. Our generation needs to get involved, to rejuvenate the political parties,” opines Jakub Bachtík, who joined the Association for Old Prague with a view to helping preserve the capital’s architectural heritage.

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