Danube-Oder-Elbe canal: Can you dig it?
2020-10-15
A grandiose waterway scheme has some heavyweight backers, but doubts persist, and a possible Czech government shakeup could scupper it.Continue Reading
Romani actors should refuse to perpetuate stereotypes in Czech TV programs
2020-10-13
Giňa Tabarik discusses how gadje directors or screenwriters, in tandem with Romani actors, promote all the (long outdated!) clichés about Romani people that we see here on TV in the Czech Republic.Continue Reading
Standing up to Goliath
2020-09-29
Cities in Central and Eastern Europe are becoming promoters of democratic values, even when central governments are acting otherwise.Continue Reading
As Czechs debate their political future, Vaclav Havel returns to center stage
2020-09-24
A recently released biopic about the life of Vaclav Havel wasn’t well-received by local critics. Criticisms aside, the film couldn’t have arrived in cinemas at a more fitting time. A revival of Havel’s legacy is underway among the Czech political class, as a signpost for what the country’s political ideals should be and why they have gone astray.Continue Reading
Commentary: Czech journalists stoke hatred of Romani people to distract from failed pandemic response
2020-09-21
The attention of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic right now is fixed above all on how the Government has failed to control the pandemic, and it appears that Romani people and the problems associated with them are being used to distract attention away from that failure. Of course, this is a very dangerous game to play with a fear that can quite easily grow into hatred.Continue Reading
On Taiwan, moral courage from the Czech Republic
2020-09-17
Individual acts of moral and civic courage, whether on the local or international level, are indispensable to the struggle against tyranny. Today, democratic Taiwan faces such a struggle, as mainland China threatens to subvert its freedom.Continue Reading
In politics, money isn’t everything
2020-09-14
Crowdfunding is opening new horizons for democracy in the digital age.Continue Reading
Standing up for freedom . . .
2020-09-10
. . . and against Beijing and the Kremlin. Meet the mayor of Prague.Continue Reading
The Czech Republic is caught in a nuclear tug of war
2020-09-09
Competition among China, Russia, and the West is taking the form of a battle to build reactors in Eastern Europe.Continue Reading
The Czechs are giving Europe a lesson on how to deal with China
2020-09-04
The Czech Republic proves that the costs of a principled, values-based posture toward China are much smaller than the proponents of Europe’s current waffling between talk of “partnership” and “systemic” rivalry.Continue Reading