Every year, the daily New York Times publishes an overview “What happened in the world for the first time this year”: these may be the beginnings of new trends or only blind alleys. What would such an overview look like for the Czech Republic of 2008?
We will not include cultural first-time events – such as the first Czech concert of Leonard Cohen. Not even sporting dreams that have come true, however desired they may have been: for example, Josef Váňa’s participation in the Velká pardubická horse race with his son (he ranked third, his son ranked fifth). Not even individual economic first-time events, however remarkable they may have been. (For example that the industrialist Andrej Babiš, renowned for being his company Agrofert’s only spokesman and for driving his company car himself, has for the first time ever appointed an executive director within his group (the expansion has been getting beyond his strength as he has shares in 224 companies).
Everyone can see the political trend of 2008: for the first time in his career, Mirek Topolánek has lost an election. Twice and in a very big way. Everyone can also see the economic trend: with regards to expectations of the economic crisis, post-Christmas sales started already before Christmas. Are there any less visible changes that also tell us something about our society? Maybe two.
For the first time in the 150-years history of the unique school in Kraslice, where students are taught how to produce clarinets, saxophones and trumpets, not a single student applied to study there (last year the school had six applications, the year before fourteen). And current students said at a discussion with the regional governor that they don’t have faith in their vocation, as the number of people who play wind has been falling. “Everyone wants an electric guitar or a computer,” said one of the students. We are lucky that the clarinettist Woody Allen did not hear that during his first performance in the Czech Republic this year!
And moving along: this year discrimination against working pensioners has come to an end. As of January, like others, pensioners can take advantage of tax exemptions. They are still unable, however, to have a contract for an indefinite period of time. With Czech society ageing at a rapid rate, this barrier must be removed sooner or later.
Translated with permission by the Prague Daily Monitor.
