LAST SATURDAY saw the 18th anniversary of the history-making student demonstration which was violently dispersed by the communist police on Národní třída in Prague, setting off the events into motion, which became known as the Velvet Revolution.
As a public opinion survey showed earlier that week, from among the freedoms Czechs had won in 1989, after 40 years of communism, the freedom to shop is the most treasured one with 92 per cent of those asked choosing it over other options such as free elections.
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Saturday´s solemn commemorative activities of the Velvet Revolution´s kick-off were somewhat overshadowed by rowdier events including the demonstration on central Wenceslas square, which - just like 18 years ago - heard the calls for the government to resign.
The crowd of about one thousand people was protesting against the plans to build a military radar in Brdy region, west of Prague, which is to form part of the proposed US anti-missile defense shield.
Another anti-establishment protest was held the same day by about one hundred ultranationalists who gathered at Prague´s Palacký square, designated the capital´s "Hyde Park zone" some time ago, to symbolically bury the freedom of speech and assembly in the Czech Republic.
The reason for the mock funeral was the recent failed attempt to stage a Neo-Nazi march through the streets of Prague´s Jewish Town on the anniversary of the infamous Nazi-era Kristallnacht. Authorities prevented the right-wing radicals on November 10 from reaching their stated destination, thus drawing the accusations from the extremists of violating their democratic rights.
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The leader of the opposition Social Democrats Jiří Paroubek decided to make November 17 even more memorable date by getting married in the spa town of Mariánské Lázně. Just two months after he divorced his wife of 29 years, he re-married, this time with a woman twenty years his junior.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was present at the wedding as the groom´s best man. Later that day Slovak national team lost 3-1 to their Czech counterparts in the qualifying match for the 2008 European football championship. Czechs already qualified for the tournament, their federation-era brothers are still waiting for their big international break.
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The Prague city council decided last week to raise the price of the tickets for the public transport in the city next year. As Aktuálně.cz found out the price hike will make the mass transit system in the Czech capital the most expensive in Europe, when the average salary is taken into consideration. There are now fears that people might turn to automobile traffic en masse, further aggravating the air pollution and street congestion in Prague.
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On Tuesday, European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg found the Czech Republic guilty of discriminating Roma children who are 27 times more likely than other Czechs to be sent to special schools instead of ordinary primary schools.
The verdict is a culmination of a seven-year long legal fight of families of 18 Roma children from Northern Moravia who met the very same fate. Each one of them is now entitled to 110 thousand Czech Crowns in compensation.
"The verdict is almost a legal earthquake," said American lawyer James A. Goldston. "It sets new standards for judging discrimination," Mr. Goldston pointed out. Many new similar law-suits are now expected to follow.
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59-year old Pavel Malovec has been holding a hunger-strike for more than a week now, hoping to force the city hall of Ivanovice in Moravia, where he lives, to act against his Roma neighbors who, as he says, are making his life unbearable by their extremely noisy behavior. As he told Aktuálně.cz in an interview, if everything else fails, he is determined to set himself on fire.
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On Thursday this year´s biggest exhibition opened in Prague´s Waldstein Riding School with the aim of shedding new light on the complex personality of the legendary generalissimus from the period of the Thirty Years´ War Albrecht of Waldstein. Expect a special article about the show at the Czechnews website within the next few days
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And last, but not least, with enough snow covering the mountain slopes, skiing season in the Czech Republic is truly in full swing, as witnessed first-hand by the writer of these lines in Krkonoše Mountains on Sunday. And if the long-term weather forecast is to be trusted, it will last until next April. Yee-haw!
