Peace activists show some skin for a good cause, student protesters throw tomatoes at the wrong building and the crisis hits the country’s rabbits.
Find out Romani dying out in Czech Republic, but not as fast as feared ...
Germany's Steinmeier wants an end to Israeli settlements ...
Turkey arrests terrorists suspects, gets boost for EU bid ...
Latest news - 17-04-2009 ... more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.
A dozen or so peace activists stripped to the waist last Saturday and marched through the city centre topless in an effort to draw people’s attention to the annual World March for Peace due to take place in Prague on November 2-3rd. Twenty-three year old Jana Jedličková who organized the Breasts for Peace event said the group had decided to follow the example of activists in Paraguay because the public and the media pay so much attention to breasts and bottoms that baring them is the fastest way to get your message across. “If showing a little skin is what it takes to make people listen, we’ll do it” she said. The girls wore nothing but body paint from the waist up and turned plenty of heads, though the march was briefly disrupted by an afternoon rain shower which made the girls quickly hop on a passing tram for cover. Peace activists are hoping to turn this year’s peace march into a multi-cultural festival that will attract thousands of people.
Meanwhile on the Vltava river –near Prague’s famous Charles Bridge – the country’s top diplomats were in action enacting a symbolic hand-over of the Czech EU presidency to Sweden. Crowds of onlookers watched in amazement as the Czech minister for EU affairs, Štefan Fule, and his predecessor Alexandr Vondra passed a keg of beer from a Czech boat to a Swedish one, where representatives of the Swedish embassy sat waiting to accept the heavy load.
“We were looking for a symbol of the Czech presidency that we could pass to the Swedes, and I think we chose well,” Mr. Fule told journalists. The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency until June 30th, boasts the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.
The 42-kilo keg was transferred without mishap – though in rather wobbly fashion but then there are many who’d tell you it was the perfect end to a rather wobbly presidency.
A crowd of 7,000 student protesters took to the streets of Prague a week ago in protest against the government’s plan to introduce uniform school-leaving exams. Its is not school leaving exams as such they were protesting against but the plan to make them uniform, which they claim is poorly prepared and has not been properly explained. However it seems the students themselves had failed to do their homework – because they ended up throwing tomatoes at the wrong building. Mistaking Lichtenstein Palace for the Education Ministry they pelted the building with tomatoes until a policeman came to ask if they knew what they were doing. On being told they had come to the wrong building, they are reported to have apologized and left in an orderly manner.
And the winner is……..Jiřà Paroubek. The Social Democrat leader has not had an easy time of late. After being pelted with eggs as he campaigned in the European elections, he now has the dubious honour of winning the anti-prize Papaláš Roku – or Fat-Cat of the Year - a communist-era derogatory term for a politician who is in it for the power and the perks. Paroubek, who is often caricatured as Mayor Quimby from the Simpsons, was elected Papaláš Roku in an internet poll launched by the organizers of the Sokolov festival of political songs. Paroubek stayed home to trim the fence as he said – but his charming young wife and their dog turned up at the festival to pick up the prize with good grace. Mrs. Paroubková, who is pregnant with her first baby, gave a nice parody of an Oscar speech and said she would put the prize on their mantelshelf along with the others. The organizers were somewhat taken aback by her presence, saying they never expected anyone to actually turn up and admitted that Petra Paroubková’s arrival had actually added to the festival’s popularity by attracting far more news people than would have otherwise turned up.
The recession is reported to be having an impact on attendance at sports days, social gatherings and cultural events. This week the town of KrálĂky – or Rabitsville - reported a dismally low turnout at its annual get-together of people whose surname is KrálĂk or KrálĂková – in other words Mr. or Mrs. Rabbit.
The fun event was launched six years ago and attendance in recent years had risen to 77. This year only six Mr. and Mrs. KrálĂks turned up for a low-key event in KrálĂky. Jan KrálĂk, the organizer of the rabbits get together said he was convinced that tighter family budgets were to blame. “Last year everyone had a great time and left promising to come back next year. They won’t say so, but I am sure its because they can ill-afford it,” he told the CTK news agency.
Those who made the journey were disappointed, but intend to keep the tradition alive until the Czech Republic sees better days and the country’s rabbits can get back together again.
(radio-Prague)
<< Back