The Czech Republic, a country where climate change does not exist?
Climate Change . Media . SocietyNovember 17 is one of the most important Czech holidays. It is also the latest one. On 17 November 1989, the Velvet Revolution began, a non-violent transition of power in Czechoslovakia. The riot police suppressed a student demonstration in Prague on International Student’s Day.
On the street, where it hapenned – Národní/National street – there is a commemoration every year. Traffic is diverted and people gather there, talk, walk and remember what hapenned there and what the consequences were – the first free elections in decades, the transition to democracy and capitalism, etc.
This year was more or less the same. The commemorations were, of course, partially reduced due to the covid-19 restrictions, but they were almost as huge as usual. I was walking down Narodní street and there were small gatherings of people of all ages. The students who started the Velvet Revolutions are now in their fifties, but there were older and also younger people who were trying to comprehend the motivations of their predecessors.
The former student leader, who had just finished a TV interview and was leaving the TV crew on street, was stopped by a group of young students who bravely asked him for more details about the demonstration 32 years ago. “Of course I can tell you what was it like,” he said happily.
Text that sparked the debate
From what I heard before they went too far away from me was that they asked him about the environmental aspects of the demonstrations. I did not paid much attention to it, but later I remembered it, because this year‘s commemorations were in a certain way a bit different.
It originated from a small Twitter movement among young left-leaning and mainly Prague based people. Their aim was not to stop commemorating the liberation of the Czech Republic from the communist regime, but to emphasize different topics in the context of these commemorations… current topics, not only to be stuck in the past, but to focus on current issues such as climate change, gender issues, etc.
You may say that this small movement remained on Twitter and could not bother the majority of the population. Unlike some other similar movements, this one was special. A young journalist Eva Soukeníková wrote about it to the most widely read news website in the Czech Republic. It was a very short, simple formulated opinon piece. It kind of blew up and unleashed a generational debate on how to commemorate this date and whether it is even possible to try to change the narrative surrounding the November 17.
I know Eva, she is a few years older, but we know each other from the university. We met by chance at the pub that day and I just had to ask her about certain things. She described to me how frustrated she was that for many years the commemorations of November 17 were always the same. “So I decided to write about it and about the topics that younger generation want to address. But the boomers, the older generations, just ignore it, deny it and refuse to talk about it.” She seemed very angry when she was talking about it and stressed, that one of the – now unfortunately forgotten – topics of the demonstrations 32 years ago was ecology.
When we talked about it at the bar, two people stopped by. At first it was a 21-year-old girl studying sociology and, like 10 minutes later, a man almost 50 years old, a technician without a university degree. Interestingly, they told Eva almost the same thing – they appreciated her opinion piece, agreed with it and told her to keep it up. I could see a joy and relief in Eva’s eyes, especially in the confrontation with the older man, who – at first glance – looked exactly like the “boomer” that might start insulting her. But it was exactly the opposite.
It must have been emotional, because she told me not even about the negative opinions of the readers about her work, but also about the disagreement of her older colleagues at the editorial meeting. They – as a generation that fought communism – felt a bit offended by the term “boomers” and they almost felt like she was trying to diminish their legacy. But since the media are free in the Czech Republic, her opinion piece has, of course, been published.
Green differences
A few days later I came back to Germany. I have only crossed one border, but in some respects this border between Czech Republic and Germany/Bavaria never really diaspappeared and the convergence is really slow.
In the Czech Republic, it looks like there is no climate change. When some small groups of pupils and students protest on Fridays For Future, they are ridiculed by conservative politicians, who label Green New Deal as a “green madness”. The same people insult Greta Thunberg as “autistic crazy little girl who should rather go back to school and let the adults talk about it”.
For some supporters of Die Grüne, the result of the September elections may be a bit disappointing, but the Czech Greens did not win even 1% of the vote in the October elections. Green topics were not discussed, and if so, it was only when almost all mainstream politicians promised that they would protect the country from “green dictate of Brussels”.
But times are maybe changing, and if the younger generations would not become new boomers, there is a chance. When I left the pub, I heard two girls chatting at the tram stop. “This commemoration was cool, wasn’t it?” said one. “Yep. And the day after tomorrow FFF?” replied the other one. “Sure thing.”