The Prague Post Online: Opinion: Letters to the Editor

December 2nd, 2008

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Letters to the Editor

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March 7th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST

Mayor Pavel Bém's Mt. Everest expedition has some residents suggesting that he's shirking his work.

Sensitivity in reviews

In a review of the restaurant La Casa Argentina/Argentinský Dům (“Seeing red,” Night & Day, Feb. 21–27) your staff writer makes two references to the Malvinas/Falklands conflict in 1982, which are unnecessary and out of place, injuring not only the feelings of those who fought in the war and their families, but also of the families whose relatives died in it, as well as of the Argentines who wished to see a peaceful and negotiated settlement to the conflict, which the Argentine Government is committed to pursuing through diplomatic means in accordance with the reiterated United Nations appeals.

No event that involves the loss of life should be taken lightly, nor trivialized by third parties.

Juan E. Fleming, Argentinian ambassador to the Czech Republic
Prague

I confess

Bravo to the freedom lovers of Czechoslovakia (“More former agents will be outed,” News, Feb. 21–27). Passing the law of lustration is a sign of democratic maturity. But, if you find many guilty people, please do not kill or jail them for life. Everybody knows that they committed these demeaning acts against their fellow humans only under duress or a corrupt system.

Even in the most “democratic countries,” you always find the most patriotic ones are government employees, and the traitors are those unemployed or people who cannot find a job.

Ahmed Debabi
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Olympic dreams

It really is just obscene (“Burning cash,” Business, Feb. 21–27). If a few selfish individuals wish to become IOC [International Olympic Committee] groupies, traveling at our expense around the world, let them do it at their own cost, not ours. Prague, and Europe, will not be hosting the 2016 or 2020 Olympics. That’s not how it works; it’s not rocket science. Money taken from Prague to fund these bids is money that is not being spent on Prague’s already poor infrastructure. Arguments that trying to win the Olympics will kick-start development don’t add up.

The bid is taking money from Prague; it’s not adding money to Prague. Finally, if these ridiculous people have any concern for Prague, they may want to think how Prague and the Czech Republic will look to others, including foreign investors, when making this bid. Every media story around the world will ridicule the city and country for making a futile and embarrassing bid; potential investors will query the sense of putting money into a country that must clearly be run either by the super unintelligent or the totally greedy!

Mike Bryan
Prague

Reagan in bronze

COURTESY PHOTO

Robert Kennedy's assassination, portrayed here in Bobby, by Estevez, right, changed the course of politics.

As an Australian part-time resident of Prague 6 myself, I am absolutely shocked at [Prague 6 Mayor Tomáš Chalupa’s] decision of erecting a monument to Ronald Reagan (“On a Reagan monument,” Opinion, Feb. 21–27). Why doesn’t this simple-minded man erect a statue of Comenius or Martinů, or any other of the many great Czechs that have enriched the Czech nation and the world?

And, also, why doesn’t he consider erecting a monument to the Australian Gough Whitlam? Or are American statesmen valued more than Australian statesman in the Czech Republic?

Or even a monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi?

Giuseppe who?

For all you Americans, it’s not a pizza brand!

Libor Peck
Prague 6

Dear Mr. Peck:

I did not know the monument to Reagan was going to be large; slightly larger than full size would be adequate. The question is how much did Reagan aid in the collapse of communism in Russia and the Eastern bloc nations. You could argue the pros and cons for months without a satisfactory answer. The bigger question is what would have been the result if Jimmy Carter had been re-elected or if Walter Mondale was elected. Based on Jimmy’s and Walter’s record, I would say a very good argument could be had that the Czech Republic would today still be enjoying the fruits of communism.

There may be a great many men who deserve a monument more than Reagan, but is Prague such a small city (areawise) that you cannot erect a monument to a man who at least saw communism for what it really is and did something about it?

Peter Miller
Phoenix

… and what kind of lunacy is that? Why should the Czech Republic honor an American, of all nationalities? How about a Romanian, Israeli, Canadian, Ukrainian or Egyptian leader?

Maria Pagáčová
Brno

Mr. Cupp,

While there are many reasons not to honor Reagan with a monument in Prague, what do any of your arguments have to do with his legacy as it relates to the Czechs and the fall of communism — what Prague 6 wants to honor him for?

Marek Kurlmann
Prague

For a balanced view on the factors and players behind the fall of communism, may I recommend Tony Judt’s magnificent work Post War — A History of Europe Since 1945. In summary, he says Gorbachev was the key, but by accident. The U.S. was nowhere until after the fact. As for the answer to Mr. Chalupa’s question as to who did more than Reagan to trigger the fall of communism, the local answer is clearly Václav Havel, so when can we expect his statue to appear? (We’ll happily host it in front of our office.)

However, what intrigued me was Mr. Chalupa’s citation of the “head” of an obscure Danish think tank, followed swiftly by an apparently spontaneous comment from the head himself. Such things are never coincidences. CEPOS (www.cepos.dk) is certainly respectable enough, but your readers will soon ascertain as I did that it has a distinct, some might say extreme, right political agenda, giving Web time as it does to British academics such as Roger Scruton, who is generally regarded in the UK as an eccentric relic of the Thatcher years.

Mr. Elbjorn is only the head of communication (i.e. a PR man). Again, nothing wrong with that. But it makes you wonder why such an organization is taking such a keen interest in public edifices in Prague 6.

However, if this means that Mr. Chalupa is looking to Denmark for inspiration in local government management, I am all for it. The Danes are leaders in transparent, efficient and corruption-free public institutions, and I am delighted if the running of Prague 6 City Hall and its big brother, the City of Prague, is going to follow the best practices of Copenhagen. It’s got a long way to go.

Richard Hunt
Prague 6

Psychics and security

Oh dear, Sally (Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Feb. 28–March 6). You’re probably one of those lovely mums who have too much time on their hands (“Czech Republic, prepare thyself: The end is nigh,” Opinion, Feb. 21–27). Instead of believing in such tripe, you should go get a job and perhaps you won’t be so bored with your expat life here in Prague.

You have completely missed the point, my love. It’s not that we don’t believe in crystal balls, and we’re all sure that dogs and cats can predict the lotto numbers. … In fact, I’m just off to purchase a Corgi for those very purposes. … What makes this story so entertaining is that ministries use clairvoyants to aid critical decisions.

Wait, I’ve just had a vision. … Sally, you are going to move from Prague, as your husband has just received word from head office there is a great new position waiting for him in Siberia. …

Sally, happy traveling, make sure you take a warm coat with you, as there will be no February gardening at this time of year.

Steve Davis
Prague

Losing Bobby

I am a French octogenarian who lives in the USA (“Grand confusion,” Night & Day, Feb. 21–27). I became disillusioned with the USA during my first year as a teaching assistant. However, I married an American and have lived here for 54 years and have become disgusted with this country, but all my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are here, so I’ve remained here.

On June 6, 1968, I woke up, could not go back to sleep, and, for the first and only time in my life, turned the TV on. Such pandemonium left me confused for a few seconds, wondering why they were showing again JFK’s assassination. … Then I realized what had happened and I was stunned and cried out of sadness, even though I was not a U.S. citizen yet.

But Robert Kennedy’s campaign showed such hope for a more decent, open-minded America, for all people, that I really felt the loss. I had met him after a Harry Belafonte benefit concert in Washington, so it felt as if I’d lost a friend.

I agree that there were too many insignificant events in the film, but I understand what Emilio Estevez was trying to do: show ordinary life, even in the face of a hopeful campaign win that evening.

I thought the ending was so powerful that, like all other people in the audience, I could not say a word or move from my seat until the screen went black.

My biggest disappointment was that Harry Belafonte, who “educated” RFK to a new vision of what could, what should be done, did not have a more important role.

Frederique Robege
Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.A.

Oh My God! Where did this Robege come from? I thought most of these quasi hippies died off. This was Estevez’s ticket to join Hollywood’s politically correct. Do you really believe that he had hands-on responsibility for this film? You do not know much about La La Land. The script was passed around and checked out for acceptable and politically correct content. Then he put his name on it. Bobby appears to have been a sharp guy and maybe could have done a lot of good. But the world is full of smart guys.

Dusan Lipensky
Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.A.

Mayors and mountains

During the elections last year, [Prague Mayor Pavel] Bém had a poster with the slogan “Before leaving for your cottage this weekend, make sure you vote” (“Mayor’s trip to Everest raises ire,” News, Feb. 14–20). Since he is an elected official with a fulltime public office, it’s rather strange that he would leave for two months on such an expedition. In addition I would anticipate that such an expedition to Everest would take at least 18 months to arrange. … So why did he not announce such plans last June that he would be leaving for two months?

Maybe his slogan in the June elections should have read: “Before leaving for your cottage this weekend, make sure you vote … and once I’m elected I am planning a two-month trip to Everest.” I anticipate that many voters would have questioned his commitment to public office.

Johan Kraus
Prague 6

I think anybody needs some days off (a lot of Czech politicians need in reality some years off …), so I fully support Mr. Bém’s plan. As he is potentially the future Czech prime minister, it should be nice that some prime minister climbed Mt. Everest and even better for me that such a man could be a Czech one. I do not like Mr. Bém very much, but in this case he is OK. I also like climbing; last December I climbed the highest mountain in the Czech Republic. It was quite difficult as the upper part of the funicular was out of service. … Anyway, my next goal is Milešovka!

Martin Madera
Prague 3

Constitution blues

The incredible arrogance of the writer (“Merkel’s headache,” Opinion, Feb. 14–20) — and of so many of the Eurocratic elite — is revealed in this one phrase: “But referendum advocates themselves need to bear in mind the need for information and education in advance of the poll. A referendum that went wrong this time.”

In other words: Be careful of a referendum on the EU constitution, because the rabble might vote the wrong way. Indeed, they already have, but that won’t stop us from making them vote again and again until they get it right.

Exit question: Should advocates of the EU constitution consider the fact that their proposal is about the size of a telephone directory, whereas the U.S. Constitution fits easily into one’s pocket?

Brant Hadaway
Miami, Florida

Street raves

As a Czech-American, prior to reading this article I had not been aware of the Masopust celebration in the Czech Republic (“Wild in the streets,” Night & Day, Feb. 14–20), but now I look forward to one day visiting the Czech Republic during this traditional celebration and witnessing it for myself.

Ryne Graf
Chicago

Labor dispute

With regard to the article titled “Labor pains” (Business, Jan. 3–9), I would like to clarify certain information which I provided and which was cited in an abbreviated and simplified form by the author of the article.

The existing concept of a breach of “work discipline” as grounds for the termination of an employment contract pursuant to § 52 (g) of the Labor Code has now been changed to a breach of “obligations ensuing from legal regulations pertaining to the work performed by the employee.” This concept is broader and includes not only obligations stipulated in law but also any obligations stipulated in, for example, a firm’s work rules. Consequently, this change provides employers with an opportunity to make their lives somewhat easier by defining the duties of individual employees in detail and then referring to a breach of such duties when the employer wishes to give notice to a particular employee. This does not mean, however, that employers need to conclude new employment contracts to take advantage of this possibility.

As concerns the so-called Švarc-system, this is an illegal practice under which workers are engaged on the basis of hidden labor-law relationships, a practice which we certainly do not recommend. A hidden labor-law relationship is involved if an employer concludes an agreement not governed by labor-law (for example, if he concludes a mandate agreement or a contract on performance of work, etc.) for work which falls under the employer’s scope of business activities, despite the fact that such work has the characteristics of employment-based work and consequently a relationship other than a labor-law relationship is inappropriate in such case.

Under the old Labor Code, when employers engaged workers on the basis of such agreements for work which does not fall within the scope of the employer’s business activities (for example, if a construction firm used such agreements to hire translators), there used to be sufficient scope for employers to argue with the Employment Office, Social Security Authority and other institutions that such a relationship was not, in fact, a hidden labor-law relationship.

The new Labor Code, however, has defined the characteristics of employment-based work (consistency, an obligation to comply with the principal’s instructions, etc.) for the first time. Consequently, the possibilities for employers to argue with the aforementioned authorities in such cases which are at the margin have been significantly reduced.

Alena Čechtická,
Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz
Prague

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