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Base protest planned for Nov. 17

Organizers call for protest on Velvet Revolution anniversary

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 14th, 2007 issue

Event coordinators expect more than 100,000 people to gather on Wenceslas Square Nov. 17 to protest the government’s plans to build a U.S. radar base on Czech soil.
Organized by No to Bases, a local civic group known for its opposition to the radar base, the protest also aims to voice criticism of the government’s “undemocratic approach” to recent issues, including the planned public finance reforms and the state’s deteriorating police force.
“It’s not just about the radar base — it’s about democracy,” says No to Bases spokesman Jan Tamáš.
Planning the demonstration for the 18th anniversary of the student-led Velvet Revolution in 1989, the organizers hope to evoke a “spirit of democracy” that the country’s leadership had yet to implement in practice, Tamáš says.
Through its stance against a public referendum on radar base construction, “the government is putting us, the citizens, in the position of helpless onlookers,” he adds. “We simply want to have the option to intervene in national policy.”
A poll taken by the Foreign Affairs Ministry earlier this month indicated that nearly 70 percent of Czechs are opposed to the radar base.
According to Tamáš, several labor unions, such as the School Workers’ Union and the Security Union (UBS MV), which includes police officers and firefighters, also support the demonstration.
“The government is using odd methods to achieve its relatively narrow field of interest,” says Milan Štěch, who is chairman of the largest state umbrella union ČMKOS and slated to speak at the protest. By ignoring the public’s opposition to the radar base, “the current leadership is stubbornly following its own agenda,” he adds.
Tomáš Klvaňa, the government’s spokesman for the radar base, maintains that questions of national security are not up for public discussion.
“Since many of the details regarding the radar base are classified, it’s up to the government to make the appropriate decision,” he says.
As one of the student leaders of the 1989 revolution, Klvaňa says he is “personally offended” by No to Bases’ assertion that the government’s stance violates democratic principles.
“In democracy, security questions are never the subject of referendums,” he says. “Before Hitler’s ascent, the Weimar Republic was full of referendums — they are not a symbol of democratic society, and to say so is ignorant.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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