Why is there a need for The Next Ten Years?

The Czech Republic has been in the international press lately, but unfortunately not for good reasons. Recent events dealing with appointment of a new general director caused Czech Television’s newsroom journalists to seize control of their offices and studio and refuse to leave. Jiři Hodač, the newly appointed (and recently resigned) director of Czech Television is the cause of the trouble. Hodač, claim the protesting journalists, had been appointed in order to bias Czech Television toward a political slant. While the Czech parliament (that appoints the advisory board of Czech Television, responsible for selection of Mr. Hodač) claims there was no ulterior motive in appointing Hodač, the general population has expressed a different opinion. Over 180,000 people have signed a petition calling for Hodač’s resignation and the creation of a new law for selecting the people that sit on the advisory board of Czech Television. On January 3 of this year, approximately 100,000 people turned-out on Prague’s main square to demand that Hodač resign. In confirmation that Hodač would not create unbiased and fair reporting, the January 3 demonstration was covered on Hodač run television as a gathering of a few thousand people to learn more about the situation at Czech Television. At present, it seems that the protest of the general population has been heard: Mr. Hodač has resigned, Parliament is acting to take temporary control of the advisory board and a new law is on its way to being passed. In this case, corruption and undemocratic behavior has been checked, but this has not always been the case.

On December 5, 1999, over 50,000 people turned out on Prague’s main square to protest against political infighting, governmental corruption and a loss of vision in the Czech political scene. These protesters were joined by similar protests on a smaller scale around the Czech Republic. The protestors united under the banner of the campaign, ‘Thank You, Now Get Out!’ that called for the resignation of all elected officials on a national level. For 3 hours the protestors shouted angry slogans, made speeches and carried signs. The student leaders who sparked the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the organizers of ‘Thank You, Now Get Out!,’ cried out that the ruling political parties had stolen ‘their revolution.’ Unfortunately this protest had nowhere near the success of the protest to protect Czech Television. Today, a year later, there is little left of ‘Thank you, Now Get Out!.’ Following the initial protest, the campaign failed to make any real change. If the campaign in 1999 had met with long term success, it is possible to say that more of the general population would have been monitoring the appointment of Czech Television’s new director more closely. Action before the appointment of Mr. Hodač might have prevented the recent Czech Television crisis altogether. What these 2 demonstrations illustrate is that the Czechs are not apathetic or lethargic in general terms, but they simply lack knowledge of the right way to use the tools of democracy in order to achieve results that go beyond an initial demonstration.

In 1989 the Velvet Revolution created a nation that was starved for ‘Democracy.’ This word can be heard over and over again in the rhetoric of the early 1990’s. Democracy, it was claimed, would bring peace, stability, riches and economic security. Democracy was called a solution, but no one ever quite explained what it entailed. The futile protest of December 5, 1999, and the need for the January 3, 2000 protest, are perfect examples of the idea of democracy gone wrong. The major idea expressed by both of the demonstrations was that a small group of organizers would make plans and give speeches and general public should simply show-up when requested. While in the recent case of Czech Television this approach has been meet with a certain level of success, it is a far cry from the type of democracy that will produce peace, stability and financial security. Even before the situation at Czech Television, the failure of recent political movements like ‘Thank You, Now Get Out!’ and numerous political scandals over the past ten years have led many Czechs to feel that there is no point in participating in the democratic process. As a result Czechs have been voting in record low numbers. In the November 2000 elections for the Senate and newly formed bodies of local government, average turnout for local government elections was 33.64%, 33.74% for the first round of Senate elections and only 21.56% in the second round of Senate elections (www.volby.cz). With less than one third of the country voting the democratic process has been compromised. If the political environment of the Czech Republic continues to stagnate, there will serious ramifications in the 2002 elections of the powerful Lower Chamber of Parliament, and also in the appointment of a new President.

The recent Romanian election for President is a perfect example of how feelings of disgust and disconnection from political life can lead people to stay away from the voting polls. In the first round of Presidential elections, only 54% of Romanians turned out to choose from an inadequate list that included a former Communist President haunted by scandal and rumors of incompetence and a vehement nationalist, famous for statements of racism and intolerance. On December 10, only 50.4% of Romanian voters turned out for the second round, electing former Communist President Iliescu the winner (Reuters, December 13, 2000). While the Romanian example is extreme, it shows the possibility of a trend that could endanger the progress that has been in made in Central and Eastern Europe over the past decade. In the same November election in which only 33.64% of Czechs voted, 20.64% of local administrative positions went to the Czech Communist Party (www.volby.cz). Frustrated with the current situation, Czechs are either 1) protesting by not voting, or 2) protest voting against the ruling Social Democrat government by voting for what they see as the only other option: the Communist Party. The previous Civic Democrat administration resigned in 1998 due to a financial scandal, only to be followed by the resulting Social Democrat government signing an opposition agreement with the Civic Democrat leadership. Many Czechs view this opposition agreement, in reality creating a parliament with little to no opposition to the leadership, as undemocratic and discouraging. This was shown by the low turnout in the recent elections, and by the Social Democratic Party losing 8 seats in the 81 seat Czech Senate. Most people feel that they have been left out of the political process all together, and there is little interest in voting or in other democratic involvement. In local communities there is a real need for finding a way to connect average citizens to the politicians that represent them.

Local non-profit organizations (NPOs) are one solution to the problem of providing information about importance of democratic involvement to the general population. The power of local NPOs has been proven in the past years by organizations in Central and Eastern Europe. In the Slovak Republic in 1998, the OK ’98 Campaign gave citizens the empowerment needed to increase voter turnout and oust Vladimir Mečiar. Years of citizen empowerment campaigns and support came to a pinnacle on October 5 in Serbia this year; through the efforts of NPOs, a peaceful people-power revolution ousted Slobodan Milosević. The lessons of recent history have shown that NPOs working together are the most efficient tool for motivating citizens to play an active role in democracy. In the Czech Republic the situation is different from the Slovak Republic in 1998 and Serbia in 2000, but not so different that lessons learned cannot be applied. While Czech democracy may seem unshakably stable to the outside world, the Czech Television situation proves it is not. In addition, issues such as the role (if any) of the Czech Senate in the parliamentary system, the role and power the Czech president, the independence of the Central Bank and the reform of the judiciary are under constant review. With decisions such as these being decided by the men and women in local and national government, it is a dangerous time for Czechs to become lethargic in their roles as citizens. On the national level it is very difficult to motivate people to play a larger role in the political scene, but that is not the case on the local level. NPOs on the local level have the possibility to focus on single issues and show the average person that he or she can make change and produce positive results. By helping a citizen impact on a local level it becomes possible to illustrate that the single person can make a difference, helping to combat the idea that the individual is irrelevant to elected officals. By helping people become active on a local level it is the hope of The Next Ten Years that they will see first-hand how it is possible for them to make an impact on the national level. If NPOs had been working with the public before the recent situation at Czech Television, in support of initiatives like ‘Thank You, Now Get Out!,’ or had been working to involve voters in the Czech Republic and Romania, the results might have been longstanding and successful.

Working with local and national governments, NPOs in the Czech Republic have the unique opportunity to introduce the idea of active civic participation in democracy--something which government institutions do little to encourage. The Next Ten Years (TNTY)—a project that makes reference to the 10 years that have passed since the fall of Communism--is a project designed to help spread the idea of active democracy. TNTY will work over the next 18 months to educate and interest the general population on how an average citizen can have a significant impact in their local community by working with their elected officials, as well as local NPOs, in a constructive and efficient way. TNTY will work to build the level of participation in time for the 2002 national elections, and will help to give citizens the feeling that the political situation in the Czech Republic is still in the hands of the people. As the name suggests, The Next Ten Years is a project that will continue beyond the elections and help to develop the spirit of involvement in Czech citizens. Depending on the success of the project’s strategy leading into the June 2002 elections, the program will continue into The Next Ten Years, helping to make the Czech Republic a democratic country in which every citizen feels proud to play an active role in the democratic process.