Star Wars in the Czech Republic: Are we in the presence of a silent coup d’etat?

The Government attempts to ratify the contract with the USA this week.

In spite of a great electoral defeat the Government, silently and in a short period of time, wants to ratify the contract with the USA for the installation of the radar base. Realising that given the great political changes on the horizon in the USA and those that are clearly happening here in the Czech Republic, the Government is having to accelerate the process of ratification through fear that they may lose the opportunity. There will be a first vote on Wednesday 29th October in Parliament and then on Thursday 30th October in the Senate. The Government wants to take advantage of the fact that the outgoing Senators can still vote: it would mean a vote made by a Senate that no longer corresponds to the electoral will of the people. Effectively in the new Senate there has been a great change in political forces.

One may wonder, why is it convenient for the ODS and the KDU-CSL (the Governing parties) to do this, knowing that they will lose the trust of many voters, something that is already starting to happen? Surely this will break these two parties apart just as has happened to the Greens? Undoubtedly for politicians that think about the future of their party, all of this is very clear, so why force the issue?

The explanation is very simple. Those who design our policies today and have the power to influence government and the governing parties are a few people who are closely linked to US economic interests. There are many documents that are circulating on the internet that show the links between these few and the weapons industry that is so interested in the construction of the radar. www.nenasili.cz/cs/2026_kdo-prosazuje-radar-v-cr (in Czech)

These people are not interested in the future of our Republic or the future of their parties.The media hasn’t wanted to give space to these truths. And so, with the complicit silence of the most important media, including state television, we are impotent witnesses to the darkest page of our history since 1989. Since the hunger strike by Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas everyday a Czech personality – artists, politicians, scientists, doctors, sportsmen and women,… have participated in this chain hunger strike to ask for the suspension of the negotiations for one year, showing clearly that Czechs have great doubts about this project. www.nenasili.cz/cs/videa (in Czech)

We are appealing to all Senators and Deputies of CSSD and KSCM (opposition parties) to do everything possible to prevent this vote from taking place.
We are also appealing to the Senators and Deputies of the Governing parties, who, with good faith believe that a US military presence on our territory is just, to reflect about their position and to not become an accomplice of those who want everything, except the common good.

Finally, we would like to reiterate what we are asking for with this chain hunger strike: “… we suggest suspending negotiations for one year, to open a deeper discussion on this topic within the Czech Republic, to get the position of the EU on this plan, and to wait for the position of the new US administration.”
“To place or not to place the radar in the Czech Republic is a historical decision, which should be made only after a wide public discussion with the agreement of a majority of citizens. However, making such a decision in this poisonous atmosphere full of mistrust would negatively influence Czech society for a long time. Hope for freedom and real democracy, which we gained after the Velvet Revolution, would be changed again to a feeling of mistrust in institutions, a feeling of helplessness and betrayal.”

Prague 28.10.2008
Jan Tamas
Leader of the Nonviolent movement against the bases
www.nonviolence.cz