County 101 conflicts with Democracy 101 February 23, 2018 Source: Cape Cod Times / www.capecodetime.com / By Paula Bacon / The irony of it all. A program sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Cape Cod at the Cape Cod Community Television station was to be broadcast with three county officials: County Commissioner Leo Cakounis, John Ohman, dean …
When Gandhi met Spinoza February 15, 2018 Source: India Forbes / www.forbesindia.com / By A.Damodaran / The crypto-currency movement is a Gandhian civil disobedience movement of the 21st century led by peer to peer networks that closely resemble Spinoza’s multitudes A wintery December evening at Prague’s Wenceslas square. The year 1989. Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia’s celebrated playwright and …
Václav Havel’s politics of encounter February 4, 2018 Source: The New Criterion / www.newcriterion.com / By Emina Melonic / It has become fashionable to give name to the cultural age in which we currently find ourselves. We do this either to simplify the complexity of current trends or to clarify their importance. But whatever the present moment might …
Day in History. February 2, 2003: Havel steps down, but no successor yet February 4, 2018 Source: Gulf News / www.gulfnews.com / By Abdul Kareem / 2003 – Czech President Vaclav Havel expressed hope that the country’s lawmakers would soon choose his successor. Havel, the dissident playwright who led the “Velvet Revolution”, which toppled Communism peacefully there more than 13 years ago, told reporters that it’s … Lessons Not Learned January 31, 2018 Source: TOL / www.tol.org / By Martin Ehl / The Czech Republic could have prevented another populist victory by taking a closer look at neighboring Slovakia’s recent history. Czechs might not like to hear it, but these past months, they failed to take a leaf out of the democracy-building handbook … 
Veteran Zeman wins last big battle in Czech presidential vote January 30, 2018 Source: Reuters / www.reuters.com / By Jan Lopatka / PRAGUE (Reuters) – Milos Zeman, the longest-standing figure in Czech post-communist politics, won a final major battle on Saturday, showing off his strong political instincts to secure a second presidential term. Zeman, 73, bet on a populist anti-immigration stance and sniping …
‘We must be co-creators of a prosperous state’ January 20, 2018 Source: Nigerian Tribune / www.tribuneonlineng.com / For Debo Adesina, Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian group of Newspapers, is too self-effacing. He rarely talks about himself and keeps a very low profile. As ‘an aspiring servant’ (he dreads being called a politician), little has changed. Unless it is about ideas for development, …
Zeman favorite to win 2nd term in Czech presidential vote January 15, 2018 Source: Tampa Bay Times / www.tampabay.com / PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s controversy-courting president is seeking re-election this month in what will be the country’s second election in which voters, instead of lawmakers, pick the person to fill the office. Milos Zeman was elected to the largely ceremonial post …
Czech voters to give verdict on president’s anti-immigrant populism January 15, 2018 Source: The Guardian / www.theguardian.com / By Robert Tait / Jiří Drahoš, main challenger to incumbent Miloš Zeman, pledges to ensure that country will face the west if he wins poll on Friday The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has been accused of promoting a climate of “vulgarity, incompetence and corruption” …
Embracing Iranian uprising January 8, 2018 Source: Thewhig.com / www.thewhig.com / By Geoffrey Johnston / Iran is a stinking torture state run by a theocratic regime that maintains its weakening grip on power through the barrel of a gun and organized violence. When Iran’s 2009 elections were stolen by Islamic hardliners, ordinary Iranians took to the …
Prague Spring: dream for ‘human’ socialism crushed January 4, 2018 Source: Yahoo! / www.yahoo.com / By Karinne DELORME / Paris (AFP) – The Prague Spring 50 years ago sought to introduce “Socialism with a human face” in then communist Czechoslovakia but was crushed by Soviet tanks seven months later. Here is an account of how it unfolded: Related Searches Prague …
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Praying for democracy December 31, 2017 Source: The Oregonian / www.oregonlive.com / By E.J. Dionne JR. / My New Year’s wish is for the health and resurgence of democracy. What follows is a slightly edited version of a morning prayer I offered last month at the Appleton Chapel of the Memorial Church at Harvard University. …
London Challenged Prague Over the Dissolution of NATO December 31, 2017 Source: Sputnik / www.sputniknews.com / By Nikolai Gorshkov / British government papers from the early 1990s reveal the leadership’s alarm at the “strong neutralist views” of the post-Communist leaders of Czechoslovakia, who advocated the dissolution of NATO. The papers have just been released by the National Archives in London. In …
The Czechs’ Clear Choice: A Future for the Young With Europe, or Nostalgia and Dependence on Putin January 17, 2018 Source: Daily Beast / www.thedailybeast.com / By Anna Nemtsova / Jiri Drahos, the pro-Europe challenger to incumbent president and Putin crony Milos Zeman, looks like he just might win the second-round runoff. RomanNOVE VESELI, Czech Republic—On the day of the first round in this country’s presidential election, Linda Jamborova, a …
Belfast-bound Joan Baez tells of her lifetime as a singer and political activist December 31, 2017 Source: The Irish News / www.irishnews.com / By Jenny Lee / Folk singer Joan Baez was one of the major musical figures behind social justice movements in the 1960s. Fifty years later the singer, songwriter and activist is still passionate about the causes she embraces and will return to Ireland …