A letter to the political representatives

Yesterday,on March 11, 2013, ninety-three citizens of the Czech Republic – among them journalists Bohumil Doležal and Leo Pavlát, writers Zbyněk Hejda, Ivan Klíma and Jáchym Topol, writer and historian Petr Placák – addressed a letter to the leading political representatives of the Czech Republic, Prime Minister and ODS Chairman Petr Nečas, First Deputy Prime Minister and TOP 09 Chairman Karel Schwarzenberg, Chairwoman of the Parliament, Miroslava Němcová, Chairman of the Senate, Milan Štěch, the Chairman of Social Democratic Party, Bohuslav Sobotka, Statutory Deputy Chairman of Social Democratic Party and Chairman Association of Regions, Michal Hašek, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairwoman of LIDEM, Karolína Peake, appealing to them to take a clear stand to claims raised by the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, in his inaugural speech concerning the “substantial part of the media”. The text of the letter and a list of signatories are attached.

RNDr. Petr Nečas, Chair of ODS and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Úřad vlády České republiky, nábřeží Edvarda Beneše 4

118 01 Praha 1 - Malá Strana

Karel Schwarzenberg, Chair of TOP09 and First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

Michnův palác, budova č. 2, Újezd 450/40

118 00 Praha 1 - Malá Strana

Miroslava Němcová, Chair of the Parliament of the Czech Republic

Parlament České republiky, Poslanecká sněmovna, Sněmovní 4

118 26 Praha 1 - Malá Strana

Milan Štěch, Chair of the Senate of the Czech Republic

Valdštejnské náměstí 17/4

118 01 Praha 1

Bohuslav Sobotka, Chair of ČSSD

Lidový dům, Hybernská 7

110 00 Praha 1

JUDr. Michal Hašek, Statutory Deputy Chair of ČSSD, Chair of the Association of the Regions of the Czech Republic

Česká strana sociálně demokratická, Lidový dům, Hybernská 7

110 00 Praha 1

Karolina Peake, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Chair of LIDEM

Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky

Sněmovní 1

118 26 Praha 1

Prague, March 11, 2013

Dear Sir/ Madam,

On March 8, in your presence, the new president of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman delivered his inauguration speech in the Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle; among other things, he addressed the media.

He labeled a “substantial part of the Czech media” as one of the three islands of negative deviation (the other two being mafia bosses and neo-Nazi groups) and stated that he would fight against those three phenomena. Subsequently, he asked the present public figures to participate in that fight as well. The audience spontaneously applauded.

We consider the president´s attitude as unprecedented in the whole post-Communist period. He applies the principle of collective guilt to the “substantial part of the Czech media”; the global condemnation is reminiscent of various exclamations of the pre-1989 Communist politicians. Simultaneously, it is an indirect, but obvious attack on the freedom of speech in the Czech Republic. Freedom and plurality of the media is, however, an indispensable part of freedom and plurality of the society; if the public figures ignore, or even publicly support what the president had programmatically declared, they betray the obligation they have towards the citizens of the Czech Republic.

Therefore, we ask you to take a clear and univocal stand towards those programmatic goals of President Zeman. We cannot suppress that we have lacked such a stand so far.

Sincerely,

David Bartoň, librarian

Edita Beníšková, editor

Mgr. Tomáš Bernhardt, historian

Jan Burian, journalist and musician

Lenka Daňhelová, poet, translator

Bohumil Doležal, journalist

Petr Doležal, IT specialist

Martin Doležel, entrepreneur

Adam Drda, journalist

Mgr. Vladimír Drápal, director of Theatre Louny

Miroslav Fleischman, business representative

Ing. Ctibor Fojtíček, pensioner

Jan Fried, IT

Jakub Guziur, university teacher

Jan Hájek, architect

Zbyněk Hejda, poet

Anna Hradilková, secretary

Kristýna Horáková, manager

Heřman Chromý, clerk

Tomáš Jakubec, entrepreneur

Anna Kareninová, translator

Viktor Karlík, artist

Ivan Klíma, writer

Helena Klímová, psychotherapist

Petr Kopecký, university teacher

Jan Kotrč, entrepreneur

Jana Kováříková, clerk

Radek Kozdera, cook

Richard Kraus, private

Vít Kremlička, poet and literary critic

Mikuláš Kroupa, director of Post Bellum

Julie Kučerová, student, social worker

Peter Kuhar, journalist, translator

Ivan Lejdl, pensioner

Martin Litomiský, priest

Hana Leszkovenová, household

Ing. Taťána Lutovská, designer

Eva Malíková, economist

Hana Mahlerová, photographer

Mariana Machová, university teacher

Lenka Malíková, etopedist

Michal Mánek

Dagmar Mašínská, teacher

Michal Matzenauer,

Ondřej Mikauš, psychologist

Michael Mládek, director´s assistant

Mgr. Ilona Musichina, editor

Jan Nedvěd, former editor-in-chief of Tvář

Petr Němeček, developer

MUDr. Rudolf Nenutil, doctor

Petr Nosálek, journalist and translator

Leoš Novotný, technician

Petr Onufer, translator and editor

Pavel Otto, journalist

Viktor Parkán,

Václava Parkánová, PR specialist

Miroslav Patočka, entrepreneur

Leo Pavlát, journalist

PhDr. Jana Petrová, historian

RNDr. Petr Pešice PhD.

Petr Placák, writer, historian

Terezie Pokorná, editor-in-chief of Revolver Revue

Pavel Pokorný, teacher

Ing. Pavel Polák, clerk

BcA. Martin Procházka, photographer

Ivan Rigel, photographer

Tamara Rublová, editor

Mgr. Jiří Seydler, theatre director

Jan Scheinost, editor

Petr Skoták, teacher

Renata Sáronská, pensioner

Karel Strachota, NGO manager

Antonín Straka, enrtepreneur

Martin Svoboda, editor, translator

Mgr. Martin Svoboda, CEO

Mgr. Miroslav Svoboda, social services director

Mgr. Michaela Svobodová, theatre critic

Mgr. Sylva Vaněček Šauerová, analyst

Jiřina Šiklová, sociologist

Ing. Jiří Šimeček, representative

PhDr. Rudolf Šmíd, sociologist

Michael Špirit, university teacher

Petr Tomíšek, editor

Jáchym Topol, writer

Marek Vajchr, vice-dean of FAMU

Vladislav Vaňák, director of SVP

Alena Vaňáková, conservatory teacher

Jiří Vaněk, financial advisor

Michal Vaněk, gardener

Jaroslava Zandlerová, nurse

Martin Zmeškal,restorer

Viktor Žárský, biologist

Monika Žárská, university teacher