It’s interesting to follow the journalists, politicians and various internet scribblers who are responding to the diverse offenses of
Czech President Miloš Zeman. Nothing could be clearer than their reactions.
The president, however, should resign for completely different reasons than using a few vulgar expressions. For the journalists and
politicians who have bet their career on him, though, everything is clear.
All the President’s fans
Enough hardcore fans can always be found who are prepared to defend any offense committed by their favorite. The online opponents
of those fans agree that even if Zeman were to run through the Kremlin naked, his supporters would cheer him.
For such people, he can simply do no wrong. Of course, the question is whether this is not rather a testament to his political skill.
This is nothing new. Both President Havel and President Klaus had their own fervent supporters who would justify any criticism of
their idols (which they tolerated poorly) and who were always ready to receive the blows of fate on their own shields in the process.
How to defend the President
Zeman’s fans, of course, have an easier time of it, because the current President is glad to instruct them on how they are to defend
him. For example, after the radio exposé in which he used several remarkable words to which the coddled radio audience is not
accustomed, a spokesperson for Prague Castle explained that the President had intentionally lowered himself to the level of his
critics in order to show them they had gone too far – a praiseworthy, accommodating presidential gesture in aid of others, indeed.
There is both a bit of propaganda and a bit of truth in that explanation. At the time Zeman had actually been under enormous
presure for several days from all sides over his trip to China.
Even the Government directly failed to compliment him. While the administration did its best to iron out the wrinkles Zeman left in
the Chinese tablecloth, they forgot that it was made of plastic.
Zeman, plain and simple, is now dictating the foreign policy of the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Sobotka and Foreign Minister
Zaorálek are sharing the same headache: They don’t want to go into a confrontation with the President, but at the same time they are
trying to maintain the impression that the Czech Republic, after its "puberty" period under President Klaus, actually only has one
foreign policy.
Yes, former Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg also sometimes uses vulgar expressions in his media interviews and the journalists
and politicians have never objected to them. President Zeman justifiably considers that to be hypocritical.
Justified criticism
On the other hand, it must be said that Zeman was justifiably criticized over his mission to China. This is not just about him
toadying up to the powerful and pushing human rights to the background, even though that is understandably also part of it.
As I have noted previously, before the election, Zeman told the voters he wanted to be the president of the "lower 10 million". Now,
of course, it is being proven that he is the president of Czech billionaires, multi-millionaires and oligarchs, i.e., the several
hundred people in the upper crust.
In China, he did this by trampling on the snowed-over path of human rights. The path has now been broken and human rights trampled.
He returned to his homeleand in an airplane that was bought and paid for by the PPF company, and he led their representatives by the
hand to the collective emperor himself. It would be very interesting to learn whether, how, and how much Zeman’s respectful kowtowing
to the Chinese communists and the Russian authoritarians is linked to their sponsorship of his presidential campaign.
Army of moralizers
The reaction of Zeman’s eternal opponents was also transparent. Once the President said his three vulgar worlds on the radio, the war
cry went up and the army of moralizers began to line up beneath the battlements of Prague Castle.
Many of them certainly joined this outcry out of desperation, because their previous criticisms had bounced off of Zeman like a
tennis ball against a training wall. Some people, of course, were only fulling their need for sarcasm or beginning self-treatment of
their own inferiority complexes, which are compounded by the knowledge that Zeman is actually an intelligent man and that he simply
ignores those he deems less intelligent as if they didn’t exist.
"Real men" can only cope with something like that with great reluctance, if they can bring themselves to deal with it at all. Zeman
was promptly derided by journalists, opposition politicians, and people using online social networking.
How dare the President use vulgar language? they angrily asked. A petition demanding his resignation was created and protest
assemblies are being planned.
However, so-called "decent speech", free of meanness and vulgarity, does not a good political culture make, as Petr Gazík of the TOP
09 party opines. If Gazík had criticized his own party chair, former Foreign Minister Schwarzenberg, when he spoke to the media
crudely, his attack on Zeman would be much more believable.
Zeman’s tactical obscenity
I read one opinion piece claiming that Zeman, as a drunk, doesn’t pay attention to what he says and doesn’t care what disgrace he causes. There could be some truth to that, as it is well-known what alcohol does to normal people.
However, it could also be that Zeman has actually succeeded with a tactical move here. There is no doubt that those three vulgar words have drawn attention away from matters that are much more essential.
It would have been right for a petition for Zeman’s resignation to be created for other reasons. While he was bending over backward in Beijing the President said that we (that’s right, we – the whole country) want to learn from the Chinese communists how to stabilize society.
That is the real obscenity! Not a dirty little word that might just have been pronounced because of a (successful) provocation.
Chinese stability
The Chinese regime "stabilized" its society, among other things, by sending tanks to Tiananmen Square. They did it by murdering their own citizens!
The regime is continuing to repress those who voice displeasure with the current situation through censorship, concentration camps, and very long prison sentences for its opponents. Those are the basic tools the Chinese communists use to maintain "social stability".
Zeman has really overdone it this time – to toady up to the powerful by praising the worst things they have done is unacceptable. Those who view economics as the golden calf, which President Zeman does, consider China a country worth following because of its economic success.
Those who are suffering in Chinese jails or who have had to leave their native country for political reasons do not view the country solely from that economic standpoint. As for the Czech Government, it must start forging its own foreign policy and should not be afraid to advocate for it, even at the cost of a confrontation with Zeman.
It is important to return in that policy to the idea that the economic interests of the Czech Republic and our demand that human rights be upheld are mutually compatible. It is important for the stability of our democratic society.
