Compact archive May 4, 2007

There were not just celebrations, but also several conflicts in Prague on the 1st May. Right-wing extremists assaulted a group of young socialists and the fight had to be stopped by the police. Several socialist demonstrators were then detained, because their meeting was not announced and they refused to go away. They say, that they were treated in a humiliating way at the police station.

The 26 detained socialists reportedly had to undress and squat. The spokeswoman of Prague police defends the policemen: the undressing and squatting is allegedly used to find out, if the detained person has a gun. However, these methods are only used when dealing with dangerous offenders, so the incident is now being investigated.

Prague police had similar problems last year, when the politician Katerina Jacques was beaten by policemen at the demonstrations on the 1st May.

The exhibition of contemporary Czech art in the Municipal Library in Prague has an ironic name “Gross Domestic Product”. It reflects the present society – the consumerism, rationality and economy, which rule the world.

The works of art parody the system of consumerist values, mocks it and create metaphors, provoking to look at the themes from a different point of view. There are references to aspects of our everyday life, and the metalanguage of art transforms them so that we can see through them.

The exhibition is organized by the City Gallery Prague. It is situated in the 2nd floor of the Municipal Library in Prague at the Marianske namesti 1 (square). The main entrance to the gallery is from the Valentinska Street.

The exhibition starts today and it runs till 19th August 2007. The admission is 120,- CZK, reduced admission is 60,- CZK. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm.

The unemployment in the Czech Republic is the lowest of the last 8 years at the present time. It decreased from 8 % to 6.1 %, which is a biggest decrease since the break-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

Generally, the unemployment in the Czech Republic is lower than the average of all the countries of the European Union. It has now decreased below the average of the old 15 members of EU.

About 100 thousand people in the Czech Republic have found a job during the last year, so the number of unemployed people has decreased to approximately 311 thousand.

The lowest unemployment is in Prague, only about 3.5 %.

According to Czech president Vaclav Klaus, there is no danger of global warming caused by humans. He believes, that the theory of global warming is exaggerated and that it can threaten people´s freedom. Klaus expressed these controversial opinions several times, last time at the lecture, that he held at the University of Economics in Prague few days ago.

Vaclav Klaus alleged, that the temperatures are not going to rise dramatically. He supported his claim with various economic theories, predicting, that the pollution of environment will go down, when the society will become wealthier.

President Klaus suggested, that people should trust in the free market. He thinks, that the movement against the global warming is a bigger threat than the warming itself.

Vaclav Klaus has written a book on the theme and he also spoke about that at the Cato Institute in Washington. However, experts on climatology are convinced, that he is wrong. They think that scientific findings about the global warming should not be belittled.

For those interested in modern design and architecture, there is an exhibition of Czech and foreign design in the Veletrzni palac (the Trade Fair Palace) in Prague these days.

There are five different parts of the exhibition. Probably the most interesting is the section, called “Bohemian glass at the time of misery and illusions 1945 – 1980”. There are about 400 exhibits, some of them never displayed before. This exhibition was already acclaimed in Germany, USA and Denmark.

Another part of the design show is the exhibition “China Beyond Graphics”, where you can see posters, book covers, logos and also proposals for the Olympic Games in 2008, all by important Chinese graphic designers.

The other three parts of the show are dedicated to architecture. There are among others examples of contemporary Latvian architecture.

The Czech design show will last till 23rd September, the foreign design show only till 3rd June. The Trade Fair Palace is situated in Dukelskych hrdinu Street 47, Prague 7. You can learn more about the exhibitions here.