Czechs, Moravians, Moravian Silesians and Slovaks – on the way to more, direct, democracy
with a little help from their friends throughout the world

Back in '00/'01, the first years of our century (well, the last one of the last and the first one of the now ours), Jožka Jorda (of Pratteln BL and Zlín, Moravia) talked to a couple friends, and wrote to more others, about two people which fascinated him – Přemek Janýr (of Vienna, Austria, and Budweis, southern Bohemia, and Prague) and Milan Valach (of Brno, Moravia). Jožka has been, since some time, closely watching the, hopefully and (one day) perhaps even possibly, emerging democracy in our first home "former" country (which was split into countries in '92/'93).

Milan taught at the Brno University (see a brief bio in Czech) and, inspired by Jiří Polák (of Södra Sandby near Lund, Sweden, and today's Ostrava, Moravian Silesia), began to perceive and interpret "some elements" of "semi-direct democracy", as he used to say and as they reached him via Jiří. Milan tried to "distil" those "suitable" ones for his "not yet ready" co-citizens. In his public lectures he talked about this real, true novelty – and got some, first, attention within his then small circle (he struggled for a while longer to get the attention he deserved – see "We should not ignore the movement for direct democracy in Czechia / How to get the Czechs to more democracy", in Czech, by Vladimír Rott, BListy, January '01). Together, with a couple of friends, meeting and discussing in the café of the Slavia hotel in Brno, they founded, in the beginning of '01, the Czech Movement for Direct Democracy (HzPD).

Přemek, among other things an IT-man (see a brief bio in Czech), writes, I think, remarkably well and well-researched, about themes which await the Czechs – should they wish to become more contemporary citizens of the world, Europe and/or their countries, regions, towns, communes and communities – e.g. about reconciliation, suppressed fears, or even ghosts from the past still so happily alive up to our days. And encourages them to have a look at them, which allows to overcome them, even laugh at them and to join other open-minded people of a more contemporary world. (see Přemek's articles in Czech, some in English translation, on the BListy web)

To me Milan is, that is was – as he died, much too early, in May '13 (see note "Milan Valach died", with a picture of Milan in the middle of his group in the spring of '01) – a proponent of some pretty good ideas and thoughts, all those we happily share and cherish with all the good people throughout the world. Yet also of some odd, even pretty queer ones, like e.g. "collective guilt", in my perception a sign of fears and uncertainty, which led, and leads, to so much grievance. We never agreed in this point (see Milan's articles in Czech on the BListy web), Přemek's careful reasoning didn't help either (see e.g. Milan's reply to Přemek's lecture in Jindřichův Hradec in June '05, in Czech only (so far) – and further of Přemek's tries to open the minds, in English: "Nationalism as a solution", February '13).

Together with Jožka, Přemek and a group of Czech, Moravian and Slovak friends, living in our second country, Switzerland, we thought it may be a good idea to open – as widely as we, all together, can – the door/s to this our "world of tomorrow", quite a few of us live in today, and to share it all with our friends and people in our first country. Switzerland – we feel, think and feel, think to know – is quite an exciting place for people and their politicians to work together and to keep on finding ways how to do it better and better. As they/we do since 1848, the evolutionary year, when they/we decided not to make any wars – no wars at all – which allows for a number of sensible things to do.

So, in close cooperation with our friends in Czechia, we began to prepare all the "doors and boxes" we, all together, may approach and open – people, their movements, scientists (some of them renowned world wide), qualified sources, databases, publications and met in June '01 for the first preparatory meeting ("GS-SG summit":) at the Berdník-Schmelzer's family premises in St. Gallen.

Jan Berdník of St. Gallen (and northern Bohemia) brought in some more insights, warm regards, and encouragement to our friends in our first home country – from Alois Riklin and Silvano Moeckli. (see also web-reprint of Alois Riklin's "Veracity in Politics", of a print copy forwarded to our friends). From Zurich, we brought in Petr Chmelík^*), a young Moravian scientist and academic guest with the Bruno S. Frey's IEW Institute of Zurich University, who brought in best wishes from Alois Stutzer. Next, Frédéric Esposito – from Andreas Auer's CD2 Centre for Research on Direct Democracy at, then, the Geneva University (now in Aarau, affiliated with his ZDA Center for Democracy Aarau and Zurich University) – already gave us qualified advice on the legal state of affairs in Czechia (considerably more to do than our Czech friend's analysis indicated, see note in the HzPD'01 archive (in Czech and English).

(...to be continued)

Vladimír Rott, May/November '13
vjrott.com | vjrott.com/en

• The importance of direct democracy tools for the quality of political competition at national and local levels, Prague '09 (more/abstract) – ( cs) Význam nástrojů přímé demokracie pro kvalitu politické konkurence na národní i lokální úrovni, Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, 5/2009, p. 70-88, VŠE Praha, ISSN 0572-3043 (pdf)
   
• Claim on a minimal voter turnout for validity of local referenda as a barrier to development of political-economic system in the Czech Republic, Ústí nad Labem '08 (more/abstract) – ( cs) Požadavek minimální volební účasti pro platnost místních referend jako bariéra rozvoje politicko-ekonomického systému ČR, in: Sborník příspěvků z mezinárodní konference Sociální ekonomika jako faktor demokratizace společnosti a regionálního rozvoje; měření a audit, 15 p., PU Ústí nad Labem '08, ISBN 978-80-7414-090-7
   
• Discussing effects of direct democracy institutions on mitigation of basic political market failures with emphasis on local level, 2nd Central European Conference in Regional Science, Košice '07 (in en, more/abstract) – ( cs) Vliv institucí přímé demokracie na zmírnění základních selhání trhu s důrazem na místní úroveň, in: Sborník z mezinárodní vědecké konference: 2nd Central European Conference in Regional Science, 15 p., TU Košice '07, ISBN 978-80-8073-957-7
   
• Effect of local referendum institutions on quality of political and economic processes in the Czech Republic, Brno '07 (info) – ( cs) Vliv instituce místního referenda na kvalitu politicko-ekonomických procesů v České republice, MU Brno '07
   
• Influence of direct democracy instruments on quality of political competition with emphasis on local dimension, Ostrava '07, (more/abstract) – ( cs) Vliv nástrojů přímé demokracie na kvalitu politické konkurence s důrazem na lokální dimenzi, in: Zvyšování konkurenceschopnosti aneb nové výzvy pro rozvoj regionů, států a mezinárodních trhů, 15 p., VŠB TU Ostrava '07, ISBN 978-80-248-1601-2
   
• Influence of direct democracy institutions on economic policy in the light of empirical research, Brno '05 – ( cs) Vliv institucí přímé demokracie na hospodářskou politiku ve světle empirického výzkumu, WP 1/2005, Centrum výzkumu konkurenční schopnosti české ekonomiky, Ekonomicko-správní fakulta, MU Brno '05