{"id":309,"date":"2017-12-12T18:15:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T17:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/czechpoints.com\/?p=309"},"modified":"2019-07-11T16:32:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T14:32:32","slug":"milos-zeman-the-anti-havel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/czechpoints.com\/milos-zeman-the-anti-havel\/","title":{"rendered":"Milos Zeman the Anti-Havel"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRAGUE \u2014 He\u2019s brash, provocative and blatantly politically incorrect. He recently called 90 percent of Czech Roma \u201cunadaptable\u201d and lazy, and he volunteered to remove a burkini from the body of a Muslim woman. He has been accused of being a racist and a cynical opportunist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Milo\u0161 Zeman is also the president of the Czech Republic. His first term, now drawing to a close, has been marked by declarations that have provoked outrage and disbelief at home and abroad, such as a claim that the recent wave of migrants was a plot by the Muslim Brotherhood to \u201cgradually gain control\u201d of Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The irrepressible 73-year-old, who suffers from type-2 diabetes and related nerve damage, is running for reelection in January. Polls indicate he should easily win the first round but is likely to face a difficult second-round battle against Ji\u0159\u00ed Draho\u0161, the respected former president of the Czech Academy of Sciences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now busy overseeing the formation of a new government following October\u2019s parliamentary election, Zeman has vexed many Czech politicians by declaring that he would give the billionaire Andrej Babi\u0161, whose ANO party won October\u2019s legislative election, two chances to form a minority administration.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Babi\u0161 \u2014 who has been charged with subsidy fraud but may well be pardoned if Zeman is returned to office \u2014 becomes prime minister and Zeman is reelected, Brussels would face a formidable tandem in its bid to get the Czech Republic to submit to the European Commission\u2019s will on issues like migration and gun control directives.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a reflection of Zeman\u2019s contentious personality and disruptive political career that he is today admired by former foes and vilified by many of his one-time Social Democratic Party colleagues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI oppose his personal values, I oppose his contacts in business and I oppose his activities against the Social Democratic Party. There are many, many things that I do not admire in President Zeman\u2019s personality,\u201d said Ji\u0159\u00ed Dienstbier Jr., a former minister for human rights and equal opportunities and the leader of the Social Democrats\u2019 liberal wing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like the guy,\u201d said MEP Jan Zahradil, a member of the executive board of the center-right Civic Democrats (ODS). \u201cI wouldn\u2019t vote for him, but I have to admit that I like his personality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013, Zeman became the first Czech president to be elected by popular vote (previously they were chosen by parliament). The Czech Republic has a history of extraordinary heads of state, such as Tom\u00e1\u0161 Garrigue Masaryk, a philosopher, sociologist and feminist who founded the state of Czechoslovakia in 1919 and was its first president, and the dissident playwright V\u00e1clav Havel, who became known for his vision of an egalitarian and inclusionary civil society when serving as the country\u2019s first post-communist president.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a 1993 interview with the New York Times, when Czech Roma were facing widespread discrimination and racist violence, Havel said the problem was \u201ca litmus test \u2026 of a civil society\u201d and called intolerance \u201cthe biggest challenge of our time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeman is the anti-Havel president. Rather than try to combat bigotry, he foments it, fulminating against immigrants and calling Muslims \u201ccriminals\u201d who want to impose sharia law rather than integrate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In comments in 2015 that denigrated Muslims and women at the same time, he said: \u201cUnfaithful women will be stoned, thieves\u2019 hands will be cut off and we will be deprived of the beauty of women because they will have to have their faces covered. I can imagine that in some cases this might be beneficial, though.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an intellectual and quite smart \u2026 but he likes to play anti-intellectual notes and this has worked very well for him\u201d \u2014 Jan Zahradil, MEP<\/p>\n

On the same occasion, he said the government should finance the training of armed militias to help defend the borders, presumably against immigrants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeman\u2019s declarations have drawn the ire of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Council of Europe\u2019s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, which suggested Czech laws should be changed so that politicians like Zeman can be held accountable for such comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Milo\u0161 Zeman was born in the city of Kol\u00edn, about 35 miles east of Prague. His parents divorced when he was two and he was raised by his mother, a teacher. Described as a highly intelligent boy and a loner, he is quoted as saying he does not remember having any childhood friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

A graduate of the University of Economics, he joined the Communist Party in 1968 during the Prague Spring, but was expelled two years later because of his opposition to the Warsaw Pact\u2019s invasion of his country. He fell afoul of the authorities again in August 1989 over a magazine article.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeman is the anti-Havel president; rather than try to combat bigotry, he encourages it.<\/span><\/p>\n

A TV appearance in which he criticized the economy led to an invitation to join V\u00e1clav Havel\u2019s Civic Forum during the Velvet Revolution. He joined the revived Social Democrat Party, which had been absorbed by the ruling Communists in 1948, not long afterwards and was elected to the Chamber of the People of the Federal Assembly in 1992. A year later, he became party leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

For much of the 1990s, the Czech political landscape was dominated by the Civic Democratic Party, led by the fractious former Prime Minister and President V\u00e1clav Klaus, and Zeman\u2019s Social Democrats (Zeman was also prime minister, from 1998 to 2002). Their scraps were often virulent and, on occasion, personal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zahradil, who was a longtime advisor to Klaus, and Dienstbier see eye-to-eye on one thing: Zeman is \u201cabsolutely individualist,\u201d the former said. \u201cI would say he is probably the most individualistic person you will find in politics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a very self-oriented person,\u201d Dienstbier said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both men also agree Zeman is intelligent, educated and articulate. \u201cHe is an intellectual and quite smart,\u201d said Zahradil. \u201cBut he likes to play anti-intellectual notes and this has worked very well for him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zeman and the Social Democrats parted ways after many Social Democrat parliamentarians voted against him when he ran for the presidency in 2003, ostensibly because of personal enmity between Zeman and the then Social Democrat Prime Minister Vladim\u00edr \u0160pidla.<\/span><\/p>\n

To Zeman\u2019s consternation, it was longtime foe Klaus who became president. According to Zahradil, \u201cZeman is a person with a very long memory and he usually doesn\u2019t forgive. He has been quite successful in destroying all his former political opponents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When Zeman ran successfully for president in 2013, Dienstbier stood against him, in part because \u201cZeman has no ethical limits,\u201d as he put it. He believes Zeman\u2019s transformation from Social Democrat to anti-immigration firebrand was gradual. \u201cYou could see it happening already during his time as prime minister. He is pragmatic. If he sees something is useful for his political career, he does not hesitate to use it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate Donald Trump\u2019s public demeanor. He speaks clearly \u2026 and avoids what is sometimes called political correctness\u201d \u2014 Milo\u0161 Zeman<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used the lowest emotions to divide the nation, because of a migration crisis that does not exist here. He made people afraid and then played their protector. The rise of populist parties and the division of society was created in large part by his presidential steps,\u201d said Dienstbier.<\/p>\n

But while Dienstbier detects a lack of sincerity in Zeman\u2019s virulent remarks, others think he\u2019s in earnest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think he is partly racist,\u201d said Jakub Charvat, political scientist at Prague\u2019s Metropolitan University, recalling some controversial statements about Palestinians from Zeman\u2019s spell as prime minister. \u201cBut I think [the anti-Muslim rhetoric] is also part of a political campaign that Zeman and his team have waged during his five-year term.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOther politicians are much more diplomatic, but people don\u2019t want to hear that anymore. Zeman doesn\u2019t have any reason to be diplomatic,\u201d said Charvat. \u201cHe says what people want to hear, the way they want to hear it.\u201d Donald<\/span> = Milo\u0161.<\/p>\n

Read more at Politico.EU<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRAGUE \u2014 He\u2019s brash, provocative and blatantly politically incorrect. He recently called 90 percent of Czech Roma \u201cunadaptable\u201d and lazy, and he volunteered to remove a burkini from the body of a Muslim woman. He has been accused of being a racist and a cynical opportunist. Milo\u0161 Zeman is also the president of the Czech […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,29,56,55,49,86],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMilos Zeman the Anti-Havel - Czech Points<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/czechpoints.com\/milos-zeman-the-anti-havel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Milos Zeman the Anti-Havel - Czech Points\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PRAGUE \u2014 He\u2019s brash, provocative and blatantly politically incorrect. 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