What is Democracy Czech-Up?

Democracy Czech-Up is a student initiative created to the 20th anniversary of 17th November. Its target is to connect celebration of twenty years of Czech democracy with a critical reflection of the post-revolution development of society and politics. The initiative operates under the patronage of the Student Council of the Faculty of Arts and the Student Union of Charles University. Its core consists of approximately 40 university students not only of different faculties of the Charles University, but also other universities – such as University of Economics, Czech Technical University, Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague or Masaryk University in Brno.

The 20th anniversary of the Velvet revolution is getting near, and our country is making preparations for spectacular celebrations. We can expect fireworks and laying of wreaths – but in essence, all of us want to cast their mind back, recall the totalitarian times, and be glad it is all over. We are fully aware of the fact that there is a lot to celebrate, and want to join in. In our opinion, it is however not enough to make the anniversary come to pass with dignity.

Given our age, most of us do not remember the totalitarian times at all. Perhaps that is why we do not want to settle only for an assertion that “the temporary Czech Republic is much better than it used to be at the times of normalisation”. Alongside the progress our country has made in 20 years, we also see the vices that make our success turn a bit bitter. Constantly growing corruption, nonsense disputes between politicians, who lack bold ideas and visions; general distrust to public affairs and lack of interest in our cultural heritage – there are many things that worry us, and that we do not want to reconcile with.

Because of that, the anniversary of 17th November is chiefly a symbol of current responsibility for freedom and democracy for us. It is a reminder of the fact that democracy brought by the revolution is not a privilege granted for ever, but something we have to pursue, and take care of.

We therefore decided to prepare other events for the anniversary than the celebrations only. We want the celebration to be accompanied by a critical reflection, and ask where we want to go next. We want to be clear about how our post-revolution project is doing. We also want to find out what is overdue and calling for change both in political and civic areas. In short, we want to carry out as thorough check of Czech democracy as possible.