On Friday morning, the political movement Motorists for Ourselves held an exclusive conference entitled Friday the 13th on the Czech Right at the Kaiserstein Palace in Prague from 11 am. This conference was intended for the public. The speakers were MEP Filip Turek (Patriots for Europe), who was the first to speak at the conference, as well as former MEP Jan Zahradil (ODS), the current mayor of Vsetín and former Minister for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, President of the KDU-ČSL, Senator of the Czech Republic and also the Governor of the Zlín Region Jiří Čunek (KDU-ČSL), candidate for the Senate of the Czech Republic for the Prague 12 district Boris Št'astný (Motorists for Ourselves) and councillor, former MHMP councillor and current MP Patrik Nacher (ANO).
Looking forward to better times
Founder and coordinator of the Motorists for Ourselves movement Petr Macinka opened the conference Friday the 13th on the Czech Right and handed the floor to the first speaker, Filip Turk, who began by saying "obviously better times are dawning" and continued on the topic of the division of the political spectrum into left and right, which is no longer a relic and is still in effect. Turek pointed to individual responsibility as the essence of the right. He said that the current political set-up is such that those who speak out against the mainstream are immediately dehumanised, for example, by being labelled, while those who speak out against the Green Deal, for example, are immediately labelled as pro-Russian cockroaches. He was more broadly concerned with labeling. There are also people from the opposite political spectrum who secretly pat him on the back and tell him that they agree with him and give him the benefit of the doubt. He concluded by stressing the need to return to a right-wing division of society.
Right-wing ideas back into society
Jiří Čunek began his speech about the Czech right by pointing out that philosophy implies the political system as such, and he currently considers that to be the main problem. Most people today do not think that they can earn more money just by increasing their efforts - and here he moved on to a systemic readjustment of the remuneration and salaries of both constitutional officials and politicians as such.
Young people in their 30s who join a political party and start their political careers with little experience receive a salary of CZK 130 000, plus a car, a company phone and other benefits. So they will vote for practically anything to keep that. We are not building independence. Another issue is debt forgiveness, Čunek pointed out. The state should not forgive debtors when it is their own fault. And he quoted from the Bible that Christ said "he who will not, let him not eat".
He also drew attention to another problem in society, and that is education. He said that one research, which lasted 12 years, confirmed the harmfulness of mobile phones, which, especially for children, cause inattention and loss of concentration. He also referred to another research in the country which found that 40 % children in primary schools needed a psychologist. He spoke directly to one of the researchers, and he confirmed that at least 30 % children in primary schools 100% need a psychologist. Mayor Jiří Čunek openly said that Vsetín simply banned cell phones in schools and put them in lockers during school hours. It is literally boiling in society and a fundamental change is expected, he stressed. That is why it is good to bring right-wing ideas back into society.
Breaking free from technocratic management
Jan Zahradil, on the other hand, focused on concrete and actual steps that the right-wing political scene should currently focus on. Specifically, these four points are: preserving the veto right for the Czech Republic in the European Union, taking a rejectionist stance against the Green Deal, revising migration and regulating discourse without limits. Zahradil said that these seem like short-term and easy goals, but we need to start somewhere, and this should be the start. At the moment we have abolished the playground between the left and the right, and in doing so we have actually abolished our own activity of coming up with legislative measures. The right-wing spectrum is disappearing - anyone who defines themselves as left or right is branded an extremist. It takes small and sure steps.
Zahradil said that even if we wanted to leave the European Union, for example, we would still have to abide by many rules and legal norms, simply because we would continue to be part of the internal market. That is why he is convinced that the only correct way is to reform the European Union from within. He said of the Green Deal that it is a centrally planned experiment, and with migration we have got into a culture war and we are only discussing over and over again what a multicultural society is. There is an attempt by conglomerates, by the mainstream, by NGOs, for their own obvious reasons, to limit this natural discourse. In addition, the ruling class is strengthening its own position, as it did in the financial crisis, under Covid, or now in the war in Ukraine. They say it is definitely necessary to break out of technocratic management.
Today's ODS cannot be classified as right-wing
Boris Stastny, who in the introduction to his speech spoke a lot about the current ODS, of which he has long been a part, and which, in his view, has taken a different direction. He said that the Czech right wing (including ODS) had not been decimated by an external enemy, its greatest enemy was itself. ODS originally dominated the Czech political scene and was the hegemon on the right, then it began to act only to balance the electorate, until the (empty and fake) Topolánek came in and the party went downhill. Economic liberalism emphasizes minimal regulation, low taxes, etc. Today's ODS has given up on these values and cannot be classified as right-wing, it is a greenish Euro-party and is currently competing for the same voters as the other parties in the five-coalition. The values of today's right-wing are more populist, whereas the values of the original right-wing include being sensitive to the interests of the people, wanting to remove regulation, not wanting to hand over national sovereignty to the EU, accepting only two genders and advocating that profit is nothing to be ashamed of.
The good guys and the bad guys
Member of parliament Patrick Nacher said that instead of the left and the right, a distinction is made between "the good guys and the bad guys" and in reality politics is empty. When he criticized the Olympic outfit, he was dehumanized and labeled as pro-Russian, so he suggested - let's have a substantive discussion without labels. Communication used to be harder, press releases had to be sent by lengthy fax, but it was a better political environment. Among other things, Nacher, as a coalition MP, also spoke sharply about the list of disinformers (during Covid). It also depends on how the event is reported externally, whether only one or two sentences are picked out and taken out of context, or whether the information is covered in full. Topics such as labelling, misinformation and censorship were raised in the debate.
The moderator of the next discussion part of the conference, Gabriela Sedláčková, asked a question about the problem with labeling. She said that Zeman and Klaus used to argue as left and right without labels. So what to do now?
Mayor Jiří Čunek replied that people and the world were different before, there was a post-revolutionary ethos and people behave and do things differently when they are excited. In order for us politicians to change that, we need to say that 90 % of government spending will not be mandated, which is right wing policy. The first plan is to have a philosophy for policy, and then look at money and individual responsibility.
Jan Zahradil added that the best system is one of gradual steps, he does not believe in radical changes and that the EU will collapse in a few years. It is important not to whine and it is also good that the mainstream feels threatened and therefore reacts and labels in this way. It is a matter of being able to face it calmly, to work for a paradigm shift and to apply changes to this balance. We are under the impression from social media that what we see there is reality, but it is a virtual world. In the countryside, people do not have social networks and Twitter, for example; they live in reality and they can clearly see, for example, how prices are rising. Politicians will have to face up to that. He pointed out in particular that the virtual world created by current politicians and activists is simply not real.
MEP Filip Turek added that social networks can be a our defence, people are not so stupid and are starting to look for information themselves. One can draw directly from individual people's accounts. News on YouTube and Twitter have a bigger reach than the mainstream, and he believes that is the future, the right direction. One can look at what the number of views the mainstream really has and compare it to what is on YouTube, for example, which has about 3 times as many views of mainstream’s products, so he is not afraid of the mainstream.
Boris Stastny again pointed out that this is a fight against extremism. A government that is able to set up a ministry of propaganda, which is what Otakar Foltýn's office is, is very dangerous for society indeed. But not because of Foltýn, but because of the government that created this institute.
Member of Parliament Patrik Nacher again, he said that labels are emptying concepts. It used to be that if you didn't like something, you labeled it populist. But now everything has moved to another dimension (the dimension of desolates), it is no longer an attack on the organisers of the demonstrations, but on the whole of group of people who attended them. He finds the label "Nazi" extremely dangerous, and undoubtedly everyone sitting at this table has been labelled as such. But how is this distinguished from true Nazis? He is looking forward to a conference on what those pro-Russian narratives really are. He was on the phone with Otakar Foltyn for half an hour and he told him that because he didn't support "marriage for all" he was labelled as pro-Russian. Foltýn said it's about “how” he argues, so he doesn't even know about it, but he's spreading the Russian narrative. So how can I voice my disagreement without being labeled as pro-Russian? A lot of disinformation often turns out to be true after only a year. Nacher gave the example of Nordstream. Those who said two years ago what turned out to be true today were labeled as disinformationists. He does not want to defend disinformation, but now that the truth has been shown, everyone is silent.
Filip Turek added that they must be fought with their weapons. Those who fight for the Green Deal etc. label us as pro-Russian and pro-Chinese, but at the same time those who label us as such are those really helping China and Putin. These are the real Chinese agents who are everywhere among us.
Moderator Gabriela Sedláčková asked another question and noted that when she asked in the Senate what disinformation was, the answer was: "Disinformation has no definition, because it is something like porn, when I see it, I recognize it." The right wingers in opposition promise change, but when they get elected they flip after the election, why it happens?
Jan Zahradil said that it is better not to stand out, otherwise you will end up like Viktor Orbán. There has been a long march of the left through the institutions, and this is now shaping public discourse. Even when the moderate right comes to power, it is hard to fight it. We can see it now in the United States, for example. Bush was labelled a Nazi and now he supports Kamala Harris. The mainstream prefers to go with the flow, it's probably easier. There has to be a march through the institutions in the opposite direction, it is already slowly beginning, which will take as long as the one so far. No quick reform is possible.
Interestingly, he added an answer Jiří Čunek who said that today's approach is 'we have to save everyone, we have a assignee for everything', but that is not correct. We have people in institutions who are there only because they belong to a certain stream. But they are not just there to support a mere 15,000 CZK, it is their livelihood and they will not want to give it up. People give votes to the one who gives them hope, not to the one who wants to change things.
Filip Turek added that Angela Merkel had abolished Europe by inviting migrants. Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, has put the European Union in the negative numbers through German industry. Now what they wanted is happening, the big corporations are in big trouble and are downright dependent on subsidies. The figures really do not lie and they are very bad. In the European Parliament, they are just making up who to blame, so now Leyen will get the label. Young people in the West will tell you that extermination CO2 is “bullshit”, normal people will tell you that. In degenerated Germany they are also waking up considerably.
Another question was asked by Milada Kozumplíková from Prague 3: What does Otakar Foltýn allow himself to do in his statements?
Jan Zahradil responded immediately that he is concerned about the forces of power (especially the intelligence services and the BIS) that have entered the public space, primarily because they have a black-and-white view of the world and an almost conspiratorial mindset. And this should be confronted somehow. Never before has a person here been declared a systemic enemy of the state because of an opposing view - that really upsets him, but Otakar Foltýn is just the tip of the iceberg. However, it is very dangerous for the national atmosphere.
Member of Parliament Patrik Nacher turned to the journalists present, who often write about him, and asked them to imagine if what was happening to Colonel Otakar Foltýn had happened during the previous government, how would the politicians from the SPOLU coalition have reacted to it, would they have seen it as normal? The watchdogs today are not guarding those in power. He feels that today it is according to the sympathies of journalists. As an opposition politician, he was looking forward to a different approach from the journalists, but at the same time he was “grilled” the same way as before. The watchdog nowadays watches those who have a different opinion (from the correct one). Those political parties which are below 5 % are considered as “bad” according to the journalists and those which are above 5 % are also “bad”. Journalists with a strong opinion bias can't be surprised if someone then refuses an interview for them.
Boris Stastny added that as a doctor, he reminds journalists in advance that when they would have an accident, he might treat them as a doctor one day, so they should keep that in mind. Journalists are then more lenient with him. He would be happy to give high salaries to economic and other experts, but let Delloite do a survey on this in the private sector, for example, because there is no expert who has the position of Deputy Minister of Health and has on his CV: photographer, marketer, pirate and hotel receptionist.
The event was very popular, the hall was full. At the end, it was announced that the next one will be Friday the 13th in December 2024.
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