but I didn't manage
to record it, you see.
What a pity...
-I said quite a lot, but I'll try again.
-Please do. I'll disappear later.
-Tell me when to start.
-You can start now.
KAREL FLOSS AND THE OTHERS
-I need to spit it out.
-Okay.
When translating
Thomas Aquinas's work De Potentia,
I also talked to other translators
to other languages in various countries.
And there was a problem
with translating this title,
as the word "potency" has
some funny connotations these days,
some of them very inappropriate for God.
Like sexual potency, impotence etc.
But some of them had a great advantage.
For example, in French or English,
they can leave
the original title untranslated.
In English,
they can also use the word "power".
I was thinking about it a lot,
in the end I used
the Czech equivalent of "power".
But I knew
another possible translation would be
"On God's Artistry"
A FILM BY
HELENA VŠETEČKOVÁ
Because there's another connotation:
the ability to create.
This ability, in its utmost sense,
means being mighty.
And the ultimate artist,
or creator, is almighty.
So...
This implies that in fact,
the Christian creed
could be translated not only
"I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth",
but also "I believe in God,
the almighty artist,
the absolute artist
and the maker of our reality.
IS EVERYONE RIGHT?
What kind of truth are you
going to talk about, Mr. Badiou?
Tonight, I am going to talk about
something that is very important for me.
Because it can be said
that in my whole philosophical work
I am basically trying to redefine
what "the truth" actually is.
And thus reach conclusions
regarding our existence
as subjects in the world.
There were eras in our society,
such as the communist era,
when the relation between
politics and art was very close.
Really close.
In fact, the art played
an exceptional role then,
in the political reality and society.
That was a proof,
a symbol of the lack of freedom
in the then conditions.
The absurd connection of arts
and politics was being reinforced.
And then suddenly there was freedom.
And what is the relation
between arts and politics now...
Perhaps many of your theorists said it.
I don't know, I haven't read about it...
But I'd say that the current connection
of arts and politics is zero. There is none.
-I don't think so.
-I really do.
We've just been informed,
that the Brno airport
has reported the landing of aircraft
with President Václav Klaus on the board.
Thank you.
Let me welcome representatives
of the public life and the army,
and especially the president and his wife.
You can call the truth
whatever you want.
History shows us many examples.
Let's look at Deleuze, for example.
What he calls the "sense",
I call it the "truth".
So we can give
various names to the truth.
It is, nevertheless, something
that gives orientation to our existence.
So it is about being able to identify
the sense, the truth
the good or whatever you call it.
It is about sharing all of this
and about orientation.
In order to identify, or sort things,
we need some kind of a tool.
And the concept of truth is such a tool.
It is necessary to show
that the truth exists.
On the other hand,
we don't need a miracle for this.
We don't need transcendent tools.
Some philosophies do need such tools,
for example a god, a universal good,
but this is not my way.
Sisters and brothers, come to me,
all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Jesus invites each of his disciples
to be with him,
and to find the support and solace
he can give us.
Dear friends, because of the character
of our today's liturgical gathering,
I decided to focus the biblical topics
of the holy mass to the theme of hope.
I reached this decision thinking
about this nice country's citizens
as well as people
in Europe and around the world
who are longing for
a solid support for their future.
In my second encyclical, "Spe Salvi",
I emphasised that the only certain and
reliable hope is the one we have in God.
We can see it is not easy
to form society built on
the good, justice and brotherhood.
We have to keep directing
our freedom towards the good.
And the reason
why we are here, my dear friends,
is to listen to the word
that shows us the way towards hope.
We are listening to the word
that is the only source of firm hope
as it is the Word of God.
The truth - from the human perspective,
from the anthropological perspective,
the truth for all of us,
consists of individual embodiments
into broader sets.
When we practise the truth,
when we meet the truth,
whether as an artifact
or a political uprising
or a romantic encounter,
when we come across something like this,
something that changes our life,
we discover experience of connection,
not only with ourselves
but also with the whole humanity.
The revolution of November 1989
was not revolution against socialism.
In 1989, Roma people and white people
stood on the same squares
applauding each other,
which confirms it is possible to live and
co-operate in harmony and mutual respect.
This was also proved by the common
strike of Czech and Roma workers
in the Grammer factory in Most in January 2010.
In conclusion,
it was a great illusion of 1989
to believe we achieved freedom.
Yes, society liberated itself
from the dictatorship
of Communist party secretaries.
But freedom is not a binary concept,
it has many dimensions.
We must nurture and protect our freedom.
We needn't worry so much
about censorship and police despotism,
but there are many new unnoticed
threats and limitations to freedom.
Hundreds of thousands of our citizens
work in private tyrannies
in intimidating conditions
at the mercy of managers
in position of power
not so much different
from the past regime's officials.
A man enters a cafe
and asks for a cup of coffee without cream.
I found out I don't have money,
I only have pounds in my pocket.
-I have some money.
-It's fine, don't worry.
-Perhaps some coffee?
-No, thanks, I've just had some.
-So some water?
-Okay, just water. I already had coffee.
-Is it enough? -Sure.
-So two glasses of water. Fizzy, please.
In the evening
with this fuck-it-all feeling
By the gallery, in a joint so glum
I buy myself a bottle of rum
I drink it on my own
feeling like a lord
Calmly looking down
at the table rung.
Nobody knew, nobody guessed
I am a Marxist, I am left.
Dear friends!
Yesterday, I read the book
called Bezejmenná - "Nameless"
by the renowned
Czech writer and philosopher Egon Bondy,
written in 1988.
He says that in the late 1980s,
when the deep crisis had begun,
as people only cared about property
although we still had
this sort of communism,
he noticed that nobody
besides him and his wife talks to Roma,
that there was hostility
against black students
although there were
only about 30 of them.
And we must be able
to stand up against this.
Let me remind you
an old joke from Nazi Germany.
This used to be a Jewish ghetto,
now it's a Romany ghetto.
When they arrested Jews,
I was silent - I was not a Jew.
When they arrested union members,
I was silent - I was not a unionist.
And when I was arrested,
there was nobody left to defend me.
This is still relevant.
We must not let the majority
to become indifferent.
When Roma people
get attacker or threatened,
all of us must back them up.
I shall repeat this:
Black and white - let's unite! Thanks!
Well said!
The nation claims to be multicultural.
That's a lie.
You've been telling us lies
since the 13th century.
Why aren't there
more Roma at universities?
Everybody stresses out unemployment.
They say that black people
don't want to work, but that's bullshit.
That's why we need to change it,
Roma do want to work!
So let's see what they do!
At the welfare office...
They are right!
Yes, they are.
The opinions mentioned here are true.
We are Roma and we want to work.
This is interesting.
I've shown this to Rudy.
This creature appeared here yesterday.
We have no idea what it is.
If you know any biologist...
Take a good image of this creature...
It's been here all day,
clinging to this, not moving.
Such strange eyes...
The Ministry of Interior expects
5-7 thousand intruders next year,
according to the Právo daily.
The estimate for this year is 3,500.
But the Czech asylum facilities
are already full,
their capacities are being increased
and new ones are being opened.
According to media, 1,800 intruders
have been placed in asylum homes,
and there are 1,800 more intruders
whose cases are being processed.
That means 3,500 of them are already here.
And if we count in their family members,
in average 10 people,
we'll have 50,000 or more of them
here by the end of the year.
The police capture
about 100 intruders a day.
But what's the number of those
who are not detained?
When can we expect
the first attack, rape or murder?
And I tell you that when just
one Czech citizen is harmed,
then Prime Minister Sobotka,
Minister of Interior Chovanec,
and even Minister of Finance Babiš,
who doesn't seem involved but he is,
- this whole government
will be held responsible.
We are now undergoing a big test.
At least it appears as a big trial.
There are people who claim
we need to protect our home land
from perhaps 2 or 4 thousand refugees
- nobody knows the exact figure yet.
But this gives us a very gloomy image
of such a home land.
What is the worth of a home land,
where 10 million people refuse
to welcome 2 or 4 thousand refugees?
Nazis out - refugees in!
Nazis out - refugees in!
Nazis out - refugees in!
Nazis out - refugees in!
Nazis out - refugees in!
Nazis out!
Nazis out!
People around the world
may have been surprised
that the Templeton Prize
was given to a son of a land
where in the name of progress
and "scientific atheism",
the religious freedom
and the intellectual culture in general
including artistic expression
and scientific research,
were limited and oppressed for so long.
Our country is often described
as one of top atheist ones in the world.
So how comes that Czechia
could give spiritual inspiration?
How can it inspire cultural and
social processes in the current world?
I am convinced
it is this dramatic religious history
and the tough historic experience
that allow us to answer yes
to such sceptical questions.
Make some space around yourself,
if you take this vow
and this situation seriously
and you can kneel down like I do.
Democracy,
in its political and economic aspect,
requires a certain biosphere
of shared values.
It is way too fragile,
to be left at the mercy
of the market's invisible hand.
We must lend our own hands,
our brains and our hearts.
-We promise...
-We promise...
Witnessed by St. Wenceslas,
the patron of the Czech lands...
Witnessed by our national heroes...
On this sacred place...
In the cradle of the Czech statehood...
In humbleness before generations
of those who fought for this nation...
In humbleness before generations
of those who built this state...
In humbleness before
future generations to come after us...
We promise to protect our land.
We are responsible
not only for our own country,
but also for a great
piece of work: united Europe.
Europe is in fact the mother
of our national culture,
a context which gives us the meaning.
We are in Europe
and we want to stay here.
Only in this context
could our patriotism be useful
unlike decayed provincialism
or dangerous nationalism.
Long live our homeland!
The mythical knights of Blaník!
They are not in the rocks,
as the legend says,
but inside us.
And I thank you.
The God is seen
as almighty, omnipotent.
It's mentioned explicitly
at the beginning of the Christian creed.
I believe - or we believe - in God,
the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
It is very important
for the understanding
of the dynamics, of the potential
and the creative power...
It is crucial to understand
that we mustn't mistake
creation for some kind of transformation.
The principal thing is philosophy, of course.
Let me emphasize that
the conceptual approach in philosophy
is conditioned
by other concepts and practice.
And among these philosophical conditions
there we have politics.
Both the real, current politics
and the history of politics.
Nothing but the nation!
Czech land for the Czechs!
Therefore my question is about
the turn of events in the Soviet Union
and then also other socialist countries
in Central Europe in 1989
and especially the events contributing
to formation of the Czech Republic
Did these events
have a universal value?
During Havel's presidency,
the Czech Republic ass-kissed the USA.
Officially.
When the USA attacked Iraq,
which initiated this crisis,
Your death brought us freedom.
At that time, the Czech Republic
was part of the coalition of the willing
So at leas now,
we should have the goddamn courage
and accept the consequence.
I think Czechia should accept
at least a million refugees.
And because the creation
is always somehow
connected with making new things,
we can also use the term "art".
Because all the art
that has a certain value...
Art is nothing but creating
things that are considerably new.
It doesn't get obsolete.
Let me conclude saying this...
Art, as genuine wisdom,
does not grow old or obsolete.
Unlike science and even philosophy
that do get obsolete,
you can never see great art
as something over and done with.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
cannot get obsolete.
Neither can Praxiteles's statues,
or Rembrandt's painting.
They stay here constantly
and they continue to be new.
They have power.
When watching them, we feel like
we're touching the creation of reality.
I guess we should get ready
for number six.
There will be the delegation...
It is on my mind
and my fear is disappearing.
I'll remind you our faith
so keep listening.
Stand upright
and kick the liars out of their places.
Keep the faith in your heart
and spit in their faces.
People stay the same,
they just respond to situations.
Without shields and armours
we have our own frustrations.
Find your destiny on your own
as you are its maker.
What a special gift we received
to go and follow our leader.
Hello, I am happy you are here.
I am really pleased
to welcome President Václav Klaus.
Hello, hello.
I've already told my students
Václav Klaus has been active
in the highest political roles.
-As Minister of Economy...
-Finance, in fact...
Minister of Finance, I'm sorry.
Then the Prime Minister.
And then the President.
So he led the government etc.
He represents a man
from the other perspective.
Find your destiny on your own
as you are its maker.
Find your destiny on your own
as you are its maker.
It might be interesting to see
how different this other perspective is,
what attitudes it has - or can have.
What kind of person is Václav Klaus?
What is his relationship with culture?
We can see him as homo politicus.
But even
a "homo politicus" or "homo artisticus"
continues to be,
or at least should be, a normal person
perceiving the world in a certain way.
So Mr. President is here
and we can ask him about this.
And we can have a discussion.
My idea is that
after this short, confusing introduction...
-I'm afraid we don't have a glass.
-No problem.
So Mr. President will give a speech.
And then we'll have
a discussion based on your questions.
Why did Klaus take it
to the Constitutional Court?
-It's just words...
-Exactly.
So it went to the Constitutional Court,
this thing about his signature.
And the ruling said he had to sign.
He knew pretty well it was bad for us.
Although he's a selfish sucker
like all other politicians...
-But he didn't want to join the EU.
-Exactly. And he was right.
But all the other awful things
he'd done together with Zeman...
It was all just a betrayal
of the Czech nation.
Just like the "Velvet Swindle"
with Havel and his friends...
It's the same, just tricks.
No democracy or freedom.
Everybody knows
the revolution of 1989 was just a show.
-What is the worst thing Klaus did?
-Voucher privatization, I guess.
They just plundered
and stole the state property.
But when Klaus refused
to sign the Lisbon Treaty,
it improved his reputation in my eyes.
Good afternoon,
thank you so much for inviting me.
I'm puzzled I've been presented
as someone from the other side,
I'm not sure it's a different side.
By the way, I'd say
that my generation
which got into politics after
the fall of communist regime in 1989
is not a typically political generation.
If you want to see
a prototype of a politician,
look at the current
Prime Minister, Sobotka.
And the main saboteur and a rat,
the one who's responsible,
is Prime Minister, Bohuslav Sobotka.
Never ever has he worked,
never ever has he had a proper job.
He has no professional background,
no visible results.
At the age of 18,
he became an assistant to an MP,
and then was elected an MP himself.
Sobotka is a cunt
-So who is Sobotka?
-A bastard! -An asshole!
He's a traitor! He's a traitor!
Traitor to his homeland!
He's never worked,
he entered politics right after school
Heinrich and Zeithamel get locked and
threaten to cut Marie's wooden legs off.
"If you keep pissing us off,
we'll cook her in a stew!"
Although not qualified, Sobotka was
given the role of Minister of Finance,
he pretended honesty,
but his true intention was clear:
to commit unparalleled robbery
in full daylight.
This was the privatization
of OKD (Ostrava-Karviná coal mines).
-Yes! -Right!
-Let me remind you this.
OKD was sold to Karbon Invest
for 4.1 billion CZK in 2004.
How did Bakala get it?
It was in privatization.
There were all those famous privatizes
companies like Poldi Kladno, you know.
And that's what Bakala did, too.
He privatized OKD.
And the government said that OKD
had all those flats and he got them too.
But he didn't look after them, did he.
Keller, a sociologist, said this:
In the 1960s there was
a war against poverty,
And now there's a war against the poor.
Together with the OKD privatization,
Bakala also got
the largest housing stock in Czechia.
There were 43,000 flats for miners.
The housing stock wasn't officially
included among OKD's assets.
The flats were supposed to be
transferred to tenants, the OKD miners
for subsidized prices.
This was promised by the government,
and later also by Bakala, the new owner.
You see,
Bakala is the biggest thief ever.
-He got it dirt-cheap.
-For free, basically...
And he made a fortune on it later.
And now he asks for
state support for his business.
But Zeman told him
to sell those flats first.
To get support for the mines,
give the flats back.
He promised to look after the mines.
And he said
he wouldn't ask for anything.
But if he can't manage the mines,
he should give the flats back.
There's no tags on that money.
Although it might
be useful to tag money.
The dirty money - the black money -
should have black tags.
so we could identify them.
I've been attacked
by such complaints for 25 years.
Because I can't recognize black money.
-You mean dirty money? -Yes.
This was a quote from a TV debate
taken out of the context.
I just said: "It's not written
on that money, there are no tags."
If you take a banknote,
you don't know where it's from.
They said I didn't mind
if the money was dirty.
I just said it's hard to recognize.
Dirty money has been there
throughout history.
After any was, revolution
or during colonization.
Dirty money was everywhere.
But it gets cleaned after some time.
But there's dirty money
with every historical change.
Just look at the history!
That's how it goes.
In the current world,
1% of population owns
46% of all the resources in the world.
And 10% of the global population
owns 86% of all the world's resources.
So beautiful!
Such a beautiful example
of how fucked up
Czech restitutions were.
It's a crystal clear example!
These aristocratic fuckers...
After the revolution,
they moved in back from America
to the town of Zbraslav.
And they restituted the Zbraslav castle.
When we moved in here,
the neighbour told us to see the park
They said: "Go for a walk, it's lovely.
We've come there since we were kids."
So we took a pram and went for a walk.
But those fuckers
just stole the castles.
And the post-revolution
right-winged scum made it possible.
The Castle Park.
Private property, enter at your own risk!
They just lock it all up.
And I'll ring the doorbell
and let's see what happens.
Will those assholes let us in?
To their private castle park.
Let's kick out the embezzling bastards...
For half a century,
the whole nation looked after the castle.
There were National Gallery's
collection of Chinese and Asian arts.
And it all had to disappear
because they moved in.
Private owners of the property, you see.
Hello, I came to visit the castle park.
Like I used to do as a boy.
Well you can't anymore. It's private.
-What do you mean, private?
-The castle is private.
So I can't even
have a walk in the park?
Take the other gate,
that's public.
-So this part of the park is private?
-Yes.
Great.
I hope there'll be a revolution soon
so we can nationalize it again.
We got it after the revolution...
I know, you came here
to steal it from the nation.
You're such assholes, fuck off!
And that is unacceptable
because we pay too much for modernity.
There's still
this yearning for the west.
I wanted to emphasize it,
this problem applies to you, too.
Because you are people
who have their own history,
but you have some kind of complex
and you are sort of paralyzed
by what was here before.
Of course, it was
necessary to destroy that
but you can't content yourselves
with copying what you see elsewhere.
I'm trying to connect you,
to alert the Czech nation!
I'll travel around towns and squares,
I'll distribute leaflets.
I'll arouse you to fight for freedom!
Fight for this country,
our homeland, this nation!
We can't wait anymore!
Thank you, friends.
I appreciate your support.
Dear citizens of the Czech nation!
I call you out to the streets,
please start to fight now!
Don't be afraid! I'm just
an ordinary man and I'm also scared.
I have a family
and I worry about them just like you.
But I can't just stand here and stare.
Islam wants to take control over us!
Look at Europe!
Look at England and Germany.
Terrible things going on there!
Fights! They're practically in war!
There's no war here yet.
But for God's sake, it can happen soon!
And that is scary.
Dear citizens,
I call you out once again.
Rise for our nation,
our homeland! Thank you!
Do you know what's going on
in the Libava military area?
There are many ally soldiers
who aren't supposed to be there.
That's why I value
all of you who came today.
Men, women
or this man with a dog.
Havel was right with that
overused motto of his: Truth prevails.
But it's our truth that will win!
Thank you!
Where is my home?
Where is my home?
Water roars across the meadows,
pinewoods rustle among crags,
the orchard is glorious
with spring blossom...
Peonies are gone now, just a few left.
And there are some roses back there.
Paradise on earth it is to see.
Kalanchoes grow very nicely.
And there are various cactuses.
They've grown pretty well too.
And this is that beautiful land,
the Czech land, my home.
There is lightning over the Tatras,
thunders wildly beat,
There is lightning over the Tatras,
thunders wildly beat,
Let's pause, brothers,
after all they'll disappear,
the Slovaks will revive.
Let's pause, brothers,
after all they'll disappear,
the Slovaks will revive.
Dr. Daniel Kroupa will give a lecture
"On Defence of Liberal Democracy
(against Revolutions and Reformations).
We are pleased
Dr. Kroupa accepted our invitation.
Besides being a political scientist,
he also has a long
hand-on experience in politics.
During the communist totality
he became a dissident.
That's what they do about it...
He was inspired by the renowned
Czech philosopher Jan Patočka.
After the revolution, he was a member
of the first right-winged party,
the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA),
which was founded before the formation
of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
Later, between 1998 and 2001,
he was the Chairman of ODA.
Now let's please decide
how long it will take.
That would be useful.
I don't need so much time, in fact.
I need to speak to the lecturers first.
So you can arrange
the rest with the colleagues,
but we need to start at about 1.
I just need to know
how long it will be, roughly.
Like 5 minutes,
10 minutes or one minute.
Václav Havel was one of those
brought to public notice,
but still it was
quite a limited audience.
Since he began his dissent activities,
he was a leading personality.
And he may have been
a little shy or something,
and he was very contemplative
but there's one thing many people fail
to notice when trying to depict him:
he was a real authority.
And in the time of crisis,
he was able to act as a genuine leader.
Havel's leadership role
hasn't been fully appreciated yet.
And for me, it also reflects
one rather startling finding
about Eastern European dissidents,
who differ from other dissidents.
as they seem more preoccupied
by themselves than by world events.
I’ll just give an illustration
relating to Czechoslovakia.
I mentioned last night that immediately
after the fall of the Berlin wall,
the army in El Salvador in South America
that had already had killed thousand,
was sent to the university campus.
The army killed six prominent
local intellectuals, Jesuit priests.
Right after this incident, Havel
accepted an invitation to the USA.
He gave a speech at the U.S. Congress
and was applauded for that.
He praised the U.S.A.
as a defender of freedom.
Imagine this the the other way round.
Imagine if troops
supported by Russian forces
stormed to a university and killed
Havel and several Czech scholars.
And then a Latin American intellectual
would come to Russia
and had a lecture in the Duma
about Russia being
a great defender of freedom.
That's just unthinkable.
But for an Eastern European
intellectual it is not only conceivable,
it really happened and it was applauded,
which is quite characteristic.
I think Easter Europe always
had sort of privileged position.
The Eastern European dissidents,
as compared to others,
regarded themselves as the only
oppressed people in the world.
Nobody remembers the Latin
American dissidents I mentioned.
If I told you the names,
you wouldn't know them
Although there was an archbishop
killed while celebrating a mass.
With this example,
I's like to back the statement
that Eastern European intellectuals
always had an extraordinary status.
No other dissidents were
supported so much by western powers.
In spite of the fact their position
or suffering were not exceptional.
But they felt exceptional.
When I was last arrested
on 26th October 1989,
I didn't know whether the arrest
would take two days or two years.
Exactly a month later,
the rock musician Michael Kocáb told me
I'd probably be nominated
as a presidential candidate.
I though it was
ne of his typical jokes.
Then on 10th December 1989,
my friend, the actor Jiří Bartoška,
proposed me as a presidential candidate
at a Civic Forum's rally.
I thought it impossible
that our Parliament,
still a communist legacy institution,
would ever elect me.
As an intellectual,
Václav Havel focused on ideals.
He was a person who didn't
really have political ambitions.
Not in terms
of forming a political party.
or to run transformational processes.
However, during the revolution,
he found himself
in the role of the leader
Do you value Havel?
Well, of course I do.
Why shouldn't I?
Because he signed
the accession to the NATO.
-I know, but all in all...
-Anybody can make a mistake.
Havel is not the most unusual thing.
What is unusual - not many people
after the revolution still keep those...
We can be creators of our destinies...
Even Lenin is there,
but Stalin is missing.
It is our gift
that we can follow our leader...
There's Feuerbach,
Marx, Engels and Lenin.
And Komenský.
And I've told you about this one.
I painted this picture
based on a photograph
in memory of being arrested.
Karel worked as a librarian at the
Vegetable-Growing Research Institute
Karel did forced labour
for 4 years.
In April 1950,
the communists closed the monastery.
In fact, the monks were
unofficially under arrest.
Monks of various orders
were gathered and put on a bus
and taken to this sort of
"concentration monasteries".
That's how he got to Broumov.
The Broumov Monastery was
transformed to this special facility.
It was a place
where they gathered them...
The members of monastic orders.
There were hundreds of them.
They had to adjust the monastery.
They were forced to chop
wooden bookcases in the library.
All the books were thrown away.
And prison-like
iron bunk beds were brought in.
He was in internment
there for a few months.
It was from April 1950...
So that means May,
June, July, August...
And then on 5 September,
I started forced labour
which I did for years.
That was the beginning
of this Odyssey.
I just moved the phone here...
And that was interesting...
We worked in this building,
we had to clean cloth.
There used to be
a Benedictine grammar school
that the writer Alois Jirásek attended.
Many of the young monks
and priests, some of them ordained,
were sent to do forced labour.
while others were arrested
and trials were commenced.
So he did forced labour
in the PTP camp
and had to stay there for some 4 years.
-Do you recognize him? -Floss?
-And how old was he? -21.
And this was made in that camp.
Right there.
We were moved to the Komárno fortress
and later to Hajníky.
One of my fellow soldiers
made this statue of me.
He was supposed to make
ones of Lenin and Stalin
and he had some material left.
He was one of those
who never came back.
He died in a car accident.
About a month
before we were released,
he rode a bike and was hit by a car.
After all those years of forced labour.
His name was Janovský.
This is the incredibly
absurd comedy
of the Czech nation
in contemporary times.
You see?
They are now rehabilitating
the role of Catholics in the history.
As if they were altruists!
The Czechs have
experience with Catholicism
as represented by this guy,
this priest here.
Now Catholics
are presented as kind patriots.
There was the Column of Virgin Mary
at the Old Town Square in Prague.
When the Czechoslovak Republic
was formed,
after the fall
of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire,
anarchists marched in
and brought the column down.
It was an anarchist
named Sauer.
Those people then...
They were against Catholicism.
So where's the truth?
What truth are Catholics talking about?
FOR THE TRUTH
For the truth?
Hturt eht rof.
Hturt eht rof!
That's what it is now.
It's turned over - hturt eht rof.
And of course,
I've placed my beloved idol there.
Pope John XXIII.
He's not only interesting
because he was loved so much.
He was unique for me personally.
I'm not willing to die, really.
I don't feel like
I want to leave this world soon.
But when there were news
that John XXIII was dying,
as he was already dying of cancer
when the council began,
I was in tears and perhaps twice
I offered my own life to God.
-In exchange for his?
-Yes, I've never told anyone.
He meant he'd rather lose
his own life, if the Pope could live.
I even surprised myself.
I've never done that for anybody else.
Or for anything in the world.
He called the council in Vatican,
summoning Hans Küng
and Ratzinger, a future Pope.
But they parted
right after the council had ended.
It's all distorted and crazy.
Those idiots
took control over the republic.
Capitalist swines
assisted by clerical pigs.
Fucking clerofascists.
All those bastards
like Duka, Vlk and other scum.
-And also Malý.
-Yes, that one as well.
This guy Malý was also terrible.
He signed the Charter 77, by the way.
How can anyone slide to religion?
When it's the worst invention
the civilization has ever made.
It's built on people's fear of death.
These institutions
blackmail those poor people.
Parasites of all religions
just suck their victims.
They take advantage
of their fear and doubts
pretending to explain
the meaning of life.
That is a secret.
I think it primarily represents
the woman I value and honour the most,
Virgin Mary, Jesus's mother
whom I talk to every day.
This is, you know...
A great natural wonder.
Purity, beauty, simplicity.
And at the same time uniqueness.
Let's make an institution out of this!
Fat bellies
of Duka and the clergymen...
They walk around
with the skull of St. Wenceslas,
performing
disgusting, perverse rituals.
The whole nation
kneels down in Velehrad,
how pathetic!
Stinking clergy fuckers
in their awful Catholic gowns,
wearing those weird silly hats.
They are surrounded
with the reeking smell of sweat.
Salve Regina...
-Mater misericordiae...
-That's the hymn sung in churches.
Hail Holy Queen, and so on.
Not many understand this secret.
But in many famous paintings
show her standing under the cross.
It is also said that one of Dvořák's
greatest compositions is Stabat Mater.
Or "The Mother was standing".
Stabat mater dolorosa
juxta crucem lacrimosa.
It's an old hymn.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.
Irenka can tell you more about lilies.
Just a usual lily...
-They're lovely, but...
-We still have some in the back...
Unfortunately,
the summer's almost gone.
You see, they're almost dying.
So soon after they began...
I used to paint them
when we had the painting school here.
They were so bright! I used to paint
the house surrounded by flowers.
But now it's almost gone...
I don't know why it's so fast.
The beauty ends so quickly.
As Pirandello said,
everyone has their own truth.
But if everyone has their own truth
that means there is no truth.
I always tell them:
Don't hurry,
don't rush in your life.
We even had peonies, but you
didn't have a chance to see them.
And I say:
Girls, why do you hurry all the time?
You'll be gone very soon.
Let's see the back of the garden.
We have some roses there.
-And a mysterious flower.
Yes, I guess you don't know it.
We agreed with Václav Klaus
the privatization should be done quickly,
because much of the then industry
was under control of the chosen
Communist party members.
Legislation adopted during socialism,
during President Husák's reign,
allowed a wild kind of privatization
The directors would
start their own enterprise
and they gradually
transferred business activities
from the state company
to the one they owned.
Karel started organizing
those Weeks of Philosophy
and we had visitors from abroad.
He invited renowned personalities
from the West, for example Germany.
Especially those
who arrived in the early years
were seriously interested
in what was going on here.
And many of them said the same thing:
"Listen, you are our hope
that you can create
something better than our capitalism.
We hope you won't just make
a copy of what we have here."
But honestly, making a copy
would still be a better option.
But we didn't imitate the good things,
like Dutch laws against dirty money.
That's what they should have adopted.
People who say such things
still haven't got over communism,
they're still fighting old battles
that are meaningless nowadays.
Now we have Sobotka
as the Prime Minister.
And he's nothing but a puppet
in hands of mediocracy.
controlled by personalities
like Václav Moravec.
Moravec, the TV talk show host,
has more power than the Prime Minister.
It's mystification that we have
a government in charge of things.
Up to now,
Minister Babiš hasn't said a word
relating to the European Union.
He's never said anything
on really important topics.
Hard to say which paintings he has
at home. None of us knows, I guess.
-Do you know?
-That bus, right?
That was a mere gesture,
he was only after popularity.
I'm quite sure it says
nothing about his aesthetic taste.
That would be just a projection.
Look, Helena.
This is an elementary pattern,
constantly repeated in history.
Unfortunately, the majority
always supports the easiest solution.
People don't like solutions
that are complex and slow.
Klaus convinced them
it would be quick and simple.
And they went for it.
It's in my family.
My sort of great-grandfather
was the painter Mikoláš Aleš.
so we have some picture
at home, in my family.
I'm not sure
if that's interesting for you here today.
Aleš is an interesting artist,
I think they like him.
I think what everybody
paid attention to
was the Czech modern art.
That's what everyone followed a lot.
Now I have many artifacts
by Knižák at home. Although it's terrible.
So my work is a sign of bad taste!
Any other question?
One of the best artistic works
I have done in the last 20 years
is now to be exhibited and maybe
even bought by the National Gallery.
And that's because the National Gallery
has a new director who's able to get it.
Unlike the previous director
who was blind and stupid
but stayed there for 15 years.
-The new one is Fajt?
-Exactly.
He understood, unlike Knižák.
This takes us back
to the topic of institutialization.
If an institution is represented
by a half-witted person,
the whole institution suffers.
For this reason, institutions
are basically undesirable.
They kill any kind of
deeper spiritual experience.
But they are irreplaceable, in a way.
What if it's time
to get rid of institutions
and make it every man for himself?
We were desperately against
the option of going back to 1968
and reforming communism.
That was also a reason
why we were against Dubček
and other reformist politicians.
But we were unsuccessful
in many cases,
because there were so many
with huge drive to be in power.
It is possible that the events
in Czechoslovakia in 1968,
the revolt against the political regime
- an oppressing political regime -
and Dubček's proposal
of socialism with a human face,
and then suppression
of this movement by the Soviet Army
- all of this was perhaps
an important historical event.
Something that happened in this country,
but it may have had
a universal importance.
You may tell me
it wasn't successful then.
But some failures are very important
and substantial events.
For example
the Paris Commune in 1871.
It was a terrible, bloody failure,
but it was the first workers' revolt
that took control over a big city
and it was a political event
we keep coming back to even nowadays.
Somebody needs this approach
because it is about socialism.
Because everything
related to socialism is blackened.
-So they slander even the achievements.
-Which ones?
The achievements?
It was one of the greatest revolts
against repressive state socialism
and an attempt to set
democratic socialism.
It was suppressed by both
the West and the East then.
The political representatives in the West
were also quite shocked,
so they were quiet and
just let the Soviet Union do it.
They are hypocrites.
Not all of the reformative
communists wanted to go back to 1968.
But many of them just stuck to the idea
of the socialism with a human face
supplemented with the market
but with the dominance
of the state sector.
If they'd managed to implement this,
our country would have gone backward.
In the other scenario, i.e.
if they failed, which is more probable,
they wouldn't stop
the spontaneous, wild privatization
and the situation would be
similar to the one in Hungary.
The businesses would be
privatized by communist nomenklatura
and the whole system
of the market economy
would be delegitimized.
Irenka reminded me recently
that one of our greatest
philosophers and revivalists,
the genius Bernard Bolzano,
wrote in his book On the Best State
that "Wealthiness is a robbery."
Masaryk knew about it,
but he didn't want to elaborate
on that as it as sort of tricky.
But that's what the genius said:
"Wealthiness is a robbery."
-Kroupa didn't want to hear it either.
-It was still in the spirit...
-I'll just...
-Just finish this.
It was still in the spirit
of the Church Fathers
such as Augustine and Jerome
who lived in the 5th century.
That was 700 years
before Thomas Aquinas.
Thomas only took it
in the refined version.
They were generally much more radical
claiming that all possessions
were to be shared.
So even Thomas was far
from original Jesus's teachings
and Kroupa is even further.
Pope Francis says nowadays
that the Gospel is clearly
fully focused on the poor.
But as we said,
it would be silly to promote poverty.
We must write this to him.
Modesty - yes.
New modesty,
the healthy and beneficial one.
Because - and Kroupa
was right in this point -
if everyone were a beggar,
there would be nobody to beg from.
Karel has an alibi
because he warned
from this in his speech.
He was the last one to give a speech
during the general strike at the square.
He said we mustn't leave
the key ideas of the 1968,
the main ideas
of the democratization of society.
This was something
that was supposed to be done
or we might get in trouble.
But Klaus's government machinery
just ignored that.
There were people who wanted
to do it in a different way.
You'd have to study it in details.
How co-op system was destroyed and
only one form of ownership was pushed.
There are still
those collectivist longings
lingering from the past,
from avant-garde,
Bolshevism, dictatorships.
And I think the contemporary art
has the problem of not being able
to find the reason for its existence.
It keeps looking for it,
but unfortunately in a collectivist way.
It is often forgotten
that the art must be elitist.
That doesn't mean incomprehensible,
but in terms of the relationship
of one person to another.
That is important, I think,
and nobody wants to hear that.
The official art,
or wannabe official art
has a tendency to be general.
And I understand it.
But until we find
a common faith or spiritual language
we can't look for
common expressions.
We can't have a mass effect.
We can't take one language
and pronounce is universal for art.
Looking for the position and function
of art is really important nowadays.
When I hear all these things like
"The art wants,
the art does, the art has effect..."
I wanna know: What is it?
Nobody knows these days.
And why should they, Milan?
-Because they ask this question?
-But why do they?
-Because they do.
-It's stupid. -I agree it is.
It's just impossible.
There's nothing like
the Art with a capital A.
There are thousands of art products.
Individual works with various effects.
But there's nothing like
the effect of the art "an sich".
We, stupid economists,
see it methodologically...
How can you say
"we, economists"?
We economists have...
Economics, to certain extent,
is a firmly defined doctrine.
It has the elementary methodology,
basic hypotheses and statements.
-And well... -And how can you
question the concept "We, Art"?
-But art doesn't have this...
-Doesn't it?
It's not strictly defined.
The fact is...
I have a picture and what it shows
is the enormous level
of the Bank of New York Melon.
How much they hold in fact.
They hold 28.5 trillion dollars.
Not 28.5 billion, but trillion.
That's the amount of money they hold.
And that's almost the double
of the USA's gross national product.
That means it is unquestionable
that investments
on large scale can be made
not only in the USA,
but around the world.
The whole world
might get out of the crisis.
But of course, if it stays
in the bank and it's not invested
it's no longer capital,
it's just money not being used.
Money no longer used
stops being capital.
Which means we find ourselves
in a position when capitalism doesn't work.
That's what this crisis is about,
and so was the last one.
You only talk about how to
advise the state or sub-state
on who to support,
that's the whole discussion.
It also has the reverse side.
You think
it's a technocratic approach?
I'm talking about you,
that's not a technocratic approach.
There were amazing artists,
creating wonderful things
and none of them was given a grant.
But that's not what I suggested.
I said I didn't want this at all.
It's you who wants it!
But grants are not a bad thing.
The granting process is wrong, though.
But who should be in charge?
Some gods should decide?
-Deputy Prime Minister, you...
-Citizens should read this book
by the Anti-bribery Foundation about
all his tricks in the past 20 years.
But you as the current Minister
of Finance do the worst tricks...
And this is said by
the biggest thief and corruptionist.
Why did you invite him, anyway?
He's an elected representative like you.
I'm sorry for the people he represents.
Bourgeois parties
look more and more corrupt.
If we look at the United Kingdom,
the Conservative Party is in trouble
and the Labourists are hopeless,
There's no left-winged party,
but I guess it won't take long
for something new to emerge.
People are trying to do something,
so it will happen.
The fact that in Scotland,
the working class voted for independence
was not a socialist act,
but they did it as a socialist act.
Which is quite strange.
The way towards formation
of workers' parties won't be straight
because things
are not usually that direct.
There might be several digressions,
but it may happen faster than we think.
The dialog between the faith
and the doubt is a constant thing.
Great, isn't it?
Have you ever seen anything so lovely?
Yes, St. Wenceslas's legacy...
Dear Mayor, dear citizens,
this is the very heart of Prague,
the mother of cities.
Would you go and see the burning?
When our mothers, sisters and wives
went to prison
after the Communist coup
of 25 February 1948,
Virgin Mary,
palladium of the Czech land
followed them to prison.
We are in Constance in 1415.
It's a small town.
But many monarchs
and mighty men gathered there.
It was the greatest
medieval gathering.
These days we'd call it a mega show.
There was the Pope,
in fact three Popes.
And also 23 cardinals,
all cardinals Europe had at that time.
And 27 archbishops, 106 bishops,
28 princes and kings.
We are in the Middle Ages.
Close your eyes
and imagine the films you've seen.
Then there were also 78 counts,
676 knights,
516 comedians and acrobats,
and finally 718 prostitutes.
John Hus - John Hus.
Hus, Hus.
Representing purity of life,
rejecting commercialization,
not knowing anything about capitalism.
Now turn around, Helena,
and see the symbol of capitalism
where Hus is
incorporated in the brand name.
This is the Hus of our times.
It was the same Constance Council
which sentenced John Hus to burning
that also dismissed
John XXIII as Antipope.
It was an era
known as the Papal schism
a power struggle within the church.
An assumed heretic
like John Hus was just an annoying detail.
Now look at power struggles
after 600 years.
Then there was John XXIII
elected in the 20th century.
He became Pope in 1958
and he adopted
the name of the Antipope
who was removed from office
by the Constance Council.
He called the Second Vatican Council
which meant
one of the main turning points
in the history of the Catholic church.
And it was people like Razinger
who tried to limit and freeze
the positive results
of this reformatory council
or even marginalize its impact.
In a way, they wanted to
return to the previous point,
to the things
Jan XXIII tried to overcome.
Believing in God cannot be unlearnt.
God is inside us and we know it.
Religion is a part of us.
A part of our genetic predisposition.
I talk about this a lot.
And so does Tomáš Halík
who calls it an anthropological constant.
We cordially welcome
President Václav Klaus.
ABORTED children cannot give you love.
National Pro-Life March
The social encyclical letters
aim to present
social teachings of the Catholic church.
The first one, Rerum Novarum,
was published in 1891.
It responds
- although with a certain delay -
to the problems
of capitalist society of that time.
In the 1960s, in connection
with the Second Vatican Council
there was the important
encyclical Mater et Magistra
That was in the early 1960s.
Then there was
the Populorum Progresio encyclical
which responded
to the dramatic social situation
in Latin America.
The thing is that the priests
who stood up for landless peasants
in Brazil, for example,
were killed by black squadrons
of the large landowners.
This encyclical argued
that it would be legitimate
to nationalize some property
if the given country saw
intolerable cumulation of property
by a decreasing number od owners
and if most citizens
are facing pauperization.
In that case
nationalization is acceptable.
It crystallized
in the Laborem Exercens
encyclical by John Paul II.
It states clearly
that the Christian social teachings
should take a position
rejecting both socialism
if it's built exclusively on collective
ownership of means of production,
but also unregulated capitalism
with its absolutist approach
to owning and treating possession.
It says in fact...
The right to property must be regulated
on the principle of the common good.
This was old teachings
from 13th century by Thomas Aquinas
who said that property was private
in terms of its acquisition,
but it's not fully private
in terms of its use.
because the modus utendi,
the way it is used,
is bound by certain conditions
otherwise it is
unacceptable and reprehensible.
Let me tell you one little thing.
The fact...
The fact that the German
Christian Democratic Union
this right-winged party,
always had a strong social aspect,
especially in the 1950s and 60s,
the era of the German "Economic Miracle"
when it emphasised the social topics
and building of the welfare state,
is because they took
those encyclicals seriously.
And Jesus told them:
"Do not weep for me; weep rather
for yourselves and for your children.
A little higher,
there were three oaks, a trinity.
This is the end
of this part of the Devil's Furrow.
It continues on the right,
but less visibly, all the way to Chotoun.
St. Procopius defeated
and tamed the Devil,
and he made him plough.
The Devil had to plough this land.
Before he agreed to release him,
he told him to plough a huge furrow
leading to the town of Chotoun.
Everybody agrees this phenomena is
unusual, probably created artificially.
Nobody wants to admit it was ploughed
by St. Procopius and the Devil.
As a boy, I would say:
This is God's work, so beautiful.
St. Procopius making the Devil plough,
that's really cool.
But from St. Procopius
we move towards Jesus.
These steps lead upwards.
It's all interconnected.
Let it show what equipment you have.
It's a part of celebrations
of the end of World War Two.
One of many aspects of the exhibition.
It has no other connections.
-Really? -Yes.
I often have this uneasy feeling
that we don't even understand
what's going on here.
We read it in the church every Sunday
and still I don't fully get it.
Even his disciples, his nearest
ones didn't really get it either.
That's comforting for me.
It's lovely how she described
Virgin Mary, she was the only one.
They had to drag
her away from the grave.
But she said
she could wait for those three days.
You see, nobody else
understood but her.
Out of all people,
Virgin Mary was the one.
She believed while everybody left.
The foundations of this world
are shaking and crumbling.
"Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit."
This is the only real revolution.
Shackles of death are broken.
The sin was defeated.
Our nation is not xenophobic.
When I ask myself
what causes the migration,
I know that a vast majority
of these illegal migrants
are young and strong men.
And I ask:
Why don't these men
fight for the freedom of their country
against the ISIS?
I can see dark future...
Let's kick them out!
Those who steal the Czech land...
Let's kick them out.
Superiority and arrogance must die...
Let's kick them out!
It's our last chance...
Let's kick them out.
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you
unto remission of sins.
This do, as often as you drink it,
in remembrance of me.
I lived in the United States
with my fifth wife
who was Chinese.
Her name was Jenny Lee.
I am a militant atheist.
So I'll tell you one story.
Once we were walking
down the street in Boston.
I saw a church and I took her inside.
And there was Christ on the cross.
And she stood there
and asked: "What is that?"
And I replied: "That's the God
of our Western civilization."
And she said: "So you worship
a nailed down disfigured corpse?"
"Isn't there something
wrong with your brains?"
Did the encyclicals have any political
impact in countries besides Germany?
There are many texts about that.
The teachings of encyclicals
was acknowledged by many,
even problematic regimes.
for example the one in Austria
led by Chancellor Dollfuss.
It was a right-winged Catholic church.
The thing that happened there
Dollfuss had been in an armed conflict
with the Austrian
Social Democratic Party.
There were tough fights.
Many people died
and the leaders of the Social Democratic
resistance were executed.
I can't forget
the photos of those executions.
Dollfuss gave a speech
at a Catholic congress
He said that Austria had the honour
to be the first country ever
to implement social policy
based on the encyclicals.
Those of that time.
That must have been "Rerum Novarum"
or "Quadragesimo Anno"
written by Pope Pius XI.
Marketka calling
Hello.
Hi.
I'm happy to hear you.
Here you go, it's Pavlíček.
Talk to him!
Hello Pavlíček!
So they really want us
to meet and talk and they'll shoot it.
I don't think, therefore I am.
And what about me? I'm fresh.
-You're a philosopher. -Right.
You should know that things
should be given apt names.
As the great Léon Bloy said,
Every offensive name is a Sphinx
huddled over the mystery of creation.
Yes! And I want to tell you
that I've told them the main things.
I'll tell you what my idea is.
And I'll be glad
if you and boys think about it.
You'll find it interesting.
I'll keep it short.
We should come up with an initiative.
We should write a letter to the Pope
But we'd also publish it.
-An open letter.
-An open letter, you know.
The content would be the following.
That we really
appreciated the first encyclical
with the idea of Areopagus.
That John Amos Comenius,
in the 17th century,
wanted to call a council of the wise
and that the Pope should initiate it.
And at that meeting,
it could be agreed what
to do together to revive the humanity.
I think it's interesting ideas.
So I wanted to share it with you.
Tell him he can discuss it
with the students and together...
That's what I told him.
There would be this new initiative.
It would be published in Czech
as an open letter to the Pope.
And it would be distributed in English.
We are now having a discussion here.
So thank you, I'll call you later.
hey don't need to answer now.
Think about it,
it doesn't have to be written tomorrow.
Not all encyclicals
are like the second one.
We know it, but this is not
about the Second one, in fact.
It's a combination of the two.
-No, no.
-But I'm not telling you...
I'm not telling you
to write it tomorrow.
Wait until it gets published...
I called you earlier today.
And on Sunday, Aleš is my witness...
The phone was on table,
I don't know how it started to dial.
Once it's published,
we must send a letter to Rome.
Spreading knowledge
dispels the darkness of ignorance...
-Think about it.
-... that leads to wars.
-Are you going to Ostrava?
-See you!
I just want to ask how you are.
He keeps calling that he's down.
And he's one generation younger.
I wouldn't have expected
him to slow it down.
-Look.
-What did you do, jackdaw?
So he sort of accepted it.
And you know it will be worked on.
Because in present
what tends to prevail
is the relativist
and sceptical concept.
It is said everyone has their own truth.
The subjectifications are different
so we can't really say
there is one common truth.
There are just opinions.
Everyone has a different opinion.
How can we choose among opinions?
Because we don't
have the common truth,
that would be too hard,
so we say
the majority is the lesser evil.
But that's not certain,
there are no indications.
So what I suggest instead
is that there are universal truths,
subjectifications can be different,
that means that the experience
of the truths may differ.
But the differences do not necessarily
mean division or opposition.
In other words,
The universal, the egalitarian,
does not go against the differences,
it goes through the differences.
Allegedly it's about security,
the police are in charge.
The city is calm.
It's not just violence.
The demonstration had a different goal:
to stand against Nazism
and prevent pogroms.
The Romany history
has 800 years of oppression
and permanent escapes from oppression.
They've never reached for weapons.
They never used weapons
for defence, they ran away for safety.
For this reason, I was shocked
to hear about Roma against Islam
and I understood
one can easily panic.
And that even the big "khalo jilo",
the big black heart can harden.
How long have you lived in Ostrava?
How long?
I've been here for years and years.
So 20 years? 10?
I worked in mines for 22 years.
Yes, 22.
And how about you?
The same.
The second son was born in 2001.
The current government
rejected proposals submitted by our
party "Freedom and Direct Democracy".
First we proposed
a referendum about leaving the EU.
In July they rejected our bill
that would outlaw
the Sharia law and Jihad.
And I ask you...
Shame on Europe
So what do you
think of a government like this?
We are citizens
and we have the Czech Republic.
Not a community.
This would be an attempt
to eliminate elementary institutions.
It would be a fight against them.
It would be meaningless and harmful
Society hasn't found another
method of aggregating opinions.
There's no better method
than the standard democratic system
parliamentary democracy and elections.
Only irresponsible dreamers
talk about civic society.
It's irresponsible
because it destroys the system.
We can discuss
the system's pros and cons
Like I'd say it's awful etc.
But unfortunately,
nobody's invented a better one.
It's just aggregation of opinions
which can take us somewhere.
Police of the Czech Republic!
In the name of law, clear this area!
I'd rather live hand to mouth
than work for magnates
like Kellner and Babiš!
We're all humans.
And we need find a fucking agreement
and arrest those jerks up there.
Nobody realizes who they are.
We'll be in a photo!
Where will you publish it?
-It's a film.
-Oh, a film. Even better.
That's lovely.
As a Frenchman, I think
that the fall of socialist countries
in Central Europe
only meant copying of the West.
You only tried to catch up with the West
and I find it disappointing.
As for the past of this country,
it is incredibly
full of events and brave.
With the intellectual
and artistic creation you have here,
I think you could have
directed it to something else.
But you only have a copy of the West.
Very much of that from my country
which is disappointing.
So let's ask a question:
What were the possibilities?
And why did you eventually get
global capitalism in its western form?
But they invaded it here in 1968.
Five armies invaded it.
This little country! From the north!
Poland, Hungary, Germany,...
And Bulgaria. Romania refused to.
Alright, so?
I don't agree, why are you telling me?
-Because...
-I don't agree with any army...
-The Soviets stayed here.
-Go to Moscow with these opinions!
The Soviets stayed here for 41 years.
The Americans will leave tomorrow.
Václav Klaus went to those people.
He shook their hands,
talked and gave them signatures.
Is Klaus a criminal?
What do you want if not democracy?
Yes, but with people who will...
And those people
will appear out of thin air?
-They live in this country. -What?
-Those people live here.
-Sure they do.
-But someone must select them.
-They select themselves.
Direct elections, referendum,
dismissing politicians who failed...
And responsibility!
What about manipulation and oligarchy?
You don't care!
Because the communists
made this country a morass.
You just need someone to blame!
Who else is to blame?
They ruled for 40 years.
You finally need to realize...
That it is you... You, yourselves...
My pension is 8000 CZK
and my house needs renovation...
Oh my...
Do you want absolute anarchy?
Not anarchy.
This is about choosing people who...
But someone must choose them!
No, Sir. This is desperate.
People who are not necessarily
members of a party can be found...
But how? Who will find them?
-People will! -Which people?
All the people!
But this is just...
Where are we?
Listen to yourself
and look at your expression.
You look at yours, you dosser!
-A dosser?
-You're a shame of this nation!
You don't even know me, but you call
me a Putinist, a drunk, a dosser...
It's based on your opinions!
It's clear what you want.
You want those satellites back
- here, in Germany, Bulgaria,...
Alright, so if you
don't agree with someone,
you can build
concentration camps for them...
That's what you would do!
Move to Russia!
I'm sick of your democracy.
If we are to fight
for democracy, I agree.
And if democracy were endangered,
then I guess both you,
with your right-winged orientation
and me as a left-winged Christian,
we'd be on the same barricade.
Against any attempt
for a totalitarian coup.
That must be clear between us.
That we'd go together
against a common enemy.
Yes, let's defend democracy.
But let's deepen it as well.
Because otherwise,
the social sphere is becoming
a sphere of sort of repression
forming social tension
which undermines the democracy.
There is a huge ants' state
which you can't see right now.
They are great.
Look, one is wandering here...
During the day
it's incredibly full of life.
They are so deep.
When the sun sets, they go to sleep.
Žižek emphasized there must be
some hypothesis of communism,
or we'll have
an environmental disaster.
A hypothesis.
The Pope who resigned,
he wore red shoes.
A man in red shoes.
And he thinks he's loyal to the church.
But we also read
what a French journalist said.
He argued that the resignation
was not only caused by health problems.
It could have been
a metaphysical collapse.
That he realized
he was nothing but a clown.
There was a time
when I wanted to visit him.
-I wanted to kneel down...
-You mean Benedict, right?
I would tell him:
You can stay silent,
but if you decide to speak,
Did you lose your faith?
Because we'd met and exchanged
letters before he became the Pope.
He's the same age as me.
I'd ask him like this, frankly.
But I was terrified
he might confess that.
And I couldn't bear that if he said:
"Yes, I lost my faith,
but don't tell anyone."
I will have no need to be fearful
of that which is different
because I will be held
in the hand and mercy of God Himself,
who created everything
including the “different”.
What I would like...
I'd like to make it clear...
that everything from Christ's teaching
that has been
implemented in the church,
was only the first day or first week.
Karl Rahner, the greatest Catholic
theologist of the 20th century,
and the greatest
theologist of the Council,
said the Council only was
the beginning of the beginning.
The beginning of the beginning!
We've just begun!
There is a phrase from Aristotle
that I like and I borrowed it.
Living in the immortality.
Living the immortality.
Or living mortality in immortality.
There are various names.
Spinoza calls it bliss.
Pascal calls it pleasure,
Nietzsche calls it Übermensch.
Bergson uses the term sacredness,
Kant uses respect.
I believe there is an aspect
of a true life
and I give it a simple name: happiness.
It doesn't really
involve self-sacrifice.
Nothing negative is needed.
It is not about sacrifice
like in some religions
which promise you a reward
tomorrow - some other day.
A key philosophical statement:
The essence of existence
is insignificance.
It is volatile.
And it's very sad in a way.
As if there was nothing.
The signum, something that made sense...
And now insignificance.
That's the essence of life.
There are three things
that philosophy can do.
Firstly, it is
diagnostics of a given era.
What the era provides and offers.
It is a construction based on
the current concept of the truth.
It is existential
and shared experience.
relating to the real, true life.
It is not a sharing of the theory
of truths, it is the very experience
that is essential.
If there is an idea,
there is eternity of worldly experience.
That is what philosophy
tries to make possible.
It doesn't create it.
It clarifies it and makes it possible.
Eternity of worldly experience.
Immanence of the true life
that shares
subjectification of truths
and enjoying their existence.
But you may be right
if this were explained...
in the context of
Christ's quote about children.
If you are not like children, you will
not enter the kingdom of heaven.
It's about seeing things
the way children see them.
That's pretty crazy what Jesus said...
If you are not like children...
The point is...
There is adolescence
between childhood and adulthood.
That's the dizzying time
when things happen.
And it's often connected
with the loss of innocence.
The loss of innocence...
Psychiatrists claim
that it wouldn't be normal
to stay as a child all your life.
In the immanence of life in truth,
all of us - friends and enemies,
readers and non-readers,
philosophers and non-philosphers
- we will share happiness.
Because...
Because, to be honest,
most people today, mainly
politicians and people in power,
have no idea how to handle this advice
- "If you are not like children".
They can't handle it.
They see it as childishness.
