Prague’s 70,000-strong protest shows what’s in store for Europe: Winter is coming:
The recent demonstration saw Czechs rally against NATO and the EU amid a looming energy crisis (chosen by RUSH HOUR NEWS)
Around 70,000 people gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Saturday to demand the resignation of their government in response to what they see as a failure to address the ongoing energy crisis. The protesters were also explicitly against the two foremost Western institutions that the formerly Eastern-aligned nation is a part of, namely the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
If you ask Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) what the problem is, he’d simply say that these tens of thousands of people are just unknowing pro-Russian stooges. To quote him verbatim, he said “the protest on Wenceslas Square was called by forces that are pro-Russian, are close to extreme positions and are against the interests of the Czech Republic.” He reiterated his stance on Monday after criticism, calling the organizers of this protest a “Russian fifth column.”
Some commentators have even gone a step further, suggesting the protestors want to literally rejoin the Warsaw Pact and return to the communist era. Having lived in the Czech Republic for some time, I can say that this entire line is absurd. By and large, Czechs want to be Western. They want their country to be an open and free society, as opposed to the virtual dungeon that was the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Due to the way history is framed in the country, as well, even the most liberal of Czechs can’t help but feel a tinge of resentment against Russia and even Russians. That is, in my opinion, entirely by design as the Western turn of the country has correlated almost directly with an anti-Russian sentiment. The more the Czech political establishment embraces the West, the more Czech people are whipped up to hate Russia.
more at RT.com
