Committee for Public Welfare in Brno
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Milan Krcmar
| Photo: Deník/Milan Krčmář
Some students of the Brno Faculty of Social Studies (FSS) spent the night at their alma mater last week. They pointed to the problem of global warming and called this their pastime the Occupy Strike for Climate.
It takes a very strong stomach to call something “occupational” now. It is even stranger at the FSS, which also produces experts on international affairs. But the name of this event is only a fragment in the mosaic. The reason for the protest itself is essential.
Students strike for the climate: they slept in the atrium of the university in Brno despite the opposition of the dean
Climate change is a reason for discussion – that is, a discussion in the form of a conversation between two or more parties. But you can’t occupy someone else’s property and think that you can do something with it. In addition, it is not clear why to occupy a building that is completely unrelated to the given topic. If the students had broken into the premises of the Ministry of the Environment, their act would perhaps still be understandable. But occupying the school sounds more like an embarrassing prank.
Global warming is a big problem, but it certainly won’t be solved by militant actions. Those students may have good intentions, but at heart they are selfish people who see themselves as infallible individuals. Selfish people make others uncomfortable in their good life – including their colleagues, who cannot use the space. If she had opened a history book instead of occupying the school, she would have found out that someone like them had been there a few times before and nothing good ever came of their “good intentions”. And perhaps they would wonder what happened to Robespierre, who headed the Committee of Public Welfare.