Czech Republic and its relations with Poland. Where does the Polish mythical Czech liberalism come from?
“Let’s declare war on the Czechs and surrender.” Where does the Polish mythical Czech liberalism come from?
“Kaliningrad is Czech!” shouted the Czechs, and a wave of memes flooded the internet. we share the longest border with the Czech Republic, we do not know about their southern neighbors. Using stereotypes, rudimentary knowledge of Czech culture and weekend trips to Śnieżka or Prague, we have created an image of Czechs that escapes reality.
To what extent is Czech liberalism just a Polish myth? It is worth taking care of it, because today is “den obnovy samostatného českého státu”, i.e. the day of restoring the independent Czech state. Until a public holiday. Exactly 30 years ago, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent states.
Czech model of unification
It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t know the fairy tale about Mole or Rumcajs the robber. Czechoslovak animated series are deeply rooted in Polish identity. In addition, Helena Vondráčková with her famous song about a painted jug, the immortal Karel Gott and finally “Jožin z bažin”, a song that got a new life in Poland a few years ago. If we add fried cheese and dumplings (never together!) and a couple in several versions, we would get a statistical answer to the question: “What do Poles know about the Czech Republic?”.
Cultural proximity, language community and an effective way towards successful integration with Europe, that we know everything about each other. That the Czech Republic is such a small Poland, only a little higher liberal and a little less religious. There is nothing strange about this. After all, our southern neighbor is not a power to which people emigrated for work. Its key role in international relations has also been underestimated. All this allows the Czechs to appear in the rankings most liked by Poles when there is interest.
last year dispute over the Turów mine, after many years, the media became interested in Polish-Czech relations. In the spring of 2021, the government in Prague decided to take Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union in connection with the planned expansion of a lignite mine, the extraction of which showed water shortages on the border side.
The conflict between Prague and Warsaw subsided and flared up again at intervals of several weeks and with particular behavior. later that year, the eyes of many turned directly to Prague, where the opposition threw down the gauntlet to Andrej Babiš, the junior prime minister, leader of the populist ANO party and PiS’s episodic ally in the European Council.
Although Polish politicians like to talk about the “Czech or Hungarian” model of uniting the opposition, we show the local scene from the top. The Czech Republic, which arose on the media tape, once again behind the demonstration that attracted more than 70,000 people to Prague’s Wenceslas Square in the early days of September. And until the beginning of the beginning of mass protests.
An exotic coalition of far-right and communists took to the streets to oppose the rising energy priceand also… the European Union, NATO and the beauty of Ukraine. Later, Twitter shouted that “Königsberg is digital!”, and the online satire penetrated far beyond the borders of the state on the Vltava River, and then once reminded Europe of another state of Masaryk and Hus. The mocking initiative, the consideration of the annex to the Kaliningrad one by the Czech Republic, is supposed to be a response to the Russian farce of pseudo-referenda in four eastern regions of Ukraine.
Limited Role of Churches
“Let’s declare war on the Czechs and surrender” – says a cult internet meme that appeared on various occasions as a response to the decisions of the conservative Polish movement and allegedly liberal Czechs. Meme annexation of Poland by the Czech Republic proceeding within the norm of an ideological nature. For the last time, the password to be obtained after the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of Julia Przyłębska regarding the act on breaking the suspension.
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