REPORT
Czechtek, from my perspective… (in English)
I've never been a big fan of Czechtek, for one reason; nothing is for free. Czechtek makes a belief that parties should be for free, and life is for free. It isn't. However, living in the Czech Republic as a half Czech/half Brit, I realise there are a lot of misconceptions here; the biggest one is the function of the police. That is to protect and to serve. The police is not a business. It is not an army.
Many times I see the police stopping cars on the road looking for reasons to fine a person, no matter what. They look for ways to take money from you. However, when a person is found hanging in his basement, stabbed all over fifty or so times, they say it’s suicide! We all know the jokes about the police, but how many people actually believed them to be true stories!!
I wasn’t at Czechtek, but a lot of my friends were. The accounts were horrific. I have seen rioting in my time, I have seen crowd control, and the use of force is always the last resort and only in scenes of danger or violence.
You would think that it all comes down to the conception of techno listeners. The common belief is: “With all that thud thud thud, it must be head-banging music, ergo, violent.” The truth is entirely different. A common guy who listens to techno, and goes to such raves as Czechtek, may not look much to everyday folk, but I seriously doubt he’d ever be inclined to hurt a fly, let alone a human being. They are peace-loving, intelligent people, who could easily be compared to the hippies of Woodstock.
Violence breeds more violence
The words on some lips are, “but the police got hurt worse than the techno-people!” Sorry, but you can’t expect even the kindest person in the world to standby and watch as blackened out armed men come running towards you at full force, ready to beat you senseless, just because you like music which they do not! I’m sorry, but it is human instinct to defend yourself, and that’s what they did.
The behaviour of the police and the government was inexcusable. That sort of thing is not done in the modern world. I would even hesitate to say that China would be careful not to commit such a heinous crime in the current political climate. Such behaviour would result in more sanctions by the UN and a loss of trade.
Already this has made the foreign news, and while it tries to be objective (unlike MF Dnes) you still see words such as “police beat ravers as they ran to their cars”.
The Czech people, and the world, are now watching as to what will now happen. President Klaus, in my opinion, has always been a weak character, not worthy of the function of President, however, his voice of support for the people or Czechtek yesterday was a welcome surprise. Now let’s see you do something about it, Mr Klaus! We want to see Bublan and Paroubek, 1. formally apologise, 2. resign for their function. Then we want restitution for the people affected by this crime. And finally, change in the police, which removes the on-going corruption and belief by them that the public should look up to them, rather than vice-versa.
I pay tax; I pay a lot of tax! I pay the wages of every one of those policemen who beat my friends. I demand justice! I demand a formal apology from the police! I demand that this country, now mycountry, be put right, finally!!! Goddamnit this is a democracy, ACT LIKE IT!!!
