Freedom was commemorated on Národní třída. Filip Turek arrived to explain why he believes it is just an optical illusion
The 17th of November in Prague usually follows a familiar scenario - people bring flowers to Národní třída, politicians take turns at the memorial and the public tries to pause for a moment in an otherwise chaotic year. But this year, the symbolic centre of the national holiday has turned into an improvised arena.
The main focus was not the commemorative atmosphere, but the arrival of Filip Turk, honorary president of the Motorists, a prominent figure of the far right and current candidate for foreign minister. He arrived with his security detail and a group of supporters, directly into the crowd of people who were loudly protesting against him. They shouted "shame" at him, carried banners with signs pointing out his past heckling and generally made it clear that they thought he had no business at the commemoration.
It was this scene - disgruntled citizens, a politician with the poetics of a provocateur, and whistles flying through the air - that became the symbol of this year's 17 November. And the Turk? He clearly saw himself in a different reality. He claimed that the booing was just an "optical illusion", argued with the protesters and took selfies with a cold smile holding a banner reading "The Nazi will not steal our holiday". He even snapped to one critic, "Don't let me shout in your face," a sentence that is truly sinister in the context of his past.
And as if this confrontational performance wasn't enough, Turek also brought up several "alternative" versions of history during the interviews. The 1989 revolution was organized, he said, the StB planted a dead student, and the election of Václav Havel was so smooth as to be suspicious. On a day when we commemorate the 1939 massacre of Czech students and the resistance to Nazism, this is a strange choice of topics.
And this is where the whole problem begins.
At a memorial site where people are honouring the students executed by the Nazis and remembering the fight for freedom, a politician who has a history of hailing, relativising the revolution and mocking the protesters arrives. And we, as a society, still take him seriously enough to wonder whether he could run Czech diplomacy.
It is actually quite symbolic that what should have been a quiet reminder of student courage and the struggle against Nazism has turned into a kind of vivid illustration of the decline of values. Not because the protesters failed. But because we, as a country, allowed it to be debated whether such a person could lead Czech diplomacy. This is a failure that is quieter, but all the more dangerous.
But perhaps the Turk - paradoxically and certainly unintentionally - reminded us that this holiday can still have power. If we give it to him. Either we refill November 17 with clear content, with the names of the victims of Nazism and the stories of those who stood up to totalitarianism, or we admit that we let it go to waste.
And if we choose the former, it will take one thing: not letting it be stolen next time by someone who, not so long ago, had to be reminded that hailing is not a stylish variation of waving.
