Page 61 - bne magazine March 2017 issue

bne March 2017 CULTURE I 61 & PEOPLE
ARTS
Israeli, once comparing PLO leader Yasser Arafat to Hitler. But over the last decade – well ahead of the rest of the pack – he has broadened his assault to target Islam itself. “Zeman started this topic even when it wasn’t current,” says Professor Vladi- mira Dvorakova of Prague’s University of Economics, who was struck when he asked her after a debate there in 2012, “Why is no one asking about Muslims?”.
Among all the anti-Islamic firebrands in Europe, Zeman’s lan- guage has been amongst the most lurid and uncompromising. He blames Islamic culture directly for terrorism and crime, and says that the refugee wave is an “organised invasion” and a Muslim Brotherhood plot. He claims integrating Muslim migrants is “practically impossible”.
He appears to have understood very early on that the wave of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa could be used to whip up fears and attract voters. In a country with very few Muslims, almost no refugees and no terrorist attacks, Czechs are now amongst the most scared people in Europe because of his scare-mongering. Terrorism and migration rose to become the biggest concerns among voters last year, according to a CVVM opinion poll. “Zeman deeply psychologically needs an enemy,” says Alexandr Mitrofanov, columnist for the leftwing daily Pravo. “He needs to make people confused, frightened, obedient to a strong person who will lead them.”
Despite once being on the moderate left, he has also made common cause with extreme right parties, campaigning on the same ground. Zeman even shared a platform with a neo-fascist party leader at a 2015 demonstration against Islam, though he later claimed not to have known whom he was standing next to. “Mr Zeman is very dangerous for democracy in this coun- try,” says Jiri Dienstbier, the former Social Democrat minister for human rights. “He plays with very dangerous topics such as hatred between different groups of voters. I am not sure if there is an easy way back with his divisive policies.”
Putin Versteher
Zeman’s views on Russia have also become more extreme over the past two decades. He always took a more pragmatic line towards Moscow than most politicians in former commu- nist Central Europe, and his 1998-2002 government tried to rebuild Soviet-era trade links. But this stance coarsened once he became president, and he is now one of the Kremlin’s big- gest apologists in the EU.
He has called for sanctions on Russia to be dropped and described the fighting in Eastern Ukraine a “civil war”, ignor- ing clear evidence of Russian direction. He almost became the only EU head of state to attend the 2015 Victory Day parade in Moscow, but was persuaded at the last minute to sit it out.
One explanation is that, like his rightwing predecessor Vaclav Klaus and populists such as Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Zeman is fascinated by the way Putin has built up
his power base to become the master of all he surveys. The Kremlin has flattered both Czech presidents by treating them
as serious international players. Klaus and Zeman are regular guests at the annual Rhodes Forum organised by Vladimir Yakunin, the former head of Russian Railways who is black- listed by the US.
But more worryingly, another reason for Zeman’s support for Putin may be his alleged reliance on Russian funding to run his presidential election campaigns.
Two close advisers who acted as fundraisers had very close links with Russian oil group Lukoil. Former adviser Miroslav Slouf brokered deals for the company, while current adviser Martin Nejedly was actually Lukoil’s partner in a Czech joint venture, and the private Russian group picked up the large bill when it failed. Prague Castle has always denied that Russian money sponsored Zeman’s presidential campaign or his tiny Party of Civic Rights, but it has so far failed to provide a con- vincing explanation of their funding.
Marriage of convenience
Zeman will be an even stronger position to push his views on Islam and Russia following the likely victory of Ano, Finance Minister Babis’ personal political party vehicle, over its Social Democrat coalition partner in this autumn’s parliamentary election.
In what is really just a marriage of convenience, Zeman has been more and more blatantly siding with the country’s sec- ond richest man during the escalating infighting in the coali- tion between Ano and the Social Democrats. He first vetoed the conflict of interest legislation that targets Babis, and then referred the bill to the Constitutional Court. In return, it is rumoured that Babis has pledged not to field a candidate to stand against Zeman in the presidential election.
“Mr Zeman is very dangerous for democracy in this country”
For Zeman, Babis’ impending election victory would give him sweet revenge on the moderate Social Democrat leaders who refused to back him in the 2003 presidential election. “Zeman wants to see blood,” says Libor Roucek, Zeman’s spokesman in government. “He wants to see [Prime Minister Bohuslav] Sobotka’s head on a plate.”
Afterwards, a weakened and divided Social Democratic Party – the country’s last strong mainstream political movement – is likely to be taken over by a candidate close to the president, giving him the vital lever in parliament he has sought for so long. “We face destruction of the whole party system,” says Dienstbier, who argues that Sobotka made a strategic error by choosing to focus his attacks on Babis. “Zeman is a bigger danger for the Social Democrats and democracy.”
www.bne.eu