Czech Republic

The Prague Spring of 1968—50 years since the uprising that fought Stalinism

Czechoslovakia had been one of Stalinist Russia’s most economically advanced and politically reliable satellite states. Then, in 1968, the monolith suddenly cracked open. Tomáš Tengely-Evans explains what happened

International round-up - protests in Togo while right makes gains in Czech election

Brutal repression by Togolese dictator Faure Gnassingbe’s regime has forced more than 500 people to flee the West African country for Ghana.

International activists meet in Hamburg and plan action at the G20 summit

Activists from across Europe are planning to shut down Hamburg when the global ruling class, including Donald Trump, hold their G20 Summit there in July. Tens of thousands are expected join a week of protest in the northern German port city.

Prague anti-racists block Nazi march

More than 500 people outnumbered two racist protests in Prague, the Czech Republic, last Saturday.

Czechs protest against cuts on anniversary of Velvet Revolution

More than 25,000 people gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Saturday to protest against austerity measures being pushed through by the Czech Republic’s right wing coalition government.

Reviews round-up

The Lidice Story The Nazis destroyed the Czech village of Lidice in 1942. The shootings and deportations were filmed and broadcast to discourage resistance.

Austerity protest shakes Czech coalition

24 April 2012
Last Saturday more than 120,000 people gathered in Prague’s Wenceslaus Square to demonstrate against government austerity. It was the climax of a week of protest—as well as the biggest demonstration in the Czech Republic since the "Velvet Revolution" against the old Stalinist regime in 1989.

Arms cash

09 February 2010
Chile – BAE secretly paid £1 million to General Pinochet in return for help over arms deals.Romania – The 2003 sale of two ex-Royal Navy frigates saw payments of £7 million in "secret commissions" to clinch the £116 million ship refurbishment deal.Czech Republic – The 2003 sale of Gripen fighter aircraft to the Czech Republic saw the CIA, rival arms companies and the Czech police confirm bribery attempts by BAE.Qatar – After the sale of UK arms to Qatar in 1996, BAE paid a £7 million "commission" into three Jersey trust funds under the cont

Czechoslovakia after 1989: Big tasks for the left

03 November 2009
On 17 November 1989 tens of thousands of students marched through the streets of Prague. They were marking the 50th anniversary of the suppression of student resistance to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. The air was full of the feeling for change.

Obama and a world without nuclear weapons

07 April 2009
While he was in the Czech Republic last Sunday, Barack Obama pledged the US’s "commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".

Anti-war campaigners help force out Czech PM

31 March 2009
The Czech Republic's prime minister Mirek Topolanek was toppled last week by a parliamentary no-confidence vote.

It’s not Czechoslovakia 1968

19 August 2008
In the Czech Republic, just as in most European countries, we have been watching television pictures of Georgia’s "brave" president Mikheil Saakashvili "defending his small country against imperial Russia".

Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945

10 June 2008
Between the two world wars there was a massive expansion of interest in photography across central European countries including Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Hungary.

A new left for eastern Europe

05 February 2008
In 1989 one party regimes crumbled in six countries in Eastern Europe. Within a few weeks there were massive political changes in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. The Eastern Bloc, which the Soviet Union had dominated, was finished.

Czechs say no to US missiles

04 December 2007
Campaigners from the Czech Republic told the conference about the growing unease over the "new cold war" in central Europe.

Czechs campaign to stop US missile defence radar bases

27 November 2007
Our campaign, No Bases, is very broad and colourful. It involves NGOs, people from the humanist movement, socialists, greens and trade unionists.

Bush’s missile shield is cold war relic

05 June 2007
Over 2,000 people gathered in Prague in the Czech Republic on Monday this week to protest against the visit of George Bush.

More corrupt than Saddam era

29 January 2005
EARLIER THIS month $300 million was taken out of the Iraq Central Bank in cash, and secretly flown to Beirut, Lebanon, in a chartered jet. The defence minister in Iraq’s interim government, Hazim al-Shalaan, authorised this withdrawal.Talking from Beirut, an aide to al-Shalaan explained the money was needed to buy arms from Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine and the US and that it was approved by prime minister Iyad Allawi.

You learn more from Czech TV

20 March 2004
When European politicians led a demonstration through the streets of Madrid last week in the wake of the train bombings, there was one familiar face missing. Surely Tony Blair would not miss the opportunity to rub shoulders with other political leaders and to adopt his "people's princess" face of pouting lip and moist eyes?