Final Word from Monday, June 13, 2011
Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek probably got it right whenhe said there is a significant majority of the people who areon the side of neither the government nor the unions in termsof the transportation strike that is now planned for Thur. Thechallenge for the labor unions is to properly define their objectionsto the government's policies and to find the right form ofprotest for achieving their goals. Absent this, they risk creatingthe very conditions for an "authoritarian" response fromthe government that ČSSD is warning against. It's hard formost people to see the link between a VAT increase (or a risein the retirement age) and a road blockade. Bringing out thetanks, so to speak, is therefore easier for Kalousek and his yesmanJan Kubice to justify. (Anyone who thought Kubice wasa new, improved form of interior minister absolutely must seeTV Prima's Partie from yesterday.) It's not in the interest of thepeople to give the government an excuse to counter the radicalizationof the population with its own radical response.
Glossary of difficult words
absent (preposition) - without;
yes-man - a weak person who always agrees with his or her political leader or superior at work.