Final Word from Tuesday, September 6, 2022

The organizers of the demonstration on Wenceslas Square in Prague on Sat., which attracted an estimated 70,000 people, stated that if the government of Petr Fiala doesn't resign by Sept. 25, they will invoke the "right to resist" under the Czech Constitution at a second nationwide demonstration on Sept. 28 and announce "coercive actions." It was paradoxically Daniel Kroupa, a university teacher, who best explained what exactly this means. He told demonstrators in March 2020 that, under the Constitution, "changing the essential elements of the democratic rule of law is impermissible" and that if they are changed, the people have the right to rise up. In extreme cases, he said, they can rise up violently. His comments were directed at the perceived efforts of Andrej Babiš to "buy the government, buy laws and gradually take control of all institutions." The question many people will soon be asking is whether this same right to resist applies if a government is unable to keep its people warm. [ Czech Republic resistance civil civic Million Moments for Democracy prime minister ]