Final Word from Monday, July 26, 2021

Progressive Czech media gave thumbs up over the weekend to anti-Orbán protests in Budapest and thumbs down to anti-vaccine protests in Bratislava. In both cases, the protesters wanted freedom, but freedom is in the eye of the beholder. The EU Commission is on the side of the Budapest protesters wanting equal rights for sexual minorities but certainly not on that of those in Bratislava who warn against "vaccination apartheid." Yet the Bratislava crowd has a point that is sometimes lost in the headlines. Under both Slovak and Czech law it is a serious crime to engage in apartheid or racial, ethnic, national, religious or class segregation, or other similar discrimination against a group of people. If a court judged the matter on its legal merits alone, laws that disadvantage unvaccinated people because they might infect someone else, yet that fail to take into account the potential infectiousness of those who have been fully vaccinated, might be found discriminatory. Those who are pushing for such segregation might want to keep in mind that under Czech law, preparing to implement apartheid is in itself a crime. [ Czech Republic Viktor Hungary Slovakia demonstrations vaccination European Union ]