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Chanting “resignation, resignation”, swearing and name-calling from fascism, poking. Even addressing “you dude” occurred during the debate of the Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakušan, in the Centrum pub in Karvina, where the Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the STAN movement started his first in the Debate without Censorship series in the early evening on Monday.

Karviná, debate with Vít Rakušan, January 22, 2024. | Video: Diary/Tomáš Januszek

Half an hour before the announced start, a completely full pub, up to two hundred people, was waiting for the Austrian and his staff. A few dozen people even stood outside the whole time and watched the debate through the windows.

The two-hour marathon of questions and answers interspersed with shouts and abuse towards the vice-prime minister was a famous “baptism of fire” for him. The audience did not spare him, and some exasperated interviewers at times seemed to forget that they were talking to a member of the government and not scolding a colleague who cheated at cards.

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Before the debate began, the STAN chairman raved about how many people had come forward to comment that he was happy about it. After it ended, the Austrian stated that the debate was extremely sharp.

“But I didn’t expect anything else. If anyone thought that a few screams from the audience would put me off, they won’t. I will continue the debates,” he added, admitting at the same time that he expected that he was entering an environment where there are people who do not perceive him very positively.

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Why did he go to Karviná for the first time, where his movement is not one of the popular political subjects among voters (although, paradoxically, Karviná has the only member of parliament from the STAN movement and its Petr Letocha – author’s note)?

“I’m deliberately going to go to the cities where we get the most from people. And I’m interested in why it is in these places,” said the Austrian to journalists after the first debate.

Swearing at fascists, whistling about Ukraine

One of the speakers praised the minister for coming to Karviná and for inviting not only his supporters to the debate, but also listening to his opponents. The first whistle and passionate reactions of the audience came with the theme of the war in Ukraine.

There was even a slur from the plenum that the Austrian was a fascist. The course of the debate was filmed by several crews, including pro-Russian websites, and many pro-Russian opinions were heard in the audience. The development of the Dozimetr corruption case, the government’s austerity package, correspondence elections, electricity prices, the problems of the Ostrava Liberty smelter, the cancellation of Czech Post branches or the reduction of pension valorization came to the fore.

Watch the video of the talk

Source: Diary/Tomáš Januszek

The debate fragmented over time, and some individuals then dealt with their personal matters. The Deputy Prime Minister, who was refreshing himself with a beer, tried to answer all the questions the whole time. And this in a situation where some speakers, slightly enhanced by alcohol, shouted at him, poked him, and several times he was addressed as “you dude!”.

Even though the atmosphere was very tense and even explosive at times, there was no incident and the minister’s security did not have to intervene. The official part of the debate ended after 150 minutes, after which the chairman of the STAN movement answered questions individually.

Why Karviná?

Karvina deputy for STAN, Petr Letocha, who watched the debate personally, admits that he himself does not know why Karviná was chosen as the first stop of the Austrian tour. The Debates without Censorship project explains the STAN movement, which is part of the ruling coalition SPOLU, which also includes ODS, KDU-ČSL, Pirát and TOP 09, as a change in communication strategy.

“We have identified that the main weakness of the government is communication. Therefore, ten places were selected where the coalition has the worst election results TOGETHER, and there the chairman of our movement will go among the people,” explained Letocha.

Programmatic marketing

Although the chairman of the STAN movement will not openly admit it, the Debate without Censorship series launched on Monday is a kind of rehearsal for the election campaign that awaits him especially next year. Above all, they are testing whether it is possible to win over voters in regions where STAN does not score much according to the results from previous years. And he was obviously inspired by Miloš Zeman, who years ago toured the republic in the Zemák bus, and Andrej Babiš, who traveled the Czech, Moravian countries and Silesia in a camper van, also chose similar know-how.

Unlike the above-named gentlemen, Vít Rakušan decided to face his opponents rather than heading to where he and his movement have many supporters. The Austrian started the change in communication strategy a few days ago by publishing a video in which he encourages better communication between the government and the people and criticized Prime Minister Petr Fiala. The deputy prime minister received criticism from coalition partners for this last week.

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The change in communication STAN, as the Austrian debate series is officially called on its website, is in any case a well-thought-out marketing move, the aim of which is to reach as many people as possible on social networks. The proof is, among other things, the online broadcast of the entire Monday debate, photos on social networks and comments with impressions after the end of the event.

Next Monday, the chairman of STAN will debate in Most, then he will also go to Česká Lípa, Vyškov, Přerov, Ústí nad Labem and Havířov.

TO THE TOPIC

What about local politicians?

The newspaper addressed the representatives of other political subjects represented in the Karvina council before the start of the debate. Most of the local politicians were sympathetic to this action of the STAN movement.

“I don’t know if the minister is doing an election campaign. Maybe he wants to gain more supporters in this region,” said the chairman of the local organization of the ANO movement in Karviná, Richard Oleownik.

Vít Rakušan resists labeling his campaign as a political “PR”. “I object. This is political work,” says the chairman of the STAN movement.

Also the head of the Karvina local organization ODS, which is part of the SPOLU coalition, Hynek Orság was curious as to what the debates would look like. “I’ll be glad to hear it. However, within the coalition of five, no one is setting barriers for anyone on how to act, how to present themselves, so I don’t see a problem in that,” said Orság.

Karvina Deputy Mayor Vladimír Kolek (ANO) and Mayor Jan Wolf (SOC DEM) reacted similarly. “I am convinced that in today’s democratic society the minister can freely debate wherever he wants. I don’t mind the visit in any case, but I won’t be present,” said Jan Wolf through the spokesperson of the municipality.

Karvinsk councilor and deputy governor for health Martin Gebauer (ANO) sees the aforementioned series of debates by the Minister of the Interior as the start of ‘some kind of campaign for something’. “The minister definitely proves that the coalition of five is tearing itself apart and STAN is riding ‘on its own shirt’,” said Gebauer. According to him, these discussions will be somewhat ‘theatre’.

Leftist Karvinsko

The chairman of the STAN movement is, after Andrej Babiš, the second government politician to go to Karviná and appear in front of the “ordinary people”, moreover in a pub. Before him, Andrej Babiš did it in 2017. Miloš Zeman, popular with local voters, delivered his bon mots and speeches of thanks for the votes on the square several times.

Karvinsko in general has been a stronghold of left-wing parties in the past two decades. So it remained only in Karviná and nearby Bohumín, where SOCDEM rules, in Karviná in coalition with the ANO movement. Right-wing parties in the cities of the Karvina region have been collecting money for a long time. The only exception is currently Český Těšín, where the deputy mayor from the ODS is the 1st deputy mayor.