Slivovice

There is a fairly dominant part of Czech life that is not really talked about, especially officially: the making of homemade plum brandy, a cornerstone of Czech society. Seemingly everyone I know is either making it themselves, taking their own plumbs to a local distiller, or has access to it through friends and/or family.

For me, in my time in and out of the country it has been a highly sought after commodity as the quality of "domaci" (homemade) slivovice is night and day from that produced by big distillers. Last year, my first at my house in Czechia, I did not have enough plums to do anything other than give a few to my neighbor to add to his batch. Instead, I had plenty of apples, so my neighbor and I made Calvados - which was amazing! Yet, for all its glory, it still pales in comparison to its plum counterpart.

This year I've been vigilant in finding and collecting plums. I went with my friend to Moravia (the wine and slivovice region of Czechia) to make "povidla" - a dense jam like preserve from plums - and came back with an extra bin of plums. Then I went to an old abandoned house, were over the last two years I've watched the plums rot on the tree, and filled two buckets of plums. Another neighbor, who is not around, told me I could use his plums to mix into mine and those from the abandoned house. I also found a "mirabelky" tree on the side of the road and picked them. All told, right now I am fermenting 500 Liters of plums, which should yield 25 liters of slivovice. Some of which I will age.

The process is simple enough. You pick the plums in a couple stages as they ripen over time. So one weekend you pick what you can, and then climb up into the tree and shake the branches. What drops you start fermenting, picking out any moldy ones as you go. The next weekend you come back for what is left on the tree and pick/shake again. It is not easy work. Try climbing into a tree and balancing, pulling, holding, and vigorously shaking each branch until things are falling. Then it is picking them all up off the ground, sorting out the "moldy" ones and taking the stems off. Imagine climbing, shaking, and then picking up hundreds of plums. Exhausting... but still enjoyable!

You then put them all in big barrels with sealed tops. I would like to use wooden barrels, but they are absurdly expensive, so I'm using the standard local plastic ones used by most people here. And its really simple, you just pour in all the plumbs, and let the fermentation process start. My neighbor blends them up into a thick liquid, but without the tools I'm just letting them ferment as they are. The mirabelky started to break down immediately and are seemingly practically fermenting before they hit the ground. The first couple days I checked the barrels to see if anything started to mold and picked a couple out.

And that is where I am right now, just waiting for nature to take its course. It should be about a month, and then it can be distilled. But I'll cover that once I get there... 

Klinika to be Evicted

Yesterday, not two weeks after a vicious attack by neo-Nazi's, the Autonomous Social Center Klinika in Prague was attacked once again. However, this time it was not by Molotov cocktail wielding fascists, but by the state and its political machine. Klinika was sent a letter from the principle facilitator of its contract, the state Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs (UZSVM), declaring that it will not renew its agreement and allow Klinika to continue to use the space.  UZSVM cited zoning regulations (that remain the same as they were when the the original agreement was signed), that the autonomous social center is not using the building for its designated purpose as a health care facility. Their press release, in cold and callous fashion, also included a letter from the conservative mayor of the district were Klinika is located (Prague 3) that accused the people at Klinka of being extremists. UZSVM has obviously bowed to political pressure from open campaigns to discredit and evict Klinika by mayor's office and the state housing office.

The letter, claims that the legal designation of the space does not allow Klinika to offer the educational and social services that it provides free of charge to the public. This direct jump towards not renewing Klinika's contract at best circumvents, if not ignores, a process within which any occupant (Klinika) with the owners permission or the owner of the build itself (UZSVM) could change this designation through reallocating the space within an elongated application process that could take up to two months.  However, rather than offering Klinika this option they have chosen to wait until less than two weeks from the contracts expiration (March 2^nd) to inform The social center that it they have “mysteriously” found zoning documentation saying we are not fulfilling the buildings stated purpose, and that we will have to leave the premises at the end of the contract. 

This letter was also accompanied by one from the mayor of Prague three saying that she does not want her district to be a “war zone” between left and right wing “extremists.”  But is it extremist to be attacked by extremists?  Klinika is a peaceful collective of individuals dedicated to volunteering their time to provide a safe space for people of all races, colors, creeds, genders, etc, and which provides non-commoditized services for the local community. Kinika offers free language courses, meditation classes, a free shop for re-purposed and recycled goods, a bar, cafe, space for meetings, internet radio, and concerts among others endeavors. In short, Klinika has dedicated itself to caring for not only the local community, but all people – regardless of race, color, sexuality, national origin, ability, etc. Perhaps this is abnormal universal caring is what the mayor considers as “extreme?”  If  this is caring for everyone equally is an extreme social and political position, then Klinika are proudly extremists.  But not violent extremists, and not in a war with the masked group that attacked Klinka two weeks ago. Yes, Klinika is politically active, it has created a political space were politics are practiced every day, and it organizes around the egalitarian issues its patrons are passionate about. But the Czech Republic  is now a free country, were political expression is legal – whether mainstream or in the minority.  It is an absolute shame that a peaceful group of people, volunteering their time to provide free services to the community, get attacked by a radical extremist group for their politics of caring, and then KLINIKA itself is vilified, becoming political tools to promote narrow political agendas.  Should the synagogue be vilified when it is attacked? Or the victim of sexual assault be blamed for being raped?  No, of course not.  Nor should Klinika be shamed – or evicted – for being the victum of a senseless and universally condemned attack.  This cold and callous response by UZSVM, the housing office, and Prague 3 does not feel like the response of state institutions in a democracy, nor that Czech society enshrines the right to free speech, free assembly, and free political expression as any true democracy should. 

In short, if caring about people is extreme, then yes Klinika is extreme. And if this “eviction” is not for political purposes, then why is Klinika not being offered the time and ability to change the buildings legal designation? Klinika is not violent, they are not at war, they only wish to provide a safe space for people in need and those that can benefit from their services.

In leau of this brazen act of political theater, Klinika asks all of its international comrades and sympathizers to stand in solidarity with us. To comment at your local embassies or consulates. To let them know that this is not what democracy looks like. Democracy is free language lessons, free political speech, and the right to offer a non-commoditized space to a general public increasingly in need of services states no longer provide and private companies charge too much for.  Please, stand in solidarity with us. Make your voice heard so that Klinika can continue to breath life into its surrounding community.    

Klinika Attacked by Neo-Nazis

Following a day of protests in Prague both for an against migration in Europe, the autonomous social center Klinika came under attack last night. During the days demonstrations, a legal permitted march against “fortress Europe” organized in cooperation with Klinika's collective came under attack more than twenty fascists and neo-nazis. They came from behind the march as it turned a corner attempting to cut it in half. As the peacefully protestors in the march turned to protect themselves from the fascists, an overwhelmed group of police offers intervened to stand between the two groups. The neo-nazis began throwing whatever they could find at the marchers; eventually rocks, sticks, and small explosive devices. The marches defended themselves by returning the projectiles and eventually the much larger numbers of the march intimidated the attackers into retreat as they turned and ran away.

This group had been antagonizing people throughout Prague earlier in the day. I personally saw the same group earlier that day on public transport as I went to the rally. They were very aggressive with riders, including accosting one young women – trying to get her to come with them. She quickly left the train, visibly shaken, upon which one of them – previously speaking Czech – claimed she was a good “Deutsches Mensch.” I got off at the same stop as them and while we went different ways, me towards the beginning of our march, they went in a direction that would put them exactly where they attacked the march from.

Upon completion of the march – which included continuous antagonism from nationalist elements, and a few more radical characters – people made their way back to Klinika at differing speeds. When I arrived, there was a small group of people there that had just learned that the Nazis were coming to attack Klinika. We prepared as best we could but quickly came under attack. We pepper sprayed them which kept them outside long enough for us to lock and barricade the door. At this point they started throwing rocks at the windows, shattering the old medical clinics windows with ease. As we attempted to barricade the windows, glass and debris flew everywhere. One member of the Klinika collective was hit, opening a gash on his forehead. The rocks were followed by a lit flare sending sparks and fire all over, but it got caught in the shards of the multi-paned glass still jaggedly protruding from the window. We quickly put this out as the rocks stopped flying.

At this point, things calmed down for a few seconds and we were all able to check on others throughout the building. However, the calm quickly ended as one collective member yelled fire! Several of us ran into the hallway where the smoke was coming from and found thick smoke throughout the entire atrium the entire downstairs cafe area was full of smoke with flames leaping from the window at the entrance. They had apparently broken the windows there in the same fashion as upstairs and thrown another incendiary devise in which lit the drapes on fire. We were still able to put it out without much permanent damage to anything but the windows and furniture.

This attack though, was a brazen and coordinated attack on an autonomous social and community center in the heart of Prague that offers a free non-commoditized space for people of all ages and persuasions to take free language lessons, have a quite beer, take their kids to nursery school, attend free lectures, and even attend meditation classes. However, the center has also been a hub for aid and relief for migrants, and therefore a target within the migrant crisis gripping all of Europe. The center acted as a staging area for relief goods going east and south for newly arriving refugees from the war torn areas of the middle east and central Asia. Given the days protest event against migration in Europe, the escalating anti-muslim rhetoric and political climate it foments, it could easily be said to be the rationale for the attack – if there ever could be a rationale for such an irrational act of violence; or better put, terrorism. For that is what this was, definitionally, an act of terrorism. This group of fascists attacked an innocent group of people providing a safe space for the community and aid for those in need.

Whether you agree with Klinika's politics or not, with migration or not, there is – and can be no – justification for the same type of terrorist attack that these fascists and their nationalist brethren portend to be against. If you hate Muslim people because .000001% are engaged in radical politics and use violence in an attempt to get their way, then how is anyone to condone the same thing within our own midst? Again, whether you agree with Klinika's politics or not, if this is a democracy and everyone is entitled to their political beliefs, then you have to respect Klinika's political efforts and condemn this brazen act of violence against peaceful protestors and an autonomous community center simply trying to help people. It is in peace that Klinika exists, and here now – as 400 plus people come to show solidarity – that Klinika survives and excels in defiance of violence and terrorism.       

Usti nad Labem

I went up to Usti nad Labem on the train – took about an hour from Prague.  There were trains ever hour or so and different express and local versions.  The quality of the trains was much better than it used to be here.  The type that makes me think that you could easily commute comfortably, it was surprising.  Air conditioning, plugs, tables, all new.  I sprawled my Czech language stuff out on the desk and studied for an hour.  The topography changes about 40-45 minutes into the trip from rolling hills and flat agro/foresty stuff similar to Hudson Valley (New York) type mountainy terrain.  Maybe a little steeper, but I was on the river so seemed similar to the Hudson in between Poughkeepsie and Peekskill.  The river was narrower though (the Labe, or Elbe).  There were occasional castles on the mountain tops and houses all along the river.  It obviously is a well-populated region and for good reason.  It was very nice on a perfect 70 degree and sunny day on the water.

When I got to Usti, I was very curious to see what it would be like.  If you listened to the Czechs I spoke to prior, it was going to be a dismal smelly industrial wasteland full of dark skinned, poverty level communists.  Oh wait…. No, not at all.  My one friend Shaft, who went to school there had very positive things to say about it.  The typical type of stuff you here about US cities with bad reputations from anyone who has spent time there.  “It is fine, it's nice, you just have to be careful about where you go and when…”  Basically, there are some dangerous places, as with most cities.

I walked at length around the city center and certainly there were more “dark skinned” people (Roma) than I am used to seeing in Prague, and a grittier component, but I was definitely NOT the only white person as was foretold.  It was basically to me a blue collar city with a solid industrial foundation/heart.  Maybe on the right day/with the right weather it is tough and smoggy, but it didn’t seem like it to me on this day.  The park towards the top of the hill was a bit in need of care and a good lawn mow, but so does Washington park in Newark!  Everything is always subjective as to bad and good…  If people from Prague came to Newark and saw the falling down houses they might think Usti was heaven.  I think there is definitely something to research further there in these perceptions, subjectivities, and prejudices.  Next weekend I’d like to go to Liberec and see what that is all about.  Even asking the same people for their thoughts to compare. 

Somebody thinks it needs to be cleaned up!

After wandering around and taking lots of pictures, I started heading towards the football game I was going to watch.  It was quite further than expected – hence the hurting feet – but a very nice walk by most measures.  I walked across a rain bridge then along the river on a bike/walking path/park that goes all throughout the region and into Germany.  There is a tremendous amount of hiking and biking opportunities in the area.  I was very impressed.

Then I got to the football game… are you kidding me?!?!  For the fifteen years that I have now been involved in the Czech Republic I had always hoped, longer for, wanted, dreamed about what I saw that day.  I turned the corner and there was an American football game in Usti nad Labem, CZ.  There were two teams with 20 plus players on both sides, there was easily 200 fans there and countless cyclists and rollerbladers poking in to check it out.  The city was obviously aware, and even interested.  It might be that these smaller cities are the places to work on the game, not Prague where there are a million other things to do. 

The fans were into it and even seemed to know a little bit of what was going on.  The football was solid enough.  Certainly as compared to what I used to see in my time there.  When I left in 2008 there were 9 teams.  There are 23 now.  The entire league was simply dominated by two teams from Prague and everyone else simply got beat up by them and then played each other even enough depending on the year.  The talent on the field was not much different than many of these teams from back then.  And here we were at the semifinal of the third division (which plays seven person a side football), and the number four seed beat the number 1 seed.  Never would have seen parody like that ten years ago.  I remember my first season in Prague we were 1-5 with three cancelled games due to not enough players.  We were trying at times to play 11 on 11 with 20 guys. You simply can’t do it.  And that is in a city of 1.2 million people.  But you can play 7 on 7.  It works, and it works in smaller cities.  The game is more accessible, and the teams are developing.  The Usti team, was running the “pistol” formation and incorporating a lot of wing T styled misdirection with intricate timing (intricate and difficult to master if you’re not taking it seriously).  I was quite impressed.  And more realistically, felt really proud.  All the work that I had done with those kids and guys in the Czech Republic while I was there, and Friday night I had long conversations with them as men, and then went and watched a game that was on the whole leaps and bounds from where we were a decade ago.  It was a great feeling.  I basically taught the guys that are coaching now how to catch the ball, not to mention the game itself – and from what they told me – a lot about life as well.  AND on top of all of that, off the field they had created an event.  Beer, noisemakers, food, entertainment, all these things that I spent years trying to make the Lions games into in Prague, and a three year old team in a city of 98,000 in north Bohemia had it!  There were announcers and teaching moments – only two cheerleaders though.  But they seemed to have embraced the entertainment and business side that I had pushed so much.  Amazing.

All that being said, I am here as an anthropologist!  So should get back to it!  I talked for a bit after the game with a guy from the other team.  Got contact info and hopefully will be able to reconnect and find a way in through football if need be.  It is my ticket to wherever I want to be in this country should I need it. Otherwise, the city was really interesting.  I am really intrigued both by its reality and its reputation.  There is a strong working class feel… so what about collective bargaining, labor rights, and unions?  There is a race relations and prejudice issue with rumors and realities colliding.  Not to mention, a poverty, inequality, opportunities, and political bent to it all, especially when coupled with a boot straps mentality in Prague.  How are people there imagining their lives and the answers to the issues they face? Especially the political and economic issues?  Are they organizing?  Imagining?  If so how?  It will be an interesting place to explore for the future.