Say it in Rimes. Hits below the Belt in Czech Village Politics
Résumé
The distinctions between right and left, between political objectives that are pro-market or pro-communism are blurred in Czech village politics in the 1990s. Having ‘a communist past' as well as being at present member of the communist party matters in the unfolding struggle for power in the village, but it does not correspond to political convictions generally attributed to communism, such as a critical attitude towards privatisation, markets and foreign multinational companies. The intense fight between the two factions for political power in the village, that I will analyse here, plays with the political categories of communism and democracy. It is characterised by a complex blend of political traditions and newly emerging interests and preferences mixing them with personal feelings and resentments. This dynamic finds a pointed expression in anonymous poems written in 1994 after the communists lost the local elections. The opposing factions hung out them for everybody to read in front of the village administration. These poems will be the starting point for unravelling the complexities of post-socialist village politics and the emotional involvement with the main political actors.
Domaines
Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie
Origine : Accord explicite pour ce dépôt
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