Bobošíková presents concrete examples of until recently unthinkable dealings with people and their works, which are united by only one thing – the place of birth in Russia.
The exiled anti-Putin journalist allegedly accredited herself at the press conference of Presidents Petr Pavel and Volodymyr Zelensky last week. She passed all security checks, yet the police escorted her out of the Castle.
“However strange the issue of the cancellation of accreditation right in the seat of the head of state is, it took place within the framework of journalists, without the participation of the public. Only politicians, media and security forces were present. Maybe someday we’ll find out what the real reason was. And maybe the real reason is really what another Russian anti-Putin journalist said – according to him, the intervention is understandable as a political signal that all Russians are now toxic to the Ukrainian president,” says Bobošíková.
Under the influence of this event and the indifference of politicians, the persistent effort of some media, artists and politicians to prevent the autumn performance of the top singer with Russian and Austrian citizenship, Anna Netrebko, in the Municipal House in Prague is becoming interesting.
“If the Czech propagandists do not succeed in canceling her concert, it is possible that in the current tense social atmosphere, those who bought tickets will have to go through the ‘walk of shame’ created by the activists,” adds the presenter.
At the same time, Netrebko clearly condemned Russian aggression, among other things she said – “I am against senseless aggression and I call on Russia to immediately end the war so that we can all save ourselves, we need peace immediately”. However, she has not spoken publicly against President Putin and against Russia, so she will no longer sing, for example, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
“However, the soprano Netrebko sued the American Metropolitan Opera and won the dispute. The Court of Arbitration decided that the opera house must pay the artist over 4.5 million crowns (in conversion) for the canceled performances,” explains Bobošíková. The court said there is no doubt that any association with the Russian president is certainly not a moral turpitude, nor is it in itself actionable misconduct, according to the court.
“And so the diva, who is ranked among the absolute top of contemporary and historical opera, continues to sell out opera houses in Verona, Milan’s La Scala, Berlin, Paris and Vienna,” adds Bobošíková.
However, neither world successes, nor the decision of a New York court, nor Austrian citizenship protect the artist from “self-proclaimed judges from the people” in the Czech Republic. This time they are being recruited from the ranks of Czech so-called liberal politicians and artists.
For example, MEP and Prague councilor from TOP 09 Jiří Pospíšil demands that the Prague coalition discuss the whole matter further. He considers the possible concert to be “not entirely sensitive” towards our ally – Ukraine, and therefore is not a supporter of it.
“The municipal house is a joint-stock company founded and owned by Mr. m. Prague, this as is headed by a board of directors composed of political nominees: Vlastimil Ježek for the KDU-ČSL, Jan Lacina for the STAN movement and Albert Kubišta as one of the founding members of TOP 09. This board of directors this June concert, which is planned for October , approved,” reminds Bobošíková.
“However, Jiří Pospíšil blames the singer for being on the sanctions list of Ukrainian President Zelensky – what about the fact that neither the European Union, nor the United States, nor the Czech Republic sanction Anna Netrebko. According to Jiří Pospíšil, if President Zelenský doesn’t like him, he has nothing to look forward to in Prague,” the presenter of TOP 09 glosses Pospíšil’s attitude.
That is why Pospíšil performs the concert; not only himself, but also some others.
Anna Netrebko’s planned performance was also condemned in the Forum24 weekly by her opera colleague Dagmar Pecková. “The question really is how far we should take it. I think that the only hero in the world who kept saying ‘no’ to Anna Netrebko is the Metropolitan Opera, where Netrebko is not allowed and neither is Russian money, otherwise the organizers in Europe simply gave up,” said Pecková and blamed the agency , which will bring Netrebko to Prague, that it is probably financed by Russia. “First of all, it’s always about money,” said Pecková.
“However, according to the state register of subsidies, the agency mentioned by Pecková did not take a single crown from the state budget of the Czech Republic for this concert,” adds Bobošíková. The Kampa Museum, headed by Jiří Pospíšil, received 41 million crowns from the state. And Pecková herself was a recipient of state subsidies.
“By the way, sanction of non-sanction, the public Czech Television introduced Anna Netrebko as a world opera star in two operas, one of which was in prime time,” the presenter mentions.
“So what do you think? Is Prague’s deputy mayor Jiří Pospíšil still a councilor for culture and animal care? Or rather the chief censor of Prague? And is strained nationalism and the principle of collective guilt coming back to us through political elites?” concludes Jana Bobošíková, encouraging viewers to think.
As another example, the presenter mentioned how the National Theater canceled Tchaikovsky’s opera The Little Pigs shortly after the war broke out in Ukraine. The head of the Czech ND Opera, the Norwegian director Hansen wanted to prevent the National Theater from providing pro-Putin propaganda with any possibility of subsequently misusing artistic creation for the slightest “justification of the criminal intentions and deeds of the Russian political leadership”.
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author: nab
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2023-07-12 21:07:00
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