The Vilemov Forum
Forum 2000 may be the Czech Republic's best known annual conference on international affairs, but it is by no means the only "forum" to take place in the country. Last weekend a group of over twenty local and international students studying in the Czech Republic participated in the annual Vilemov Forum, an initiative of New York University in Prague. There they discussed and debated contemporary issues of global importance with leading figures from the Czech political and media scene.
"But it's not as difficult to do this."
No, this is not a recording of secret service officials discussing the tactics of a terrorist group. These voices are instead those of some of the American, Czech and German students analysing international terrorism at Vilemov Castle in eastern Bohemia. The castle last weekend hosted the Vilemov Forum, where students from American and Czech universities in the Czech Republic get together to discuss major issues facing the contemporary world.
On the agenda of this year's Vilemov Forum were the topics "New War: Are We Ready to Fight International Terrorism?" and "Selling War as Selling Toothpaste: No Difference?", which looked at how the American media packages and markets news. The sessions were led by Michal Lobkowicz, who served as minister of defence of the Czech Republic in 1998, and Tomas Klvana, deputy editor of the Czech Republic's leading financial daily newspaper, Hospodarske noviny.
Mr Lobkowicz spoke on the war against international terrorism, and he had the students split up into two groups - NATO and the terrorists - and ponder a possible war from these perspectives. Mr Lobkowicz:
"I think it was a good debate, and it was quite clear that those things really can be debated in a very lively forum and are really interesting for people. Unfortunately, you would probably need more time for that, so we probably have to go on with these debates. I think it's very important that questions like where NATO should go and what the future of NATO is and what the future of the Western alliance is generally should be debated, not only among politicians but also among ordinary people, students and the general public."
Having itself lived through a number of wars, it was highly appropriate that Vilemov Castle should be the setting for a discussion on the wars facing today's world. The castle - whose foundation dates back to 1120 - was taken over by the Nazis in 1942, and in 1945 troops from the Red Army were quartered there. The owners of the castle, the Reisky family, were expelled by the Nazis, and the property was confiscated by the Communists in 1948. However, in 1991 Vilemov Castle was restituted to the late Vladimir Reisky, a professor of political science who taught in the United States. He restored the castle and opened it to guests and, as a professor, he was keen to bring students to his castle for courses and conferences.
It is this inspiration that brings together American and Czech students at the Vilemov Forum. Although they are studying in the same country and even in the same city, the students attend different universities - be it Charles University or New York University in Prague - and they do not always get an opportunity to meet one another. Klara Haskovec is an American student of Czech origin currently studying at New York University in Prague, and she attended the Vilemov Forum:
"It was very interesting, actually. I got to interact with both groups. And I thought there were a lot of interesting opinions, not necessarily two different opinions between the Americans and the Czechs, but just multiple opinions from different voices. So it was very interesting to listen them."
