Why I Go To Demonstrations

In my first english project I was describing why our freedom is so important to us. It leads us to grow, makes us individuals. However it is also a responsibility. That is partly the reason why I demonstrate. I feel an urge to take my part in taking care of our society. Just as we care about our body and mind we should also care about our society and culture because it is also an organism that needs our attention.

Many people would say that protesting is very political, it is just a political game. I would disagree with that. I do not go to demonstrations because I am unhappy with the results of the election or with the opinions of the government. I respect their position, I respect the democratic system however, I expect the same from the politicians and that is not always the case.

For example many politics experts have been pointing out the connection of our president Miloš Zeman to Russia. When talking about experts i do not mean just czech ones, even American professor Timothy Snyder from Yale university was writing in his book "The road to unfreedom'' that there is an obvious connection between russian company Lukoil and sponzoring of the Miloš Zeman's first election campaign. Lukoil is also closely connected to Russian government. This influence appeared very significantly in the case of Vrbětice. The main secret service has said many times that the conclusion of the whole investigation is that it was a terrorist attack from Russia. The commander of military forces however, Mr. Zeman was waiting for a whole week to react and then he was talking about some versions of the situation when his own highest institute said otherwise. In my opinion this is evidence of his high treason. He prefered interests of other country instead of the interests of Czech republic. That is a betrait of the President of our republic.

This case is just one of many "traits" to our democracy, that is why I go to demonstrations, to defend the country and system we live in because even though our system is not perfect I love the society I have the privilege to grow up in and live in. I admire the work of honest politics but also of the people who do care and go protesting when they feel the system failed. And also, when you are standing with thousands of people on the square and all of them unite to fight for the right thing It is a powerful moment that tells you that your values really matter.

Anna Čtrnáctá 3.c