Michal Hořejší: The Politics of the Forest

In his analysis of the media debate on Šumava, Michal Hořejší reveals how big politics is made on the background of a local environmental issue.

We cordially invite you to the launch and debate on the occasion of the publication of the book The Politics of the Forest, whose guests will be:

Michal Hořejší (linguist, Faculty of Arts, Charles University)

Jaromír Bláha (expert of the Duha Movement on forest protection)

Zuzana Vlasatá (editor of Deník Referendum)

Environmental issues are seen by the powerful as a good opportunity to give the impression that our disputes are not about what we stand for, but about who we are. The belief that someone who disagrees with you is an "outsider" effectively divides society. And in such a society, politics based not on an agenda but on the affirmation of identity is then well practiced. It is called populism.

The author and guests will discuss the relationship between the dispute over the "Šumava bark beetle", reactions to last year's fire in Czech Switzerland, the media image of migration, the motif of the "Brussels dictate", Miloš Zeman, Václav Klaus and Senator Tomáš Jirsa from Hluboká.

Free admission.

More about the book