Communists Could Gain In Czech Vote

[WestVirginiaRebel]

NY Times:

PRAGUE — A popular online video here called “Convince Granny” urges young Czechs to withhold visits to their grandparents unless the old folks agree not to vote for leftist parties like the Communists in Saturday’s elections.

Modeled on the American comic Sarah Silverman’s video “The Great Schlep,” which in 2008 appealed to young Jewish voters to persuade their grandparents to support Barack Obama in the swing state of Florida, the Czech video is a testament to the Communist Party’s enduring influence here.

The creators of “Convince Granny” say they conceived the video, which has had more than 600,000 hits since it was posted on YouTube about a month ago, as a necessary weapon against the ascent of the unreconstructed Communist Party, which recent polls indicate could win up to 15 percent of the vote.

In addition to the jokes about Grandma’s selective memory, the video implores young viewers not to forget the insidious transgressions of the former Communist government, from the exile of the country’s leading intellectuals and artists to the execution of its political enemies.

In an election that is unlikely to yield a majority for either the leftist Social Democrats or the rightist Civic Democrats, analysts say the Communist Party could come closer to real power than at any other time since the Velvet Revolution here overthrew Communism in 1989.

“We hate the Communists,” said Marek Prchal, 35, an advertising executive who helped create the video. “The Communists should have been banned a long time ago.”

Analysts say the Communist Party is benefiting from a regionwide disappointment over the failure of liberal parties to live up to the promises of 1989.

“The theme across the region is the politics of disillusionment,” said Anna Matuskova, a political consultant here. “In the Czech Republic, there is a new generation of young people with iPhones who don’t remember Communism and will vote for them as a protest vote.”
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The Communists sound more like a fad than a force these days, but then again, you never know...

[Valin]

The Communists sound more like a fad than a force these days, but then again, you never know...

 

Never discount "The Other Guy" syndrome. With some people whoever is in power, the Other Guy is always better.