If polls are to be trusted, one of the next countries most likely to follow Britain's lead and exit the European Union is the Czech Republic. In 2016, after the Brexit referendum, a mere 25% of the Czech public said it was satisfied with membership in the EU. There are three main reasons for this dissatisfaction.
The first is the unsustainable long-term political and economic functioning of the current system, as described, among others, by the economist Petr Kostka:
"Europe is now crippled by the systemic crisis of two dominant post-war political projects. Social democratic interventionism -- resulting in deformed markets, illusory values of assets and the indebted welfare state -- and the European Union project, opportunistically not respecting its own rules and withdrawn by the eurozone monetary structure, which has been struck by a structural defect since its inception. So a heterogeneous environment like the old continent cannot be tied to a single currency."
During the presidential campaign in January 2018, which resulted in the reelection of Czech President Miloš Zeman, a euro-federalist, he explained that although he supports the euro, he does not want the Czech taxpayer to pay Greek debts. "It is the duty of "every [Czech] president to defend Czech national interests," he added.
The second reason for Czech dissatisfaction with the EU has to do with the desire to retain a national identity, rather than blend completely into a general European "One". It is reminiscent of the 1963 play The Garden Party, by the anti-communist dissident and subsequent Czech president, Václav Havel. The play is an allegory about then-Czechoslovakia, where much of the populace came to spout socialist ideology to comply with the ruling regime The play's protagonist says something that could apply to the current debate over the EU vs. national identity:
"...We are all a bit of what we were yesterday and a bit of what we are today. Always, we a little bit exist, and always, we a little bit do not exist.... It is all just about when it is better to exist more..."
The third reason for Czech concern about the EU is that although its original aim may have been to establish inter-European integration -- with mutual tolerance and respect even with and towards non-European cultures -- it is becoming increasingly evident that immigrants from Muslim countries do not spontaneously integrate. On the contrary, there has been a controlled Islamization of integration, rather than the other way around. The fear among Czechs is that such a trend will lead, within a few decades, to a dangerous demographic shift and ultimate theocratic totality in Europe as in the Middle East.
This fear was expressed by figures such as Tomio Okamura, the leader of Czech Freedom and Direct democracy party, whose slogan, ahead of the Czech parliamentary elections in 2017, was: "No to Islam. No to terrorists." Even former social democratic Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka stated: "When we see problems in other European countries, we no longer want Muslims in the Czech Republic."
 Pictured: European populist politicians at the "For a Europe of Sovereign Nations" conference in Prague in December 2017, including Czech-Japanese Tomio Okamura, Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen from France. (Image source: Josef Zbořil) |
The "controlled Islamization of integration" was confirmed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in November 2000, in a document entitled "The Strategy for Islamic Cultural Action outside the Islamic World," which states:
"The demographic constituents of western countries... will change and become subject to restructuring into a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Thereby, western countries will no longer remain that harmonious and monolithic society constituted on the basis of a specific historical, economic, social and cultural lineage....
"Sensing the importance of Islamic communities and minorities in the west... immunize the second, third and even fourth generations of those communities, who settled outside the Islamic world, against cultural assimilation and loss of their Islamic identity."
While all of the above helps to explain the push for "Czexit," there are ways to avoid it. The first is to redefine the motto of the European Union -- "United in diversity" (which has come to be perceived as a stamp of moral support for federal multiculturalism and unfettered Islamization) -- and substitute, for example, the Czech national motto: "Truth prevails."
The second is to ban political Islam and Sharia law in Europe, because they are incompatible with western values and jurisprudence.
The third is to emulate Singapore, the only state in which the Muslim population has remained constant – 15 % -- for the last fifty years. This was achieved both through a strict immigration policy and, paradoxically, through the establishment of three state Sharia Institutions -- the Islamic Religious Council, the Sharia Court, and the Registry of Muslim Marriages. The government of Singapore controls the interpretation of Islam and Muslim finances, to prevent them from being used for violence and jihad. This is precisely what enabled a non-extremist Muslim, Halimah Yacob, to become president in 2017.
If European integration is to succeed without submission to Islamization, Europeans must choose the path of freedom, and replace empty phrases with practical steps. In the words of the late Czech entrepreneur, Tomáš Baťa (1876-1932):
"Intellectual work is problem-solving, decision-making, creative ingenuity and conceptual realization, not intellectual contemplation in the Cafe Slavia ... Do not support those who went bankrupt; do not go into debt; do not throw away your values for nothing."
Josef Zbořil, Ph.D., a Czech author, advocates a "SMART permanently sustainable free society with citizenship 4.0"
