Frankfurt Book Fair: Protests at the Czech Culture Minister's speech in Frankfurt

The speech by Czech Culture Minister Oto Klempíř at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair was accompanied by protests. While Klempir spoke, there were heckles and whistles, and a man held up a poster. The Czech Republic is the guest of honor at this year's fair.

The right-wing culture minister Klempir has been in office since last December. He was nominated as a non-party by the right-wing motorist party Motorists and, among other things, surprisingly dismissed the director of the Prague National Gallery, Alicja Knast. Klempíř is also criticized for a controversial media reform. Among other things, this provides for significant budget cuts in public broadcasting.

“The battle for word power is also a battle for world power.”

Czech author Radka Denemarkova, who spoke after Klempíř, was applauded when she said that ministers come and go "but literature remains." In her speech, she emphasized that one cannot separate literature and politics: "The fight for word power is also a fight for world power."