INTERVIEW WITH CZECH NATIONALIST, FILIP VÁVRA

Filip Vávra is well-known as a Czech nationalist, activist, author, and also a musician. He is active on the Czech nationalist scene for over quarter of a century, activising people in many movements. In May, members of the Third Way went on a trip to Śnieżka, invited by Czech nationalist Filip, in order to strengthen the bond between National activists from our nations.

Q: Can you start by telling our readers about this initiative?

A: Well, I realized there was so far very little active cooperation between Czech and Polish nationalists. Czechs and Poles used to visit each other’s concerts, Czechs regularly attend your march in Warsaw, but that is all. There is a very good connection between Czech and Slovak nationalists and I believe Polish nationalists too should be part of what I call „The Iron Alliance“. The alliance of western Slavic speakers – Czechs, Poles and Slovaks. 

That is why I sent a message across our border to do something together and the result was the hike to our highest mountain, which we did together. I hope we will not just do this hike every year, but I hope this is just the beginning of a great friendship between our nations. We have a common goal. To keep our countries free and healthy, and to do our part for the survival of European people.

Q: Initially you were a member of a nationalist organisation NO Praha, which later turned from political activism to organising concerts. From a time perspective, do you think that being active in culture is more fruitful than pure political activism?

A: Well, organizing concerts started when I was no longer an activist of the NO. I was always primarily a political, street activist. However, I have always supported any initiative that does its part for the survival of European people. Simply, I believe that any activism, be it the political, street, artistic, cultural, educational or anything else, has value. You should find what fits you the best and then give it everything you have. Just do something, please.

Filip Vávra

Q: Czech nationalist movement is not very well known among our Polish readers. Could you describe the main inspirations of the Czech movement, and what do you think distinguished it from movements in other European countries?

A: We are a small country. Four times smaller than Poland. Because we sit right in the middle of Europe, we were always influenced by other European countries. For quite a long time we copied the German white nationalist scene. No doubt about it, German influence had the biggest impact on the Czech scene. But we are talking about the late 90s up to 2010. In 2009/2010 Czech white nationalist scene was crippled by the System when the most influential activists were imprisoned or charged in three separate cases. Including myself. The movement initially resisted but these charges and arrests lasted for almost a year and most activists just waited until they would be next. The system paralyzed the movement and since 2010 there is no organized nationalist movement in the Czech Republic. 

This, however, does not mean, there are no nationalists in the Czech Republic. We exist, we are still full of energy, there are many of us here, but we lack the movement to follow. To use lyrics of one of my favorite bands, We’re just waiting for the storm to break. 

All the activism is now primarily on the internet. The Internet is a great tool, but it should not be our only tool. We should be back on the street.

Utwór muzyczny Filipa. Można wyczuć inspirację takimi klasykami jak Blood Axis czy Death in June

Q: There is a popular opinion in Poland, that Czechs resent Poles for their participation in Soviet invasion of 1968. What do you think about it?

A: Not really, or at least I have never heard about it. When we talk about Soviet tanks in 1968, we always talk about Russians. Not Poles, Eastern Germans or anyone else. Just Russians. Probably because it was an initiative from Moscow. Not from Warsaw. It was not really Poles against Czechs. It was Bolshevik internationalists against Czechs. Bolsheviks, who eventually sent tanks against Polish people in 1981 too.

Q: Which authors are your main ideological inspirations?

A: I cannot name them all, for obvious reasons, but as a Czech nationalist and Czech person I really like historical writers Alois Jirásek and Eduard Štorch who in my opinion played a big part in awakening the Czech national consciousness. And Jaroslav Foglar, who taught Czech boys how to live a healthy and right life in a national community.

As a white person and a political activist I was always influenced by Jack London. He promoted a strong individualism and Nietzschean ideal of the survival of the fittest, but he saw this strong individual as an example of the white exceptionalism. All his heroes were strong white men who knew who they were and who eventually strived for the benefit of the white community. 

My main ideological inspiration is the North American author who recently died and whose first name starts with a letter H ☺.

Q: Although the sovereignty of all EU countries is quite limited, Czechs are often perceived as quite independent in the way they make decisions about their country. Such a picture is present in many minds for instance thanks to the former president Vaclav Klaus. Is it so indeed, or is it just a projection of the people who do not live in the Czech Republic?

A: Czechs have independence in their DNA. We are not famous for fighting just like Polish people, our fighting heroes are few, but we are famous for resisting authority. You will win our hearts if you will treat us like friends, but you will win our contempt if you will try to dictate us what to do. Czechs are free spirits. That is why all attempts of the EU to control our lives are met with massive resistance in the Czech Republic. The System is forced to implement all changes covertly because if there was a referendum about any main EU agenda, Czechs would massively vote against it.

Filip during our hiking trip to Śnieżka

Q: Mass migration of racially and culturally alien elements to Poland is quite new, but in the Czech Republic for many years already there is a significant Vietnamese minority. What could you tell us about your experience with them, and what do you think Poles could learn from Czech experience?

A: Vietnamese people, together with people from other socialist / communist countries, came already in the 1970s to be trained in schools or workplaces so they could bring this experience back to their countries. The Vietnamese group was always the biggest one. With the end of the communist rule in our country, most of these Vietnamese decided to stay here. 

Vietnamese, just like most Asians, are hard workers. Their culture is oriented on hard work and very limited entertainment. With their work ethics they have been able to completely take over the grocery store market in the Czech Republic. Czechs do not understand that someone can spend all their life sitting in a grocery store from 7am to 22pm. Every single day. Czechs know the balance between work and entertainment. However, because of their work ethics, an almost zero commitment to the street and petty crime, and very fast adaptability to Czech society, most Czechs have no problem with Vietnamese. 

My concern is this. Until the early 1990s, being Czech was identical with being white. There was no doubt about it. Since we opened our borders to people from the world in the 1990s, and they started to settle down here, we could see first mixed marriages, and suddenly, racially mixed or non-white people who had Czech citizenship or the Czech nationality. And our society was confronted with propaganda that there is nothing like the Czech nation, that we are just Czech citizens and that being Czech is a choice, not a birthright.

Kids in schools with an increasing number of non-white kids do not learn anymore about „our Czech history“ but the Czech history is just something that happened in this country to people who lived here. When you have a class with Vietnamese or Nigerian kids, who, however, have Czech citizenship or even Czech nationality, you, as a teacher, cannot teach them about a blood bond between them and Czechs in the 12th Century, because, obviously, there is no such bond. 

Therefore we are losing our national identity and we are getting a new, cosmopolitan identity. We are no longer members of the nation, but citizens. 

I, as a Czech nationalist, obviously resist these changes, and I argue about Czech identity. Who can and cannot be a Czech. I believe the Czech nationality or the citizenship should be given not just to people who happened to be born here, but who have family roots in this country for quite a long time and are of European heritage on both sides of their parents. Original Czechs are a mix of Celto-Germanic and Slavic blood, which is primarily a typical European DNA.

We do not have this discussion in public and I believe we should talk about it more.

Q: On the question of the Ukrainian-Russian War – similarly as in Poland – Czech nationalist scene is divided between support for both sides. Could you characterize this divide and what kind of groups sympathize with which sides?

A: Yes. Just like in every European country, the nationalist movement is divided in their support to either the Russian or Ukrainian side. Old friends hate each other because they side either with Russia or Ukraine. We all have our reasons for supporting this or that side. Many nationalists believe the Russian propaganda about Russia being the savior of the white race, ignoring multiracial reality of the Russian state and the cosmopolitan identity of the Russian citizen. For me, to support Ukraine, is to support a white European nation, who had been attacked by the cosmopolitan enemy sitting in Moscow. Nothing more, and nothing less.

At the moment, ALL active political parties in the Czech Republic, who claim they are patriotic or nationalistic, either support Russia, or do not want to support Ukraine. On the other hand, most of the radical nationalist elements in the Czech Republic, non-political party activists, support Ukraine. The exceptions exist on both sides but the division is mostly set on these lines.

Q: Having such a long experience, how do you evaluate the current state of the nationalist movement in the Czech Republic? How do you compare it with the previous years? What do you think are the perspectives of the nationalist movements in Europe?

A: As answered before, the Czech nationalist movement is sleeping. But it is a sleeping giant. Give it a reason to arise, give it a reason to fight, give it a leader, and it will be back. We should always care about our local issues but we should not forget that our enemies are united globally. We do not have to create a global alliance of conservatives, which would be as cosmopolitan as a global alliance of liberals, but European nationalists should cooperate more. And we should create unions that are natural. So again, the Iron Alliance of Czech, Poles, and Slovaks. That is something I am really trying to forge right now. 

Q: There are many Polish nationalists, who as an alternative to Russian or NATO occupation, call for an Intermarium project, in which central European states join forces to emancipate themselves from both East and West. What is your opinion about such a potential project?

A: I absolutely agree with the Intermarium or any similar union between Central European states who are bonded by blood, culture, history and who are still quite healthy as compared to Western Europe, or still free as compared to Eastern Europe.

Q: What are the problems caused by the state and intelligence in the Czech Republic to the nationalists? Can you tell about the reasons for the state harassment through the years, from your experience? For instance you could tell us about problems caused by the state to you after your speech at the IMF meeting in Prague, and your invitation of David Duke to Prague. 

A: Partially answered before. At the moment, and for quite a long time already, there are no problems as there is no movement. However, in years before, we were constantly persecuted for what we said or wrote or for simply organizing ourselves. Since 1999 I lost almost every job I had because of my politics. Just like many of my comrades. They were destroying your livelihood, and at the same time they were trying to send you to prison. Between 1998 and 2010 I faced almost constant harassment from the state which could fill pages of one thick book.

Q: Besides being a nationalist activist, you are a science-fiction writer. This mixture somehow reminds of a Polish S-F author, who also is known as a national-conservative commentator, Rafał Ziemkiewicz. Could you tell us more about your S-F books, such as Nebeská družina?

A: I actually wrote three books. First one, Nebeská družina, is set in 1944 when the national socialist Germany is losing the war. A group of skilled members of the SS tank crews with prototype tanks working on hydrogen drive joins occult members of the Ahnenerbe and they together perform a ritual which brings them back in time to 1241. They find themselves facing a Mongolian onslaught at Legnica and they totally annihilate Mongols. Then they set out to change Europe so that this change can have an impact on the future. However, things will get complicated.

My second book is called Těžký boty to vyřešej hned and it is about a history of Prague skinheads in the 1980s and the early 1990s. 

And so far the last book is called Lesní válka. My life long interest is the history of America and the history of the struggle to settle and conquer it by the white man. This book is a history book about main wars and battles until 1713 between European settlers and Indians. 

I am slowly working on the second part of Lesní válka but at the moment I am more focused on video or podcast stories which have a bigger impact and are less money and time costly.