On April 22, Wednesday, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) in the Czech Republic proposed a 10-point charter of demands to the government for the fight against COVID-19 in the country. The KSCM has already raised funds worth 400,000 Czech korunas (USD 15,674) through its cadre to support health workers battling the crisis. The party and its youth wing cadres have also initiated various activities, including making and distributing masks and providing essential supplies to people.
The KSCM’s demands to the government are: (1) ensuring self-sufficiency in food, healthcare, energy, telecommunication and technology (2) ensuring sufficient income for citizens to survive the lockdown and the crisis (3) preventing the flight of capital abroad (4) halting unnecessary military purchases and foreign missions (5) universal health insurance (6) ending subsidies to big businesses (7) increased state spending in railways, highways, completion, electricity (8) reduced taxes for low-income families (9) ensuring universal access to digital banking and (10) preventing citizens from falling into debt traps due to job losses.
The Czech government declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 on March 12 and began easing restrictions on April 7 after recording an increase in recoveries and fewer new infections. As of April 23, at least 7,136 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the country and 210 people have died.
The KSCM, along with Young Communists (MK), Communist Youth Union (KSM) and progressive sections in the country, had earlier protested the removal of a statue of Soviet General Ivan Konev by the Prague authorities in spite of the lockdown on April 3.
