Laura Brázdová

18 years oldPraha 10Piráti

Running for Piráti

Main topics

young people

The youngest councillors in Prague 10 are currently all in their thirties; no one younger sits on the council. How can a city district respond well to the needs of all its residents when there are almost no young people among those who decide how it works? And how can it bring its work closer to all age groups? We young people need to be right there where decisions are made and where things actually happen. That way we can show our peers why it matters to take an interest in how the city district works, and how big a role it plays in their lives. We also need to look for new ways to involve young people in general in what goes on in Prague 10.

open city hall and communication

Some residents of Prague 10 either don't know at all who runs their city district, or feel that they can't see into how the town hall works. The town hall should explain its steps and decisions clearly and create an environment in which citizens aren't afraid to come to meetings, ask questions and be part of public life. Openness is also about the culture of conduct. Verbal insults, condescension, mockery, throwing paper balls and shoving (which we could see at several recent council meetings) simply don't belong in the town hall, in my view. Discussion is part of democracy and can even be heated, but it must always remain respectful and decent.

Culture in Prague 10? For young people too!

Prague 10 is fairly lively when it comes to culture, whether events are organised by the city district itself, cultural centres, businesses or local initiatives. But a large share of these events are aimed mainly at seniors or families with children; there's much less on offer for young people. Yet often it would be enough to promote existing events better among young people too and to give more room and support to projects that young people organise themselves or that are meant for them. I want a city district that enables young people to express themselves culturally and actively supports them in doing so.

A few words about me

In the last elections to the Chamber of Deputies I couldn't vote yet, by just a few weeks. The frustration of having no voice in those elections very quickly grew into joining the Piráti. I didn't want to just wait until I could vote later, but to be heard in public space here and now. Over time, local politics grew much closer to my heart than national politics, and I started wading into its wild waters. Along the way I discovered how very little I and my peers know about how local politics works, even though it's exactly what often affects our everyday lives far more than we realise. Scouting and the people I meet there also lead me to take an interest in the world around me. Now, as a scout leader, I try my best to pass that on to the children I prepare programmes for. Besides scouting and studying at a multi-year grammar school, my life is made up of culture of all kinds – books (and a part-time job in a bookshop), films, concerts, modern dance, community events, good food and coffee… Anything that's even a little “weird” or “different” can win a piece of my attention. Also important to me is life in a community of people from several churches that I move among at the moment, and the effort to find paths to inter-church cooperation and understanding. I'd like to bring the experience I gain there to our town hall too – finding common ground, really listening to the citizens of Prague 10, being brave and looking for new paths and ways to govern our city district well.

The candidate's texts have been machine-translated from Czech.