Josef Šmída

Category: Parallel session

Biography

Josef Šmída is from Prague. He serves in the International Team of the Czech Greens and as a party’ delegate to the EGP. He is alternate member of the Global Greens Coordination.

In the past, when the Czech Greens were in the Czech Government, Josef was head of human rights expert section of the party. He co-founded and co-developed Green Party cell in Žižkov - Prague district. Nowadays one of the most successful and progressive Green Party cell in Czech, with political influence in Prague City Council. During the governmental experience, his political work was strongly aimed to the issue of the U.S. military base, later changed to U.S. radar base. This military base was planned to be built close to Prague. All of that part of the U.S. National Missile Program. The project was stopped after people protests and the fact that the Czech Greens were able to keep their pacifist position in the Government.

While Josef does not do politics he does human rights activism. His main fields are minority rights and therefore combating discrimination. Namely the burning situation of Roma in last years in Czech brought him into streets. Currently he works for the Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs at the unit for social inclusion. Besides that he is co-operating with Western Sahara Resource Watch on human rights issues.

Last but not least, Josef’s big topic is youth. He was chairman of the Czech Young Greens and later a member of the FYEG Executive Committee. He believes young people have the power to transform the world. Josef has got bachelor degree in specialization in pedagogy - social pedagogy and a master's degree in political sciences – Latin American studies. If not in Czech, he lived, worked and/or studied in Argentina, Canada and Moldova.

Links

https://jsmida.wordpress.com/

Other speakers in this session

Silvia Vazquez

Silvia Vazquez is a lawyer, writer and documentalist. She is founder and Chairwoman of the Green Party in Argentina.

Zahid Iqbal

Mr. Zahid Iqbal started his politics as student and youth leader; he began his political career from a central right party but later joined the progressive movement and Green Party in 2008.

Bénédicte Linard

French teacher in a secondary school, and new inhabitant in Enghien, small town of 13,500 citizens, Bénédicte Linard participates in her first campaign for ECOLO as first deputy at the regional elections in Wallonia in 2009.

Sybren Kooistra

Sybren Kooistra (1987) leads the online- and grassroots campaign for GroenLinks, the Dutch greens. For the online campaign he focussed on creating video’s that could go viral, and the credo ‘always ask’ which has led to an influx of new volunteers and party members.

Ulrike Lunacek

Ulrike Lunacek is currently Vice President of the European Parliament; she has been an MEP (Greens/EFA) since 2009, EP-Rapporteur for Kosovo, Co-President of the LGBTI Intergroup of the EP; she is also a Member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.