Fast confession - pirate Ivan Bartoš: I will get a tattoo of my wife, I don't eat sausages from Babiš!
Although the Pirate Party has been in existence for nine years, Ivan Bartoš only became known to the public after its successful elections. The pleasant guy with dreadlocks is now 100 percent dedicated to politics. He doesn't even have time for the profession he did until recently. Anyway, when he does have some time to spare, he tries to spend it with his family. For Luxury Prague Life he opened up not only about politics, but also about his love for his wife, music, or about himself as a father.
Mr. Bartoš, are you a morning bird, how early does your day start?
Now it has changed a bit. It's summer, so we sleep with open windows. We live in Žižkov and our bedroom faces the courtyard. I get woken up by a songbird I have named Vladimír after the musician Vladimír 518, because he starts singing at 5:18. But there must have been a change in pressure, because I did not get up today until 6:20.
What time do you finish?
I usually get home between eight and ten, so my day is 12 to 14 hours long. But it's all about work, regardless of whether or not there is a parliamentary week.
How has your life changed since the elections?
I always told my wife that after this campaign it will be okay, we will get to the Chamber of Deputies and then we will have more time. I think the intensity is now bigger, but very similar. We never did it as a job, which often earned us more than the salary of a Member. So if anyone claims that we just want to milk the cow, that's not true. We were always at work eight hours a day and in our free time and at weekends we worked on the Pirates. Now it's the same, and they can call you at any time from the media, for example to go on Czech Television at ten o'clock, because Mr. Babiš or any other politician will release something and you have to respond. And of course, the Pirate Party lives in the lives of those people who do it voluntarily. So during the week we do the big politics within the Chamber of Deputies and campaigns, and during the weekend there are meetings of the Republican Committee, meetings in the regions, and we need to handle all that.
Don't you get bored?
It's what I have chosen, even though I had no idea how much work it would be at the time. I told my then-girlfriend that I would join the Pirates, she said do it. But the decision is simple, it's the job that is demanding. I don't get bored, we must keep improving.
Perhaps everyone who passed me mentioned that you were in this café. Do you perceive the fame?
It's intense, it comes with the territory, but sometimes it bothers me that people forget that we are strangers, we don't know each other. Or maybe when you are having dinner and somebody comes over to you and wants to take a picture...I don't mind, I'm still as shy as ever, I've gotten used to it, but would I come up to somebody who is having dinner, a stranger, and want a photo of him? Another thing I mind very much is when I'm out with my wife, who is also a Pirate, and people flock to me without even greeting her, they don't shake her hand. When I am being acquainted with someone and there is someone else with them, it is good manners to introduce yourself to the lady. Sometimes it makes me sad.
How does your wife see it?
She is the President of the Pirates in Prague 2, now she is running. The status of women in the Czech Republic is not equal to men, no matter what people say. Women are overlooked in general. That should not be the case. My wife is accustomed to it, she does not get offended easily.
Do you still have another job?
I naively thought that I would keep at least my consulting in the area of architecture, which is my main activity, except for a couple of rebounds to the position of marketing director, and I thought I could somehow keep the job at least on a consulting level, that's two hours a week, it does not take up much time, but it isn't possible. I'm happy for every moment I can be with my wife. Sometimes I also need to relax, sit down to Netflix and read through documents.
So how do you spend your leisure time when you have any?
You know what, I have a really great wife, it's not a cliche. She's fun, we do stupid stuff together...
How long have you been together?
We've known each other for six years, we had our wedding on November 17th, in order not to forget it. It's been two years since the wedding and three years since we got together. We try to enjoy our time together. We do stupid things that may seem childish to some...
For example?
Maybe we plan a trip somewhere, but we actually don't like hiking, so we cancel it on Saturday and go for brunch instead. And we're glad we don't have to go. We invent different games and it's really funny. My wife has a daughter that is twelve, so she is going into puberty and is beginning to ignore us.
In addition, I have been playing cards since I was fifteen, sixteen – Magic: The Gathering. I had a break for a while, but after the European elections I was pulled back in by forty-year-old men who were the judges of this international card game. Every Friday I go with Mikuláš Ferjenčík and a group of forty-year-olds to Čas, if possible.
Do you play for money?
No, no, but the cards are collectibles, so some of them are worth 40 thousand crowns. No, I do not have any such cards, in case you wanted to ask. (laughs) When Babiš finds out that there are such cards, he will impose EET on it. Which already applies when you are buying them, but hopefully he won't apply some pseudogambling lobby tax too. (laughter)
What else are you keen on?
I'm a film fan, so I have 600 original DVDs because I'm too old to hunt for them somewhere on the Internet. But when Netflix came to the Czech Republic, that is a library of documentaries, TV shows...
And what about sports, do you have a brown belt in Judo?
Ahahah....(laughs) After the European elections, I decided to start doing sports, so I went to Vítek Chaloupka for a year, I worked out three times a week, I ran five kilometers every other day, but when I became the new chairman, it forced me to sit on my bottom a lot. My favorite sport is downhill skiing, so my former president, Mr. Václav Klaus cannot call me a left-wing, because he thinks snowboarders are left-wing and those who ride skis are right-wing. I've been riding on the slopes since childhood. But this year I did not have time for skis and I'm not sure if I even went skiing the year before. (laughter)
This is a high price for being in politics. Every politician I talk to tells me he has no time for himself.
Strangely enough, I'm the only one who is losing weight in the House. Everyone else, including my colleagues, is getting fat.
Because your canteen is cheap.
It's cheap again now. When we got there, they raised prices, so people started going elsewhere, because it was probably too much, that extra crown for the pastries. It was probably too much for those people who have a basic salary of 75,000 and with the accumulation of functions – in addition to being deputies, they are sometimes even mayors or heads of the county hospital – even 300 thousand a month. I lost weight because I do not have time to eat.
Do you or your wife not cook at home?
Sometimes we cook, but we do not want to wash the dishes so we go for a sausage. Our favorite food is sausage, we have already found those that are not part of Agrofert's holding, but there are not many of them. Fortunately, our Vinohrady and Žižkov shops have a wide selection.
Do you really watch out for that?
Well, if you went into the details...it probably processes some sulphites. I suppose even Coca Cola has Babiš's fingerprint on it for all of the chemicals it contains. (laughs) When I have a choice, I just do on principle.
Go ahead and have a cigarette...
Well, smoking, that's why I'm so thin. I thought I would stop smoking after the elections, but because of the excessive exposure when I can be confronted at any time, plus I still have a public phone, so anyone who wants to can call me, I haven't managed to quit smoking. I'm planning it for the summer.
Why, you don't even drink?
I do not drink or take drugs. I drink a lot of coffee...
What will you have left in life?
Love, of course. I just think that smoking is some evidence of weakness. My dad stopped smoking from day to day when I was still young and many of my acquaintances stopped smoking after decades, so it's such a nice challenge for me. Then I can put it together with some tattoos.
This intrigued me. You said you and your wife would get new tattoos with your names on them...That's risky.
Look, it's something everlasting – I married my wife in a Hussite church, so I'm going to tattoo her name because it's forever. And if not, I'll have to find a girlfriend with the same name, or I'll have to start a band of that name. (laughter)
Are you really that much in love?
Of course. My wife is the best. Otherwise I would not get married in church. She's my best friend. I wooed many historical loves, but then I backed out. (laughs) But this here is IT.
Do you consider her your greatest win?
Yes, that's right. We really have a 100% pure love, we even enjoy being bored together. I'm not saying we have no problems, but it's still real between us and we can solve them. I'm really lucky guy.
What kind of a parent are you?
I am really liberal. I consider Amálka a friend who I do not understand very much, I am nervous about it (laughs), which I think is mutual even after three years. When we ride together in the car, I ask her to tell me something, she tells me something, but I do not understand. So we go to the cinema together, because I love animated movies, but she can't read the subtitles fast enough, so we go to see Czech films, which bores me, but because she is going into puberty, she doesn't even want to go to the cinema.
Both Lydia and I feel that the child is a partner who is at a certain moment equipped with a certain mental layout, some view of the world. You always have to get along with this person and respect him/her. And when something is going wrong, you must explain it calmly. For example, if the child does not tidy up his/her room. I like order, but if someone does not tidy up, I do not care. That's why I do not understand the parents who keep yelling at their child that it doesn't tidy up...When they invite someone over and this person does not mind the mess, it's the child's business. So we try handle her upbringing in this way.
I read that you are working on another child, this time your own.
We still have this plan, but it hasn't worked out yet.
What about your vacation. Summer is coming...
I have a problem with vacations because I have a lot of unfinished work. And it is urgent. I would need a vacation for three months to forget what I have in my drawer for the month. In politics, you cannot afford to set up an automatic reply that I'm gone and contact me after the date when I'm back.
But of course I have a short holiday planned with my wife, daughter and her friend, to have a buddy with her. We're going to Catalonia. We love the country for its diversity, the Catalans' awareness of self-government, and the distinctive post-war ethos that is still there from the fight against fascism and against Frank. I also go on a trip to Psytrance in Portugal every other year to relax. This festival of, let's say, cyberpsytrance music, has been going on every two years for about twenty years now. It's a form of relaxation I drive to with my friends. I play this music as a DJ.
Do you still play somewhere?
My room is an audiovisual studio. I have playARs and a 250-watts speakers, but for objective reasons I cannot use them in the apartment. So I do not practice much and I play five times a year somewhere. I was recently in Karviná and I will be at an international festival a short distance from Vír in Vysočina, the Master of Puppets. It is a week long festival where I have a lecture in English about the digital world and the Pirate Movement. I was invited to Croatia, but I had to turn it down.
I have been devoting myself to electronic music since I was twenty, but I also played techno, I was at CzechTek 2005. But my biggest DJ dream was to play in Fabrik, a well-known Ostrava club. Only in the election campaign did I manage to play for 400 people there. Not because I am so good, but because the owner supports the Pirate Party and psytrance.
Hopefully there will be other opportunities. Thank you very much for the interview.
Fast confession:
How many times have you seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies?
How would you characterize your hometown with one sentence?
What would you never get done with your hair?
Which other tattoos are you planning?
Who is your true friend in politics?
Where do you see your party in 5 years?
Why do we still have no government?
The worst thing one of your haters has told you?
Name your three best traits.
Where did you last take your wife for a romantic dinner?
Name three things you cannot do without in your life.
What did you last see in the theater?
Who would you like to have as the Czech President?
Who are you rooting for in the World Cup?
What would you like to ask me?
Hopefully within a week.
