Most of the public does not have the time, resources, experience, or perseverance to devote years to solving specific problems in the public interest. It requires a lot of effort and the outcome is uncertain. That is why there is the watchdog organization Kverulant.org, which has been systematically tackling such cases since 2009 with varying degrees of success.
When the powerful do not play fair with the public, we defend it. We achieve concrete positive changes in public life. We respect the rule of law, and we are opposed to dubious practices. Our strength is the thorough use of all legal options, the interest and support of the public. Kverulant exposes corruption and waste. Kverulant speaks out against treacherous politicians and greedy officials. Here is an overview of our recent work:
Most individuals do not have the time, resources, experience, and perseverance to devote years to solving specific problems in the public interest. It requires a lot of effort and the result is uncertain. That is why Kverulant.org exists, which has been systematically engaging in such cases on behalf of the public since 2009. When the powerful do not play fair with the public, we defend it. And we achieve concrete positive changes in public life.
Procedure
When resolving individual cases, we follow a procedure that we have established over the years. First, we identify the problem. Then we set a goal to be achieved. The goal may be a specific change in the interest of the general public, not just a warning about the problem. We declare this goal. We describe the problem in the Kverulant’s case on our website and continuously update it with information about what we have done to achieve the goal and what impact it has had. The case continues until the goal is achieved or until all reasonable and legal means to achieve it have been exhausted.
Kverulant is not a news outlet
We hope that it is absolutely clear from our work that we are an anti-corruption organization, not a news website. We feel like we are one side of the argument. Our point of view is and always will be one-sided. However, we take great care to ensure that it is a point of view supported by arguments. Although politicians repeatedly threaten us with lawsuits, we have not yet withdrawn a single article about them. We stand by the fact that everything we write is well-founded. We have also not lost any similar dispute.
We don’t usually ask politicians for a statement, but if they send it to us, we publish it. Kverulant.org is a relatively small organization, while those we write about often have billion-dollar budgets and almost unlimited access to the media. For them, publishing their position is a matter of one phone call. Ideally, based on our findings, someone from the objective media will listen to the other side’s statement and publish a balanced article.
Principles
Then there are a few more principles that we have set for our work. First of all, we do not support any politician and a priori we consider politicians to be opponents. We know that our position is not a good calling card for our democracy, but we believe that the fault is not entirely on the Kverulant’s receiver. One of our principles is not to have any contact with politicians at all. That is also why we are not on the Government Council for the Coordination of the Fight against Corruption. Everything we advocate, we advocate only with the power of our voice, with the strong support of public pressure. On the other hand, dealing with politicians would probably mean some kind of business. For example, just not attacking them when they do something “for us”.
One of the Kverulant’s principles is also not to comment publicly on anything that does not directly concern us. So we basically only comment on our own cases. Although this somewhat limits our access to the media, it reflects the Kverulant’s motto “Acta non verba“. To act, not just to talk. “Acta non verba” is the original name of Kverulant.
When we founded Kverulant, our goal was to solve specific cases and achieve specific changes. At that time, we were bothered by the fact that the majority only verbally beat injustices without anything changing. We were bothered by the fact that many politicians made a profitable business out of criticizing the situation, without wanting or being able to do anything about it. Dissatisfaction with unresolved problems had been accumulating in us for so long that the decision was made to found a non-profit organization. It is probably no coincidence that this happened one ugly day in a restaurant called “Akuma” in Rokytnice nad Jizerou.
Donors
Kverulant is financed only by donations from individuals and private legal entities. Kverulant programmatically rejects donations from public budgets, politicians and political parties. Because if a non-profit company is financed mainly from public budgets, which are decided by politicians, it will hardly be independent. Rather, it becomes part of the establishment and deals with issues that are of interest to politicians or grant officials rather than the public. Our efforts for better administration of public affairs are financially supported annually by almost 2 thousand kind women and generous men. You can easily become one of them. Kverulant’s contributors include dozens of medium and small Czech companies that are annoyed by the arrogant greed of the state. Another group of donors are foundations that announce individual grant rounds.
Founding
The public benefit organization Kverulant.org was registered in the court register on July 23, 2009, with ID number 28925165. The members of the board of directors are Jan Urban, Ing. Daniel Ryvola, and Ing. Aleš Masner. The members of the supervisory board are Mr. Ing. Roman Plachý, Ing. Štěpán Fiala, and Ing. arch. Jan Holna. Ing. Vojtěch Razima became the director.
Watch politicians with us
Public control of politicians is quite a demanding job and it cannot be done without money. Nevertheless, Kverulant is not connected to public money. We are not paid from your taxes. We rely only on the help of our donors. We appreciate them all the more. Thanks go to more than 2,300 kind women and generous men who have supported Kverulant in the past 12 months. Their donations make up almost 75% of our income. Please be one of them. Kverulant’s account number is 4350490001/5500. IBAN CZ9655000000004350490001
Vojtěch Razima
