News

Poland: Man who shouted "Kill him!" to attackers of Syrian immigrant sentenced to community service

27.7.2016 15:15 A court in Poznan, Poland has handed down a sentence of two years' community service to a 22-year-old Polish man who shouted "Kill him!" at two violent thugs who were beating up an immigrant from Syria in the center of that city. Newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that Zygmunt W. was found co-responsible for the victim's injuries even though he did not physically attack him because he incited the assailants to do so.  full story

Czech Neo-Nazis say they want to "enforce the law" - even as they break it

27.7.2016 9:25 Street patrols by "national militias" have been taking place since the beginning of the summer in the Czech Republic. The groups are centered around the North Bohemian town of Most and model themselves after the "Soldiers of Odin" group in Finland.  full story

Czech NGO whose head spreads hatred against Muslims and refugees will continue to work with Govt Agency for Social Inclusion

27.7.2016 8:27 The "Romani" NGO called Lampa will remain a member of the Local Partnership in the town of Ralsko that has been established by the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion (ASZ). Members of that Local Partnership made that decision in response to reports by news server Romea.cz that the head of Lampa, Jiří Hanzl, supports the hate group Bloc against Islam and attacks the Government's Hate Free Culture initiative.  full story

German Police: Aggressor in Munich attack inspired by right-wing extremist Breivik, not Islamism

23.7.2016 18:32 The attack during which a shooter killed nine people and then himself yesterday in Munich, Germany was apparently not politically motivated. Hubertus Andrä, the Munich Police Chief, said at a press conference today that 27 people were also injured during the attack, 10 of them seriously.  full story

Emílie Žigová: Czech ethnologist's rhetoric reminiscent of the Nazi era

23.7.2016 17:04 I recently read an article by ethnologist Mnislav Zelený-Atapany in the Lidové noviny daily called "Is a genocide against whites next for Europe?" (Je na řadě genocida bělochů v Evropě?). The peice opens by attempting to describe the feelings of an ordinary person who is both afraid and angry that politicians are not telling people the truth and that the danger posed by terrorist attacks is growing here.  full story

Jana Balážová: Romani people need role models, and those grow up in the schools

23.7.2016 15:17 The common education of all children together and the inclusion of children with disadvantages into normal schools is one of the main topics of political discussion today in the Czech Republic. Politicians and teachers are pointing out that the Czech schools are unprepared for this concept.  full story

Czech Republic: Assessment of coexistence with Romani people improves for third year in a row

23.7.2016 14:11 Coexistence between Romani people and other inhabitants of the Czech Republic is perceived by 78 % of the "majority society" in that country as "poor", but almost 20 % of respondents to a June survey conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) assessed coexistence as "good". This is the third year in a row that positive assessments of coexistence have increased and negative perspectives have lost ground.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Documentary "Shadows of the Romani Holocaust" marks a sad anniversary

23.7.2016 12:37 On 10 July 1942 the commander of the plainclothes police of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia issued the so-called "Decree on Suppressing the Gypsy Nuisance". On that basis, following the model of the leader of the SS for the Nazi German Reich, the Czech authorities compiled a list of "Gypsies, Gypsy Half-Breeds and persons living in the Gypsy way" which radically changed the lives of the Romani people then living in the Czech lands.  full story

An 18-year-old man with dual German-Iranian citizenship has shot nine people dead, injured 21 in Munich

23.7.2016 11:07 A shooter in Munich, Germany murdered nine people and injured 21 yesterday before losing his own life. Police say the perpetrator was an 18-year-old dual citizen of Germany and Iran who had been living in Munich for at least two years and had no prior criminal record.
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Czech Republic: Pope Francis gives his blessing to the sixth year of the Roma Spirit awards

22.7.2016 7:21 The Michael Kocáb Foundation, in collaboration with Otevřená společnost, o.p.s. and the Museum of Romani Culture, has launched the nomination process for the sixth year of the Roma Spirit awards in the Czech Republic. The mission of Roma Spirit is to appreciate and popularize the work of individuals and organizations who contribute toward improving the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma seek scholarships for secondary education, plan to become architects, computer experts, doctors and police

21.7.2016 11:04 Friday, 15 July was the last day for Romani pupils in the Czech Republic to apply to the ROMEA organization for a scholarship to attend either an academic or vocational high school. A total of 105 people applied and the 50 most-successful candidates will be awarded support.  full story

Commentary: After you visit the music festival in Ostrava, take a look at the ghetto

21.7.2016 9:57 It used to be called "Black Ostrava". That was in the days when the motto was "We're miners and we're the best."  full story

Czech Republic: Record numbers of parents seek after-school tutoring for their children from Museum of Romani Culture

20.7.2016 8:45 During the past school year the trend of Romani parents seeking tutoring for their children has reached an all-time high in Brno, Czech Republic. The observation that
the Romani community is becoming more and more aware of how necessary an education is to a successful future is being confirmed.  full story

Poland: German television series sued for scenes depicting Polish anti-Semitism during WWII

20.7.2016 7:17 The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reports that on 18 July the civil trial began at a court in Kraków of the producers of a German television series set during the Second World War and German television station ZDF. A Polish veterans' association and Zbigniew Radlowski, now 92 years old, who was a Polish resistance fighter during the war, have sued the producers of the television program over scenes depicting Polish anti-Semitism.  full story

Interview with Slovak journalist Rudolf Sivý: "Extremist" is not the four-letter word it once was

19.7.2016 16:03 Slovak journalist Rudolf Sivý, who covers human rights, nationalism and political extremism, is interviewed in the June edition of Romano voďi magazine, where he says the term "extremist" is no longer the epithet it used to be in Slovakia. In the interview, he discusses how a particular ultra-right party made it into the Slovak Parliament, how radicalization of society happens, and what role the media plays - a discussion that is very instructive for the Czech Republic as well ahead of next year's elections.  full story

Bulgarian man who abused Romani youth convicted of racially-motivated attack

19.7.2016 7:40 Last week the District Court in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, reviewed the case of a racist attack perpetrated by Angel Kaleev. In April of this year, Kalev assaulted a Romani youth, Mitko Jonkov, after Jonkov dared to assert that he and Kalev were equals.    full story

Klaudia Vospálková: Investing into education pays off

19.7.2016 7:11 Klaudia Vospálková has always dreamed that one day she would become the most powerful woman on the planet. Those ambitions of hers just became a bit more achievable.  full story

Alliance against Antigypsyism: Antigypsyism is a major obstacle to equal citizenship for Romani people

19.7.2016 6:31 On 5 July the Alliance against Antigypsyism published its "Reference Paper on Antigypsyism", which is a specific form of racism against Roma, Sinti, Travellers and other groups stigmatized as "gypsies" in the public arena. The paper, among other things, proposes a working definition of the concept.
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Parliamentarians of Europe get involved to prevent genocide and mass atrocities and to fight against genocide denial

18.7.2016 15:24 Syria, Iraq, Darfur, Burundi,... The intolerable list of mass atrocities that are committed before our eyes, some of which could develop into genocides, is long. Simultaneously, we are witnessing a rise in genocide denial across our continent, through political parties as well as through a certain popular culture, in varying forms: denial or reversal of facts, relativism, confusion, competition of victims,…  full story

Commentary: Integration of impoverished Roma must begin immediately in the Czech Republic

18.7.2016 8:17 Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman has said good-faith, intensive negotiations are underway with stockholders to remove the pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp at Lety where Romani people died. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has said he believes a law on social housing can still be approved before the next elections.  full story