News

Analysis: Czech businessman wages disinformation campaign from Dubai to increase appetite for authoritarianism

18.8.2016 9:04 Pro-Russian, conspiratorial, disinformation websites have recently become an established, well-known element of the online Czech media environment. Czech-language social networking sites are also involved in disseminating the uniquely "guaranteed truths" produced by these pro-Russian sites.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court to review town's forced relocation of Romani residents

17.8.2016 12:14 The almost decade-long dispute between the Czech town of Vsetín and the Romani residents whom the town evicted and then forcibly relocated into villages entirely outside of the Zlín Region will now be reviewed by the Czech Constitutional Court. The town of Vsetín has filed a constitutional complaint in the matter.  full story

videoGerman Vice-Chancellor and Social Democratic chair gives neo-Nazis the finger

17.8.2016 11:00 German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who chairs the Social Democratic Party (SPD), raised his middle finger last week in the direction of neo-Nazi demonstrators protesting him during an election campaign appearance in Lower Saxony. Video footage of the incident, which happened last Friday, has been posted online (see below).  full story

Czech town rejects ombudsperson's critique, says it did not discriminate against and segregate Romani pupils

16.8.2016 18:51 The Czech town of Krásná Lípa is rejecting criticism from the ombudsperson over the way a "Romani" class has been established at the local primary school. The Public Defender of Rights (ombudsperson) visited the town at the end of May and recommended the local administration take several steps to prevent discrimination in future and reduce the risk that anti-discrimination lawsuits might be filed against it  full story

Turkey faces criticism for planned abolition of punishment for the sexual abuse of children

16.8.2016 16:21 On the basis of a request from a lower court, Turkey's Constitutional Court decided last month to abolish a provision regulating the punishment of sexual crimes committed against children younger than 15. The district court had complained that current legislation does not distinguish between age groups and treats children between age 4 and age 14 equivalently.  full story

Czech MP Stanislav Huml shares Holocaust denial video online

16.8.2016 13:21 The weekly Euro in the Czech Republic reports that Stanislav Huml, an MP for the Czech Social Democratic Party, has published a video denying the Holocaust to his Facebook profile. The video, which Huml called "brutal and [politically] incorrect" but "inspiring", is a sort of criticism of the "ethnomasochism" of Western civilization, defined as a feeling of guilt for the historical injustices of colonialism, slavery, etc., including what the video terms the "alleged" Holocaust.  full story

Daniela Cincibusová: Reflections on a visit to a former death factory

16.8.2016 9:48 Oświęcim, a small town in southern Poland, is infamous as the location of Auschwitz, the Nazis' biggest concentration and extermination camp not just for Jewish people, but also for Romani people and anybody who did not conform. Many innocent people died there.  full story

Czech court says police must further investigate ultra-right activist's hate speech about Muslims

15.8.2016 17:20 The Regional Court in České Budějovice has returned the case against ultra-right activist Martin Konvička, who is suspected of inciting hatred against the religion of Islam, back to the public prosecutor. The case was initially returned to the prosecutor by the first-instance court there.  full story

Czech Republic: Gambling magnate and media businessman behind "pay-to-play" journalism

15.8.2016 16:35 The current scandal around South Moravian Regional Governor Michal Hašek (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who used public money to buy PR articles in a regional newspaper and in the tabloid Parlamentní listy, has given us a peek behind the curtain at how the media group whose motto is "Nobody dictates what we write" actually works. That same group, Our Media, also owns shares in the pro-Russian website Protiproud, which is run by the former spokesperson for former Czech President Klaus, and in the Praha TV station.  full story

videoVIDEO: Romani Gallery Phundaro Vudar - "Oppression-Depression-Passion"

15.8.2016 13:21 Last week, as part of the Prague Pride festival, the ARA ART organization opened its third exhibition at the Gallery Phundaro Vudar. The exhibition features the work of a young gay Romani photographer, Milan Junek, who does art photography of male nudes.
 full story

videoPrague Pride 2016: LGBT community dances through Prague, Roma in the parade too

14.8.2016 14:56 Yesterday afternoon Prague was the setting for the Pride March of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals that was the high point of the sixth annual Prague Pride festival of sexual minorities. Organizers estimate this year’s attendance at around 40 000.  full story

German domestic intelligence service concerned ultra-right groups might form

13.8.2016 9:02 Given the increasing number of attacks on immigrants in Germany, it cannot be ruled out that ultra-right groups could arise there that would proceed with perpetrating such violence in an organized fashion. Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV), informed the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) of those concerns yesterday.  full story

Commentary: Merkel, refugees, no to terrorism, Echo24 "mooing", Putin has already won

12.8.2016 17:24 This commentary reflects on selected events from this past week in the media. Commentator František Kostlán gives us his take on the news.  full story

Czech celebrity's music video against Islam earns ridicule, but at what cost?

12.8.2016 8:00 Erik Tabery, Editor-in-Chief of the Czech weekly RESPEKT, has commented on the phenomenon of celebrity Olivie Žižková and her music video against Islam, "Europe, Start Breathing" (Evropo dýchej). "We all love videos of people we can laugh at because they are a unique opportunity to feel better. The singer Olivie Žižková and her song 'Evropo dýchej' offer many reasons to feel better in this regard, but it's not really a laughing matter, for several reasons," Tabery writes for news server Respect.cz after Žižková was interviewed by journalist Daniela Drtinová of the DVTV channel.  full story

Commentary: Czech tabloid misinforms public that Romani children in Varnsdorf "don't go to school"

11.8.2016 18:59 After watching a recently televised interview between the journalist Daniela Drtinová and anthropologist Radka Vepřková about the situation in the Czech town of Varnsdorf, I was curious to see what the tabloid news server Parlamentní listy (PL) was publishing about it - and what I found was no surprise. PL once again has produced its own particular interpretation of what was said, this time cherry-picking from the anthropologist's answers and also directly misquoting her.  full story

Most Iraqi refugees first brought to the Czech Republic have received church asylum in Germany

11.8.2016 15:02 The group of Iraqi citizens who first came to the Czech Republic thanks to a special program run by the Generation 21 Foundation will ultimately remain in Germany. Most of the asylum-seekers from the 25-member group have received church asylum in the Saxon community of Herrnhut.  full story

Roma at Prague Pride festival say sexual minorities are still taboo in their community

11.8.2016 13:17 Part of the ongoing Prague Pride week traditionally is a segment of the program produced by the Romani association ARA ART. This association has long been involved not just in art with an educational and social scope, but also in specializing on the issue of multiple discrimination and working with the Romani LGBT community.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Muslims attend Catholic mass in Prague, condemn violence

11.8.2016 9:59 Approximately 80 Muslims from abroad and from the Czech Republic assembled in front of the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart yesterday evening in the Prague neighborhood of Vinohrady in order to protest against the growing incidence of violence in Europe. To great media attention, some of them symbolically attended mass at the church, which was absolutely full.  full story

Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry responds to the myths now multiplying about social housing

10.8.2016 17:14 The Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry has responded to the distorted information and multiple myths that are currently spreading about the law on social housing. The ministry has published a list of "Eight Delusions" about this law that describes it in detail, including how it will be applied in practice.
 full story

Czech Republic: ARA ART exhibition features art photography of male nudes

10.8.2016 12:32 As part of the Prague Pride week festival celebrating the LGBT community, the ARA ART organization is opening its third exhibition in the series organized by its Gallery Phundaro Vudar. The exhibition features work by a young photographer of Romani origin, Milan Junek, who specializes in art photography including nudes.  full story