News

Is Czech folk singer's new song racism or social commentary?

19.8.2016 10:05 Is the Czech folk singer Jaromír Nohavica continuing his previous racism, or is his most recent song actually an apt criticism of society? It's very difficult to unequivocally tell, but Nohavica's previous seriously-intended anti-Romani song should be a warning.  full story

Commentary: Czech Social Democrats compete with ultra-right to see who can be more racist and xenophobic

19.8.2016 8:24 Czech MP Stanislav Huml of the Social Democrats, who is infamous for his extreme positions against Islam or refugees, as well as for his conspiracy theories about 9/11, recently published a video on his Facebook profile denying the Holocaust. He called it "brutal, [politically] incorrect, but inspiring".  full story

Germany recalls last year's violent clashes between police and those opposed to refugees in Heidenau

18.8.2016 18:28 One year ago, Germany was shaken by the violence that played itself out in Heidenau. On the nights of 21, 22 and 23 August 2015, the small Saxon town was awaiting the arrival of hundreds of refugees for whom an accommodation facility had been quickly prepared there.  full story

German Chancellor: Islamist terrorism not the fault of asylum-seekers

18.8.2016 14:49 Reuters reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that Germany has had problems with Islamist terrorism for many years. The arrival of refugees in the country is not related to its current problem with such extremists.  full story

Slovak Government wants battle against extremism to be more effective

18.8.2016 13:50 Yesterday the Slovak Government approved proposing amendments to the criminal law and the code of criminal procedure in order to more effectively battle manifestations of extremism. The Slovak Justice Ministry announced that only one court will render decisions about such crimes in future, among other innovations.  full story

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