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Tereza Heková: I treat others the way they treat me

27.9.2016 6:12 Tereza Heková is a Romani college student who graduated from secondary professional school in the Czech town of Most with a focus on Public Administration. Today she is focused on that same field at college and is in her third year of studying at the private CEVRO Institute.  full story

Roma Spirit Czech Republic: Deadline for nominations THIS FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER

26.9.2016 21:27 The final opportunity to nominate individuals and organizations for the 2016 Roma Spirit awards in the Czech Republic will be this Friday, 30 September. The mission of Roma Spirit, which is held by the Michael Kocáb Foundation in collaboration with the Open Society NGO (Otevřená společnost, o.p.s.) and the Museum of Romani Culture, is to appreciate and popularize the work of individuals and organizations who contribute to improving the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

US Professor Ian Hancock on the Miss Roma competition: Romani girls do not need to sell their beauty

26.9.2016 21:21 The finale of the 16th annual competition "Miss Czechoslovak Roma", which was held on Saturday, 24 September in the Czech town of Hodonín, prompted many different reactions. In addition to commentaries on social networking sites, Petr Uhl published a critical article about the Romani beauty contest on news server Romea.cz.  full story

Miroslav Kováč: Longtime racist politician hands out matches during Czech elections

26.9.2016 12:49 Liana Janáčková is a former Senator and longtime Mayor of the Municipal Department of Mariánské Hory in the City of Ostrava who is primarily infamous for her blatantly extremist position toward the Romani minority, and she is running for the Senate again this year. This time around she is running for the INDEPENDENTS (NEZÁVISLÍ) movement in the Ostrava-město precinct, while at the same time, in the elections to the Regional Authority, she is heading the candidate list for that movement in the Moravian-Silesian Region.  full story

Czech Republic: Four concentration camps for Roma ran during WWII in Liberec

26.9.2016 7:44 This is the first of a three-part series about the concentration camps for Romani people located in the Czech town of Liberec that ran from 1939 - 1943 when the country was the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The series is based on articles by Ivan Rous in his books "Camps and Wartime Production" ("Tábory a válečná výroba") and "Blank Spaces in Holocaust Research" ("Bílá místa ve výzkumu holokaustu").  full story

Commentary: A children's playground, common dialogue, and the media

25.9.2016 20:54 In mid-September the Lidové noviny daily paper opened up an important topic by publishing a sketch of an everyday experience at a children's playground in the Czech Republic. What followed was a passionate discussion about whether the article itself was inciting racism or whether it was analyzing the causes of racism, whether a person should "speak up" in certain situations or leave them in tears.  full story

Commentary: The Miss Roma competition does more harm than good

25.9.2016 18:29 On Saturday evening the "Miss Roma 2016" competition was held at the House of Culture in the Czech town of Hodonín for the 12th year in a row. I have always had mixed feelings about this contest, but I have never before publicly discussed what bothers me about it because it was always clear to me that it involves a significant emancipatory charge for some Romani community members.  full story

Adriana Trejtnarová: Romani people are receiving support - we are studying

23.9.2016 13:41 She is studying at the Czech Agricultural University, she is interested in diplomacy and social affairs, and she isn't afraid to share her opinions with the public.
Adriana Trejtnarová (age 21) has come a long way already in her life.  full story

Czech court acquits defendant of disseminating radical Islamic book

22.9.2016 14:46 Yesterday a court in the Czech Republic acquitted the former chair of the Prague Muslim Community, Vladimír Sáňka, of disseminating a radical Islamic book. According to the Prague 1 District Court, the book promotes an ideology for which it is not possible to criminally prosecute anybody.  full story

Czech right-wing extremists arguing over why racist from USA didn't speak at anti-EU demo

22.9.2016 11:10 Last weekend's demonstration on Saturday, 17 September 2016 on Wenceslas Square in Prague, entitled "Together for Leaving the EU", was supposed to feature an appearance by American racist Matthew-John Heimbach, who was invited by the Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS). Heimbach is linked to the Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) and "White Power" organizations in the USA.  full story

Analysis: Refugee curfew relaxed in German town of Bautzen, opponents of racism assemble undisturbed

22.9.2016 7:54 One week ago the long-term tensions in the town of Bautzen in the German region of Lausitz, located just north of the border with the Czech Republic, escalated. The clash between neo-Nazis, police officers, and a small group of young refugees resulted in the refugees being chased throughout the entire town and was reported on by news server Romea.cz in detail here.  full story

Turkey: Dom refugees from Syria find refuge in the Tarlabaşi neighborhood of Istanbul

21.9.2016 20:38 The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that children from a community known in Syria as the Dom can be seen these days selling bottled water to drivers passing through the northwestern part of Istanbul in the area around Taksim Square. Due to the crisis in the Middle East, an estimated 26 000 members of that community are now homeless.  full story

Eva Danišová: Czech society has already crossed the line between intolerance and racism

21.9.2016 18:48 On 16 September 2016, the Office of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs and the Secretariat of the Czech Government Council on National Minorities held a training on the principles of community work and development of the skills necessary for negotiating with local governments. The training was attended by Romani representatives who negotiate with the local authorities in the places where they work and also in the socially excluded localities in which they move.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister opens important expert conference on social housing

21.9.2016 17:07 On Friday, 16 September, an expert conference entitled "Social housing: Sharing practices and draft legislation" was held at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic and attended by academic experts, representatives of organizations involved in social housing, and social workers. The conference discussed experiences and practical problems, familiarizing those present with the current draft of legislative changes in this area.  full story

Analysis: The phenomenon of the Alternative for Germany party

21.9.2016 16:20 Last weekend in Germany, the state of Berlin elected new representatives to the state legislature and to local municipal councils. The results of the elections once again demonstrate that the distribution of political forces in the various states is unique in each location.  full story

Yveta Kenety: We won't get rid of prejudice until we get to know each other

21.9.2016 10:44 Yveta Kenety (age 45) is from Přerov. She graduated from the Business Academy and Language School and then completed her studies in Bulgarian and Serbian at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University.  full story

Commentary: Czech "hero" reports the racist news from a children's playground

20.9.2016 8:00 The Czech media panopticum has offered consumers a lot recently: Olivie Žižková and her man filming themselves during attacks of paranoia on mass transit in Prague, the "schizophrenic Barbie" running for office with her untreated Messiah complex - and now there's another. An editor at the newspaper Lidové Noviny, Přemysl Houda, has written a column called "Playground Racism" in which he laments an episode he recently experienced between the playground slides.  full story

videoCzech Human Rights Minister: Hatred of minorities is being exploited during elections

20.9.2016 6:56 Political populism takes many forms, but in recent weeks some Czech Government ministers have begun to abuse the topic of minorities. In the run-up to elections it is customary that thanks to more aggressive campaigns and efforts to reach potential voters, the borders of what is permissible unfortunately shift in the direction of public attacks on certain groups that frequently take place through the media.  full story

Czech Police apprehend suspected perpetrators who spray-painted Nazi symbols on venues supporting Government's HateFree campaign

20.9.2016 6:34 Police officers have accused five youths of spray-painting cafés and shops involved in the Czech Government's Hate Free campaign with Nazi symbols and threatening messages this spring. Those accused face up to three years in prison for property damage and showing sympathy for a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-Romani politician spreads hoax that Roma are bilking the state - through lightbulbs

19.9.2016 20:16 Jiří Maria Sieber, a candidate for the Czech Senate from the Order of the Nation (Řád národa) political movement, has reported on his Facebook page that Romani people are allegedly leasing very expensive LED light bulbs from the RWE power utility for which the "welfare office" reimburses them. Allegedly the Romani ratepayers then immediately pawn the light bulbs in order to improve their financial situations.  full story