Czech Republic

Commentary: "Fear and Loathing" in the Dawn of Direct Democracy party

Prague, 9.4.2014 20:28, (ROMEA) Czech author Bohumil Hrabal once wrote of his friend Vladimír Boudník that he was renewing the myth of Dionysius (the drunken beauty who is the source of all creative action) and the myth of Antaeus (the hero who was only strong as long as he remained in contact with the earth). Czech MP Tomio Okamura is now reviving a few myths of his own as well.  full story

Czech Gov't report: More than 41 000 people consider Romanes their mother tongue

Prague, 9.4.2014 18:40, (ROMEA) More than 41 000 people in the Czech Republic consider Romanes their mother tongue. Four-fifths of them also consider Czech their mother tongue as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani activist says excluded localities aren't just about welfare

Karviná, 9.4.2014 0:01, (ROMEA) They may be poor, but their culture is rich. That's how Milan Horváth, General Director of the Excluded Locality Center (Centrum pro vyloučenou lokalitu) describes the group of people who have come together in the New Town neighborhood of the Czech town of Karviná.  full story

Miroslav Kováč: International Romani Day is a day for Roma to present themselves

Prague, 8.4.2014 20:42, (ROMEA) There is no doubt that Romani people are one of the largest minorities in the world. Their numbers in Europe are estimated at more than 12 million.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister on Int'l Romani Day: Let's address the situation seriously

Prague, 8.4.2014 19:49, (ROMEA) Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dientsbier has issued a press release on the occasion of International Romani Day. News server Romea.cz publishes it in full translation here.  full story

Roma in Europe: Demanding justice and protection in the face of violence

EU, 8.4.2014 9:37, (ROMEA) European states are failing to curb and in some cases even fuelling discrimination, intimidation and violence against Roma, Amnesty International said on International Roma Day on 8 April.  full story

Czech Republic: International Romani Day celebrated 8 April

Czech Republic, 8.4.2014 6:44, (ROMEA) International Romani Day is celebrated annually on 8 April. On this day, Romani people commemorate the historic first-ever global congress of the International Romani Union which was held near London in 1979 at the initiative of Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon of Great Britain, Jarko Jovanović of the former Yugoslavia, Mateo Maximoff representing the Manouche of France, and other Romani representatives and scholars of Romani studies.  full story

videoNorman L. Eisen, US Ambassador to the Czech Republic: Bachtalo tumaro Maškarthemutno Romano džives! Happy International Day of Roma!

Prague, 8.4.2014 4:00, (ROMEA) Good morning and Happy International Day of Roma! Lačho džives u bachtalo tumaro Maškarthemutno Romano džives!  full story

Czech EdMin against educating Romani children separately in Romanes

Prague, 7.4.2014 23:54, (ROMEA) The Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MŠMT) has responded to proposals made by the TOP 09 party, specifically, by Czech MP Anna Putnová, about the education of Romani children and has fundamentally rejected them. Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek said the notion of instructing Romani children in both Czech and Romanes or placing them in segregated classes was counterproductive and ill-conceived.  full story

Draft Czech intelligence report: Anti-Roma campaign of 2013 was a significant ultra-right action

Prague, 7.4.2014 23:23, (ROMEA) Czech news weekly TÝDEN.cz reports that during the year 2013, extremists in the Czech Republic organized 272 events, 132 of which were organized by right-wing extremists and 140 of which were organized by left-wing extremists. The number of extremism-related crimes rose slightly to 217 cases, while two persons were given prison sentences without the possibility of parole for racially-motivated crimes, 62 were put on probation, and four persons were sentenced to performing community service work.  full story

Commentary: Czech media choices justify their means

Prague, 6.4.2014 22:37, (ROMEA) On Sunday, 30 March, TV Nova broadcast a reportage about violence in the Czech town of Tanvald. Allegedly, several mothers had called TV Nova's editors to tell them their children had been attacked by the children of "inadaptables".  full story

Czech Republic: Prague 1 mayor rejects neo-Nazi lecture

Prague, 6.4.2014 3:21, (ROMEA) A neo-Nazi lecture scheduled to take place on 5 April in facilities owned by the Prague 1 municipality was prevented from going forward. On 4 April, Prague 1 Mayor Oldřich Lomecký immediately cancelled the municipality's leasing of its social centers to the neo-Nazi group.  full story

Czech Republic: Olah Roma elect new king

Hradec Králové, 6.4.2014 2:59, (ROMEA) Representatives of the Olah Roma selected a new king today in the Czech town of Hradec Králové. Robert Beneš of Brno, a 52-year-old entrepreneur, became king and says he now intends to create a new Olah Roma government.  full story

Czech neo-Nazis dupe management at venue

6.4.2014 2:37, (ROMEA) The Antifa.cz website has reported that a concert by the bands Lucky Punch, All Bandits and In Memoriam took place today at the Na Slamníku pub in Prague. According to the website, the organizers of the event chose a different tactic this time and scheduled a performance by non-existent bands thanks to which they were able to dupe the staff at the pub.  full story

Commentary: Roma meeting with Czech Human Rights Minister was good

Prague, 6.4.2014 1:31, (ROMEA) The recent meeting between Romani people from all regions of the Czech Republic and the Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation, Jiří Dienstbier, was a very pleasant surprise. I first intended to write a classic reportage about it, without any personal remarks - brief, to the point, and objective - but I can't rid myself of my personal opinion and particular point of view, so this will be a cross between a blog and a news report.  full story

Czech Police reward four teenagers for saving a woman's life

Ústí nad Labem, 5.4.2014 0:36, (ROMEA) Four teenagers received awards today from Vladimír Danyluk, the director of the Ústí Regional Police, for saving someone's life. Last week the four saved the life of an older woman who was probably about to die as the result of a suicide attempt.  full story

Czech Police never found mosque vandal

Brno, 4.4.2014 20:38, (ROMEA) Police never determined who placed a pile of pork bones in front of the doors of a mosque on Vídeňská Street in Brno just before the Christmas holidays last year. The perpetrator of the offensive vandalism spread lard on the door handle and hung a piece of pork flesh on it as well.  full story

Czech art project appropriates "inadaptable" label

Stříbro, 4.4.2014 19:01, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 3 April, the advertising spaces in the West Bohemian town of Stříbro were flooded with photographs by Lukáš Houdek from his 2011 "Theory of Adaptability" (Teorie přizpůsobivosti) cycle. In a very direct and funny way, the photographs show how the label "inadaptable" is being disseminated by the Czech media and politicians.  full story

ERRC: On the Eve of the EU Roma Summit, Respect for the Human Rights of Roma is an Unfulfilled Promise

Budapest, 4.4.2014 14:05, (ROMEA) Member States of the European Union and candidate countries are meeting today in Brussels, just before International Roma Day on 8 April, to assess progress in addressing the problem of Roma exclusion in Europe. Unfortunately, the commitment to combatting discrimination and human rights abuses against Roma remains largely no more than a promise, despite the creation of an EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies and the Decade of Roma Inclusion. Throughout the EU and the countries aspiring to join the EU, Roma face significant rights abuses with an inadequate state response. A few examples illustrate the persistence of some of the most egregious abuses in EU Member States and candidate countries, relating to segregation, violence against Roma, and forced evictions leading to homelessness.  full story

Roma integration: EU Framework triggers first results

Brussels, 4.4.2014 13:41, (ROMEA) Concerted action by the European Commission has put Roma integration firmly on the political agenda across Europe. The first signs of improvement in the lives of Roma are slowly starting to show, says a new report unveiled today on Member States' progress achieved under the EU Framework for national Roma strategies.  full story