Czech Republic

Commentary: When a memorial stinks

Prague, 9.5.2014 21:15, (ROMEA) The WWII-era suffering of Romani people was not spoken of in the Czech Republic for a very long time. The horrors of the concentration camps were primarily linked here with the Holocaust of Europe's Jews.  full story

Czech Republic: Non-Romani man shouting "Sieg Heil" punches Romani man in the nose

Ostrava, 9.5.2014 18:49, (ROMEA) News server ostrava-online.cz reports that in the early morning hours of Thursday, 8 May, a 21-year-old non-Romani youth vulgarly abused a 42-year-old man of Romani origin in a gaming room in the town of Orlová. Among other loud racial insults, the youth also shouted "Sieg Heil".  full story

Czech celebrations of end of WWII - Zeman appoints new generals

Prague, 8.5.2014 22:03, (ROMEA) On the occasion of the anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Czech President Miloš Zeman has appointed new generals. Milan Píka, the son of Heliodor Píka, a Czechoslovak army officer who was executed by his country's Communist regime after a show trial in 1949, has become a Brigadier-General.  full story

Commentary: LGBT people of all races, unite!

Prague, 8.5.2014 21:02, (ROMEA) I have received an e-mail with a press release from the ARA ART association saying that more than 20 Romani men and women of minority sexual orientations gathered recently in Prague's National Minorities' House for a first-ever, historic seminar about Romani lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gender persons (LGBT). In and of itself this is not shocking - it was bound to happen, although Romani people with minority sexual orientations have a harder time in life for several reasons.  full story

Czech Republic: Úsvit EP candidate may resign over alleged credit fraud

Prague, 8.5.2014 20:32, (ROMEA) Attorney Klářá Samková faces the risk of being removed from the head of the Úsvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy) candidate list prior to the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. "We will consider all options," Jan Zilvar, a member of the party's executive board, which will make a decision on Friday, told news server iDNES.cz.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani LGBT people denied entry to nightclub

Prague, 8.5.2014 18:51, (ROMEA) During the first weekend in May more than 20 Romani men and women of minority sexual orientations gathered in Prague's National Minorities House for a first-ever, historic seminar on Romani LGBT people organized by the ARA ART association. Those attending the seminars were subsequently prevented from entering a gay nightclub in Prague because of their ethnicity.  full story

Czech Police apprehend neo-Nazi metro attacker

Prague, 8.5.2014 18:27, (ROMEA) Thanks to eyewitness testimonies, police have found the man whom they suspect of having assaulted passengers on the metro in Prague this past January and giving the Nazi salute at the Kolbenova station. The 32-year-old faces charges of rioting, expressing sympathy for a movement to suppress human rights, and approving of, denying, doubting and justifying genocide.  full story

Commentary: The human rights of salesman Miloš Zeman

Prague, 8.5.2014 2:16, (ROMEA) One of the biggest sins of the pre-1989 regime was its conceptual confusion, its twisting of words to mean something other than what they originally stood for, and its emptying what was said of all meaning. The word "peace", for example, actually meant the Cold War, while the nickname of "People's Democracy" meant the dictatorship of the proletariat.  full story

Czech commission plans to draft social housing plan by year-end

Prague, 8.5.2014 1:27, (ROMEA) Design of a new social housing model for the Czech Republic began yesterday. A commission of representatives from ministries, municipalities, NGOs and Regional Authorities has been set up to draft it.  full story

Pitomio Bandas Manic of the Workers' Dawn of Healthy Imprudence: Eradicate inadaptability from the EU!

Czech Republic, European Union, 8.5.2014 0:35, (ROMEA) Pitomio Bandas Manic, the chair of the Workers' Dawn of Healthy Imprudence (Dělnický úsvit zdravého nerozumu - DÚZN), who is its leading candidate for the EP race, would like to enforce the abolition of the European Union. Before he succeeds with that, he will fight for reduced unemployment and restrictions on immigration.  full story

Miroslav Kováč: GRRP is "unduly interfering in the internal affairs" of the Equal Opportunities Party

Prague, 7.5.2014 22:32, (ROMEA) Miroslav Kováč of the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) believes the Committee of Romani Regional Representatives (Grémium romských regionálních představitelů - GRRP), which has challenged the party to find a new chair, is "dictatorially, unduly interfering in the internal affairs of a properly-registered political party". News server Romea.cz publishes his statement here in full translation:  full story

Czech Jewish community says online anti-Semitism rising sharply

Czech Republic, 7.5.2014 21:53, (ROMEA) Manifestations of anti-Semitism in Czech on the internet doubled during 2013 compared to 2012. That is the conclusion of an annual report about anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic published by the Jewish Community in Prague.  full story

Czech Roma group asks Equal Opportunities Party to recall chair after handshake with ultra-right

Prague, 7.5.2014 20:59, (ROMEA) The Committee of Romani Regional Representatives (Grémium romských regionálních představitelů - GRRP) and members of its Facebook group have called on members of the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP), to recall party chair Štefan Tišer from his post. They are bothered by the fact that, following an emotional discussion during the 1 May demonstration in Ústí nad Labem, Tišer shook hands with the chair of the anti-Romani Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS), Tomáš Vandas.  full story

Bartoloměj Oláh: We can't have educated Roma running around here

Prague, 7.5.2014 0:39, (ROMEA) Ever since I was a child, I have often encountered people here who "mean well". These are people who have thought about my needs, who didn't want to hold me back, who didn't want me to live on the fringes of society, or to be come a "classic aggressor" because, as a Romani child, that might be the only way for me to excel.  full story

European Center of Romani Music production about Lety concentration camp for Romani people

Prague, 7.5.2014 0:04, (ROMEA) The European Center of Romani Music in Prague, in collaboration with Slovak director Dana Račková, is producing a musical theater performance entitled "Lety - 1942". The production tells the story of the fates of the victims of the Czech concentration camp of Lety by Písek, which was called a "Gypsy Camp" at the time.  full story

Czech Republic: Unique meeting of gay and lesbian Roma in Prague

Prague, 6.5.2014 23:30, (ROMEA) A unique meeting of gay and lesbian Roma took place this past weekend in Prague with the aim of awakening interest in this very specific group among Romani people themselves and among members of the majority society. The meeting took place under the auspices of David Tišer, a well-known Romani activist, with creative lectures by fashion designer Pavel Berky and photographer Lukáš Houdek.  full story

Czech Green Party EP candidate mocks xenophobic campaign by Úsvit

Prague, 6.5.2014 22:55, (ROMEA) Šádí Shanáh, a candidate for the Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) in the Czech Republic running for the European Parliament, has decided to respond to the xenophobic campaign being run by the Úsvit ("Dawn of Direct Democracy") movement of Czech MP Tomio Okamura and has posted his own e-fliers, called "Shanáh's Statement on the launch of the campaign 'Humor against Hatred - Šádí Shanáh's Dawn of Human Decency'" on the Facebook profile of the Úsvit movement and of Okamura. News server Romea.cz brings you the full translation of that statement below.  full story

Czech EP candidate brought down by video of him singing Nazi anthem

Prague, 6.5.2014 19:39, (ROMEA) The political career of 23-year-old Milan Zavada has ended before it could even begin. The youth who has been running for the ANO movement of Czech Deputy Prime Minister Babiš in this year's EP elections has had his hopes dashed by an imprudent home video recording of him at a drunken party of adolescents.  full story

Czech Police unable to find founder of Facebook page calling for murder of "gypsies"

Czech Republic, 6.5.2014 18:21, (ROMEA) During the past few weeks, various pages promoting hatred have turned up on Facebook in the Czech language with names such as "We demand gypsies be shot dead with impunity" (Požadujeme beztrestné vystřílení cikánů), "Disabled children must be mercilessly killed" (Postižené děti je třeba bez milosti zabíjet), or "My stoned wife is available for sex" (Nabízím na sex svou zfetovanou manželku). All of these pages have listed their telephone contact as that of a Jaromír Merhaut, who has nothing whatsoever to do with them.  full story

Czech Agency for Social Inclusion director: Roma shouldn't have to remind us they are here

Prague, 5.5.2014 23:42, (ROMEA) The A2 biweekly magazine has published an extensive interview with the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Martin Šimáček, about its work in excluded localities, opportunities for Romani emancipation, the participation of Romani people in integration, and efforts to influence social integration policy at the level of the Government. News server Romea.cz presents the interview in full translation below.  full story