Commentary

Karel Holomek: The fundamental problem remaining for social inclusion in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic, 13.8.2014 23:26, (ROMEA) The Social Inclusion Department at the Office of the Czech Government, otherwise know as the Agency, is preparing many new proposals for the Government as part of the program of the Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion until 2020. New measures and proposals are turning up that testify, at the very least, to the fact that all of the programs to date have not encountered results equivalent to the effort expended on them.  full story

Karel Holomek: When remembrance is out of joint

Brno, 12.8.2014 19:27, (ROMEA) The month of August here is traditionally linked with commemorating the victims of the Roma Holocaust, unfortunately usually only in Roma circles. Of course, this occasion is also marked in the official circles of government and state, but that is not the same thing as being marked by society.  full story

Commentary: Freedom of speech vs. Holocaust denial

Prague, 12.8.2014 3:33, (ROMEA) After the revolutions of 1989, freedom speech became a "sacred right" in the new democracies of the post-communist world. This was hardly suprising.  full story

Commentary: In Czech Republic, Romani evictees reunite in their old neighborhood

Ostrava, 6.8.2014 19:49, (ROMEA) On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the authorities announcing to the residents of Přednádraží Street that they had to move out of their homes, an open meeting was held in the neighborhood on Saturday, 2 August by the former residents, their acquaintances and friends. More than 300 people, including the families who were the last to leave the neighborhood last July, gathered among the decrepit buildings to mark the anniversary.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Okamura and those like him speak the language of criminals

Prague, 4.8.2014 21:17, (ROMEA) To tell you the truth, we traditional Czech Romani and Sinti people are no longer surprised by the remarks made by the Okamuras, Klauses, Čuněks, Doubravas, Řápkovás or Janáčkovás. During the time we have been living in the Czech lands, we have gotten used to quite a lot.  full story

Commentary: Behind Europe's trend of aggression, intolerance and stupidity

Prague, 24.7.2014 22:02, (ROMEA) As this year's elections to the European Parliament have confirmed, it is no accident that populism and right-wing extremism are gaining strength throughout Europe. This is part of a trend we have been able observe for the last five to 10 years.  full story

Commentary: Pets, yes, children and foreigners, no

Prague, 24.7.2014 0:16, (ROMEA) Last week news server Romea.cz published a report about the fact that the North Bohemian Water Supply and Sewerage (Severočeské vodovody a kanalizace - SČVK) company had disconnected a residential hotel in Ústí nad Labem because the owner had not paid the bills, and several people commented online. One contributor posted that she didn't understand why anyone was still living in the facility since it had experienced those problems for such a long time and there are enough apartments for rent elsewhere.  full story

Cyril Koky: Address Romani unemployment through responsible public procurement

Prague, 14.7.2014 6:48, (ROMEA) The high level of unemployment among the Romani population causes a stigmatizing factor that negative influences the majority society's position toward the Romani minority. The majority society sees the cause of unemployment more in Romani people themselves and in their "unwillingness" to work and will not admit the existence of systemic barriers in access to employment or of discrimination on the labor market.  full story

Commentary: "Are you baby-sitting all those children?"

Prague, 12.7.2014 23:42, (ROMANO VOĎI) My friend Petra causes a ruckus wherever she goes with her children. "Are you some kind of camp? Are you baby-sitting them for someone? Did you adopt them all?" total strangers unashamedly ask her on the street, in the shop, on the tram, even when she visits the emergency room.  full story

Czech Deputy Culture Minister on Prima TV's antigypsyism

Prague, 12.7.2014 0:18, (ROMEA) The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting in the Czech Republic has included among its priorities for 2014 more consistent monitoring of the stereotyping of minorities in the media. The council is primarily monitoring compliance with the provision of the Act on the Operation of Radio and Television Broadcasting that bans broadcasters from confirming prejudicial stereotypes against ethnic, racial or religious minorities in the programs they broadcast.  full story

Response to adoptive mother's blog about Romea.cz article

Prague, 10.7.2014 20:42, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 3 July, news server Romea.cz published an article by Saša Uhlová entitled Adoption and foster care: "We had room at the table". That article, which was about foster care and the stories of those who decide to aid parentless children, touched on the book Year of the Rooster (Rok kohouta) by the author Tereza Boučková.  full story

Commentary: Racist drivel infests Czech online discussions of World Cup

Prague, 7.7.2014 20:45, (ROMEA) The World Cup in Brazil has become yet another pretext for the tasteless exhibitionism of Czech xenophobes. The online discussions posted beneath the articles published on our most-read news servers are being exploited to spread drivel about the superiority of the "white race" and to incite hatred of everyone who is different.  full story

Response from adoptive father Jiří Bouček to "Adoption and foster care: We had room at the table"

Prague, 7.7.2014 18:23, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz publishes a response from Jiří Bouček to our article entitled "Adoption and foster care: We had room at the table" in full translation below:  full story

Commentary: Death in Czech town shows state of Romani empowerment

Prague, 25.6.2014 23:58, (ROMEA) The current story of Romani people in the Czech Republic is not just about court cases, hate marches, or problems related to discrimination. Beneath the surface, a process of empowerment is underway.  full story

Karel Holomek: "Positive discrimination" - nonsense or a total misunderstanding?

Brno, 25.6.2014 20:27, (ROMEA) The news that Czech Human Rights Minister Dienstbier intends to submit the 2020 Romani Integration Strategy to the Government has sparked horror in political circles across the political spectrum here, or at best has sparked a reaction of total rejection. This has happened on the basis of a suggestive question asked by the tabloid daily Parlamentní listy, namely, whether these politicians support the "positive discrimination" of Romani people?  full story

Commentary: Active, emancipated Roma by 2020 is goal of Czech strategy

Prague, 20.6.2014 17:12, (ROMEA) Government strategies are not usually the most attractive or readable of texts. As far as the position of Romani people is concerned, readers can find many government documents have been produced already, including the Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion or the Strategy for Social Inclusion.  full story

Violeta Naydenova: For Roma in France, Is Climate of Intolerance Fueling Violence?

Bucharest/Paris, 19.6.2014 0:45, (ROMEA) Somewhere in a hospital in Paris tonight, a Roma teenager lies in a coma fighting for his life. Accounts suggest that the boy, known to us only as Darius, was accused of burglary by residents of a poverty-stricken public housing development in Pierefitte-sur-Sienne; they subsequently abducted him, beat him into a coma in a basement, and dumped his body in a shopping trolley.  full story

Commentary: Pope Francis is right - Roma are often modern-day slaves

Prague, 18.6.2014 19:45, (ROMEA) Recently several famous figures or those enjoying a certain authority have been standing up for Romani people and human rights in general. For example, Madeleine Albright has been following the lack of respect for Romani people in the Czech Republic and elsewhere and has expressed how disturbing she finds it.  full story

Commentary: Slovakia's Fascist governor and racist beauty queen

Bánská Bystrica/Bratislava, 13.6.2014 20:31, (ROMEA) Racist calls for the isolation, deportation and even the shooting of Romani people, as well as fake reports of fabulously high amounts of welfare being drawn by them, are turning up in both public and virtual spaces in Slovakia more and more frequently. The center of this Fascist ideology, inciting a war by "decent citizens" on "social parasites", has become the Bánská Bystrica Region ever since the election of ultra-nationalist Marián Kotleba as governor there, but other parts of the country are not immune.  full story

Commentary: Deadline for adopting Czech social housing concept is unrealistic

Prague, 12.6.2014 1:48, (ROMEA) Three months have elapsed since the Czech Government approved its program declaration stating that social housing is a priority. We have heard from many government politicians that work is underway on the Social Housing Concept and how important it is.  full story