News

Czech TV journalist Richard Samko on the "Romani star" scandal

4.4.2015 19:10 It took me a few days to be able to write a response to the article recently published by Mf DNES and iDNES.cz about Klaudia Dudová. I am disgusted.  full story

Slovakia: Mayor and Romani residents say police brutalized them, police deny it

Slovakia, 4.4.2015 2:25 Approximately 200 - 300 Romani people gathered on 3 April outside the local authority in the municipality of Vrbnica (Michalovce District) to protest a police intervention that took place during a house-to-house search there on Thursday, 2 April code-named "100". Mayor Jaroslav Tokár held a press conference to report that several people had been injured during what he said was a brutal police intervention.  full story

Commentary: Tabloids are based on stupidity, with racism as a side effect

4.4.2015 1:05 "I knew she was the actress from the film 'The Way Out'. That was a guarantee for me of a certain seriousness. I told myself that it's not possible that all Roma are the same," says a landlord whom Klaudia Dudová owes approximately CZK 25 000 in back rent.  full story

Slovakia: Blaze in Romani settlement deprives 70 people of housing

3.4.2015 23:54 A fire broke out on Monday, 30 March in a Romani settlement in the municipality of Malcov, Bardějov district in Slovakia. A total of 15 cabins were burned to the ground and approximately 70 people were made homeless, 30 of them children; no one was injured.  full story

US Ambassador to OSCE: Roma issues are Europe's unfinished human rights business

3.4.2015 23:30, (ROMEA) In advance of International Romani Day on 8 April, US Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel B. Baer held a press conference about how the OSCE works on Roma issues. Journalists from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Slovakia and the United States joined the teleconference, including Romea.cz.  full story

Klaudia Dudová responds to Czech article about back rent: "I wanted to help my family"

3.4.2015 0:42 In response to an article entitled "Award-winning star of the film 'The Way Out' owes back rent" ("Oceněná hvězda filmu Cesta ven dluží na nájemném") published by the Czech news server iDNES.cz and on the front page of the print edition of the daily Mladá fronta DNES under the headline "Star Romani actress never paid for apartment" ("Romská herecká hvězda neplatila za byt") on 1 April 2015, as well as in response to many related media stories, the production team of the film "The Way Out" has published the following response from Klaudia Dudová  full story

Czech journalists criticize paper for article about Romani actress's alleged debts

2.4.2015 23:23, (ROMEA) Yesterday, 1 April, the front page of the Czech daily Mladá fronta DNES and the main page of its online news server iDNES.cz featured an article by reporter Artur Janoušek with the headline "Star Romani actress never paid for apartment" ("Romská herecká hvězda neplatila za byt"). While the vast majority of those posting comments to news server iDNES.cz were enthusiastic about this news and posted racist comments about it, some journalists are horrified by the lengths to which this daily, previously considered "serious", has gone by publishing the piece - many still cannot believe this was not actually an April Fool's joke or that the paper can have been serious about publishing it.  full story

Romea.cz Code of Discussion

2.4.2015 15:44 On the basis of our experiences with offering discussion space beneath each article we have decided to create a Code of Discussion for news server Romea.cz. This code is not new and exists on many news servers.  full story

Czech Republic: Visiting season opens at Lety memorial

Lety u Písku, 1.4.2015 0:42, (ROMEA) The memorial at Lety by Písek will launch yet another season for visitors on Tuesday, 31 March 2015 with a program for youth called "Closer Together" ("Sobě blíž") which will feature performances by Mário Bihári and Bára Hrzánová, among others.  full story

Czech Republic: Street Battle Jam dance competition comes to Khamoro World Roma Festival for the first time

31.3.2015 23:58 This year the Street Battle Jam dance competition will take place for the first time as part of the Khamoro World Roma Festival. The competition will take place on 30 May 2015 from 9:30 to 19:00 at the Vltavská metro stop in Prague.  full story

City of Prague establishes National Minority Committee with seat for Roma

Prague, 31.3.2015 1:12, (ROMEA) More than 5 % of the residents of Prague are of a nationality other than Czech. The City Council has therefore fulfilled its legal obligations and established a National Minority Committee with representatives of 12 nationalities.  full story

European antiracism campaign uses positive images of Roma

Czech Republic, 31.3.2015 0:02, (ROMEA) Several days ago an original photographic exhibition brought a Europe-wide campaign of several months' duration to a close, a campaign fighting in fresh ways against stereotypes held by majority populations against Romani people. The antiracist media campaign, part of the Roma Matrix project, was created by six partners in five European countries.  full story

Czech film series "Bastards" humiliates Romani people

30.3.2015 20:54 Is the "Bastards" film series a serious portrayal of the environment in the Czech "practical schools", or is it just a sampling of generalizations, prejudices and stereotypes about Romani people? Martina Šafářová, a student at the University of Pardubice, has analyzed Magnusek's series in her thesis.  full story

UK: Family from Czech Republic charged with human trafficking

Plymouth, England, 30.3.2015 19:55, (ROMEA) A five-member family originally from the Czech Republic has been charged with human trafficking by authorities in the southeastern English town of Plymouth. People trafficked from the Czech Republic were forced to sleep in a garage, on the ground, or in a cupboard beneath a staircase and to give most of their pay to those who had trafficked them.  full story

Promoter of status quo segregation believes the Czech state takes excellent care of Romani children

30.3.2015 2:55 Jiří Pilař, chair of the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů - ASP) is a longtime defender of the "special schools" who has been fighting with the advocates promoting what he calls "inclusion at any price". He recently published a commentary on the educational news server Česká škola (Czech School) about the current state of his fight on behalf of the "practical schools" (previously called "special schools") and the recent amendment of the Schools Act.  full story

Czech women kidnapped in Pakistan two years ago are back home

30.3.2015 0:32 Antonie Chrástecká and Hana Humpálová, two Czech women kidnapped in 2013 in Pakistan, have given interviews to the Turkish press agency Anadolu after their recent release claiming that they do not know which group was behind their abduction and that their kidnappers never identified themselves. Reportedly the worst part of their captivity was the beginning, when they had to get used to the sudden change and feared their captors.  full story

Computer game lets white people experience what it's like to be a bullied minority

29.3.2015 23:48 Players of the computer survival game Rust can no longer choose what their avatar looks like but will have an appearance randomly assigned to them. The gaming websites Gamerspot.com and Kotaku.com have reported on the change.  full story

Commentary: If I were Romani, I'd go crazy

29.3.2015 20:25 "To be Romani all too frequently means living in an excluded locality. To live in a ghetto means being close to the drug mafia, loan sharks, and speculators in social housing, to be in the sights of those who traffic in poverty. It means to experience despair, frustration , hopelessness and resignation. In such a situation, merely finding the will to escape it is a minor miracle," writes commentator Martin Vrba in an article for the Czech online magazine A2larm.cz.  full story

Sweden: Lawsuit over police list of Romani people begins

28.3.2015 20:29 A Swedish nonprofit organization is suing the state over its police registry of Romani people, which contained the personal data of persons connected by nothing but their ethnicity. News server Newsweek.com reported on the case yesterday.
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Karel Holomek: Segregation is a source of crime, frustration and hatred

28.3.2015 19:45 I do not want to a priori suspect Mr Čunek of endeavoring to harm Romani people, even though he is succeeding exceptionally well at exactly that. He is being applauded on an open stage and people undoubtedly ultimately sent him back as Mayor of Vsetín and even as Senator for exactly that reason.  full story