Commentary

Patrik Banga: Violence should not be minimized, but "Čhikatar het" action deserves praise overall

Prague, 28.6.2013 17:17, (ROMEA) This commentary was first published in Czech on Monday, 24 June 2013. For reporting on the incidents it refers to, please see http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-anti-roma-demonstrations-tomorrow-in-duchcov-over-assault and
http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-injuries-after-dsss-provokes-street-warfare-in-duchcov-police-use-tear-gas-and-water-cannon  full story

Commentary: Absurdly low sentences for murderous hunt for Roma in Czech Republic

Prague, 20.6.2013 18:44, (ROMEA) A new wave of open antigypsyism has recently resurfaced in the Czech Republic, one of several in this country's recent history. Both poverty and unemployment are contributing factors to it.  full story

Commentary: When ignorance of the law produces racism

Prague, 13.6.2013 20:53, (ROMEA) After the recent incidents in Duchcov (see http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-police-only-one-romani-person-involved-in-new-incident-in-duchcov) discussion of a supposed "double standard" in the Czech legal system has once again taken off on social networking sites. For now, only verbal attacks are being made in general against all the members of a particular minority in this society, one that allegedly does not obey the laws and abuses the welfare system (those attacks, however, could soon become physical as well).  full story

Commentary: Let's distance ourselves from Roma who give us a bad reputation

Prague, 8.6.2013 19:09, (ROMEA) What do you think the effect is of headlines like the following: “Roma commit another brutal attack: 12-year-old boy beaten with sticks in Duchcov!" Many Czech people read that information and think: "Again? How much longer and we going to stand for this? Why is everyone conniving with them, even closing down the internet discussions so we can't even say our piece?!"  full story

Commentary: Violence in Duchov and Teplice, superficial media are worsening coexistence

Prague, 6.6.2013 21:53, (ROMEA) This commentary was originally published in Czech on 29 May 2013.  full story

Commentary: My father would not have tolerated what the Duchcov attacker did

Duchcov, 1.6.2013 19:47, (ROMEA) So many people, and not just recently, have been cursing us Roma (or Gypsies, whichever you prefer). I'm not going to write about the recent murder of a Romani man in Teplice, because the police are refusing to say anything about that case. What bothers me today is the brutal assault by a Romani boy on a married couple in Duchcov and the opinions expressed online about how that incident should be "addressed".  full story

Marcel Grünza: Gadje, what are you so proud of?

Liberec, 28.5.2013 22:37, (ROMEA) I have just read a blog posting here entitled "Have you ever seen a gypsy in a library?" I am disgusted by these outbursts by would-be Czechs about Romani people. Some of them consider us all lazy, uneducated parasites who don't work, who don't know how to read and write, and who scrounge off of society.  full story

Commentary: Be proud you are Romani

Prague, 3.5.2013 20:13, (Romano vod'i) Some children were playing on the playground. They were probably being too loud because they were really into their game. Some might say they were whooping it up. A neighbor didn’t like it and started yelling at them out the window to be quiet. She threw in some remarks about “gypsies” because the children were Romani. One of the little girls looked up at the lady and said to her: “Lady, why are you shouting at us? When you were still swinging from the trees, we were building Mohenjo Daro!”  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Roma Social Inclusion Measures the European Commission Can and Should Take

Bucharest, 30.4.2013 10:15, (ROMEA) I have been accused in the past of always complaining about what the Commission does and never offering “constructive” solutions myself. Factually this is false.I am a strong pro-European. I also reject sugar-coating and I think critical thinking is what can get us out of the mess we are in at this moment.  full story

Commentary: Czech Senator Okamura’s view of people in need

Prague, 28.4.2013 1:35, (ROMEA) After November 1989, people in this country had high expectations. For example, they expected that the practices of a police state would come to an end. Unfortunately, those expectations haven’t been met, which is why I am constantly raising that issue.  full story

Commentary: Should the state obstruct or support social residential hotels?

Prague, 23.4.2013 18:58, (ROMEA) At a debate in the Czech Republic last week attended by activists, experts, representatives of the public administration and nonprofit organizations, Deputy Regional Development Minister Miroslav Kalous (Civic Democrats - ODS) presented the ministry’s current plans in the area of social housing. Kalous said the ministry's aim is to meet the demand of people who need to live in residential hotels and “to help children and their mothers not end up on the street.”  full story

Commentary: My attempted interview with Czech Senator Okamura

Prague, 21.4.2013 17:27, (ROMEA) Recently I read an article by Senator Okamura on his blog about social policy and welfare. While I did not like some of his opinions, I honor and respect freedom of speech.  full story

Commentary: How to produce disinformation in the Czech media

Prague, 8.4.2013 20:48, (ROMEA) "‘When I grow up, I want to be on welfare,’ wish poor children from the Romani ghettos”. So reads the headline of a particular article published on news server iDNES.cz here in the Czech Republic several days ago.  full story

Commentary: Ghetto children in the Czech Republic are victims of the system

Prague, 8.4.2013 17:59, (ROMEA) When I was young I wanted to become a musician like my father, my grandfather, his father and all of our family. I first wanted to play either clarinet or saxophone, and later I wanted to play bass, drums, guitar and piano like Uncle Jonko, and in the end I wanted to play the electric guitar like Petr Janda – he’s not from my family, but he plays well too.  full story

Commentary: Nine-year sentence for triple murder is a cynical mockery of justice

Prague, 6.4.2013 4:07, (ROMEA) The town of Hurbanovo in Slovakia underwent a Greek tragedy of sorts in June 2012. Milan Juhász, a 51-year-old municipal police officer, shot dead three Romani people and injured another two, all from the same family. Juhász murdered Gabriel L. († 45), his son Mário L. († 19) and his son-in-law Július († 22) and injured another of Gabriel's sons, Kristián (26) and Kristián's wife Žaneta L. (26). Juhász shot Žaneta in the thigh and Kristián in the chest. Both eventually survived the attack, although Kristián was in critical condition after the bullet passed through his lungs  full story

Miroslav Brož: "Social housing" for Romani people will preserve the status quo

Prague, 30.3.2013 19:59, (ROMEA) For quite some time now an agitated discussion has been taking place among experts about so-called "social housing". Such housing should be accessible to people who cannot rent apartments on the open market and who would otherwise end up on the street.  full story

Slovakia: Punishment for shooter of three Romani victims called absurdly low

Hurbanovo, Slovakia, 28.3.2013 23:12, (ROMEA) The sentence of nine years in prison and an order to undergo psychiatric treatment handed down by a court in Slovakia against municipal police officer Milan Juhász, who shot dead three people and injured two others in Hurbanovo last year, has prompted much reaction. The defendant originally faced the possibility of life in prison, but the judges chose a lighter sentence for him at the suggestion of the prosecutor and after experts testified that he had not been completely sane when he committed the shooting. The verdict has taken effect, as neither side has appealed.  full story

Commentary: Czech antigypsyism, or, a report on the state of the country

Prague, 26.3.2013 23:57, (ROMEA) I have been systematically reporting on the lives of people living in ghettos, the activity of the ultra-right, and the state of the media with respect to the topic of Romani people, including analysis and criticism. My experiences in doing this work, or rather the topics I have been involved with during it, are alarming.  full story

Tamar Ezer: A Signature Is Not Enough

New York, 26.3.2013 10:57, (ROMEA) Violence happens in health care settings. It does not just take place during war or conflict, on the street, or even in our homes among partners. Health care facilities that are supposed to be places of treatment, care, and support are all too often sites for violence. This is particularly true for those who are marginalized in society. The Commission on the Status of Women, the UN’s global policy-making body on equality and advancement of women, significantly recognizes this in its just released “agreed conclusions,” providing guidance on the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: How I crashed into the glass-ceiling

Bucharest, 26.3.2013 9:59, (ROMEA) A few months ago I wrote about the problems with funding civil society, and Roma civil society in particular; how EU funds (in particular structural funds) but also project-focused funding stimulate false reporting, rationalizing failures, useless by expensive meetings and trainings, and corruption. Incentives for grassroots work, learning from failures, critical thinking, participation and sharing responsibilities of the vulnerable groups are missing.  full story