News

Czech ministries jointly drafting plan to fight unemployment

Prague, 26.3.2014 16:59, (ROMEA) Several Czech ministries, not just the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, are most probably going to jointly work on designing the government's plan for the fight against unemployment. The Czech News Agency reports that Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said she is already putting together a team that will include people from her ministry as well as representatives of the Education Ministry and the Trade and Industry Ministry.  full story

Commentary: For whom is the bell tolling in Ukraine?

Prague, 25.3.2014 23:05, (ROMEA) This article was written for the print edition of Romani vod'i magazine at the start of March.  full story

Czech politicians outraged by Justice Minister's remarks about the Nazi Protectorate

Prague, 25.3.2014 20:47, (ROMEA) Politicians are outraged by remarks made in an interview for news server Echo24 by Czech Justice Minister Helena Válková (ANO) about the situation of Czechs during the time of the Nazi Protectorate. The minister said that "not that much happened" to Czechs under Nazi occupation.  full story

Ukraine: Neo-Nazi leader shot dead during arrest

Kiev/Moscow, 25.3.2014 19:03, (ROMEA) Oleksandr Muzychko, also known as Sashka Bily ("Sasha White"), was killed last night in the town of Rivna na Volyni in northwestern Ukraine. The Ukrainian media first reported the case as one of murder and speculated that it might have been an action by "Russian diversionists" related to the international arrest warrant alleging that he murdered and tortured Russian captives in the Caucasus.  full story

Czech who caused the death of one Romani man and stabbed two others gets five years

Ústí nad Labem, 25.3.2014 18:16, (ROMEA) Stanislav Sýkora will be going to prison for five years for his part in a brawl that resulted in the death of a Romani man during the opening of the spa season in Teplice, Czech Republic last year. Sýkora also stabbed two other Romani men during the incident.  full story

UK: Train passengers told to "Be aware of pickpockets and Gypsies"

London, 25.3.2014 17:26, (ROMEA) A train company in Great Britain has begun investigating who is behind a racist announcement that was made over its public address system earlier this month. "Telford Central - please be aware of pickpockets and Gypsies" a voice announced over the public address system as the train pulled into the station.  full story

The Roma in Czech film

Prague, 25.3.2014 4:29, (Romano Voďi) In the first double issue this year of the monthly Romano voďi we have prepared a three-part series for you on the topic of foreigners and minorities in film and television. In these three articles about various countries - the Czech Republic, Germany, and the USA - the authors discuss film and television productions and touch on the depiction of Romani people in literature as well.  full story

Czech PM on Ukraine: We cannot agree with right-wing extremism

Prague, 24.3.2014 20:03, (ROMEA) Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka considers it important for the current Ukrainian government to implement a sensitive national minority policy based on the idea of integration. The PM made his remarks to Czech journalists in Brussels after signing the political section of the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine together with other EU leaders and Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk.  full story

Analysis: What the Czech media ignore about Ukraine

Prague, 24.3.2014 19:19, (Romano Voďi) This article was written for the print edition of Romano vod'i magazine at the start of March.  full story

Commentary: Czech MP blogs up an antigypsyist storm over minor incident

Prague, 22.3.2014 18:43, (ROMEA) The Czech media know what it is they are all selling us here. Money, sex, violence and xenophobia.  full story

Much more EU money to target Czech ghettos, social inclusion in future

Prague, 22.3.2014 17:20, (ROMEA) Much more EU money than previously is slated for investment into the fight against poverty, into measures promoting social inclusion, and into solving the problems of ghettos in years to come. Moreover, individual programs managed by the Czech Education Ministry, the Labor Ministry, and the Regional Development Ministry may become more interconnected in order to improve their impact.  full story

World commemorates International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Prague, 21.3.2014 20:01, (ROMEA) 21 March is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In 1966 it was officially so declared by the UN General Assembly.  full story

Czech NGOs say social housing can be addressed through more investment

Prague, 21.3.2014 19:22, (RO) The Czech state should invest more money into social welfare, including social housing, or it will not be possible for towns and villages to be responsible for providing it. That is the joint statement released recently by the Platform for Social Housing and the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic (Svaz měst a obcí ČR - SMOČ).  full story

European Network against Racism: Ethnic, religious minorities face labor discrimination in Europe

Brussels/Prague, 21.3.2014 18:32, (ROMEA) For immigrants to the EU from non-EU countries, Muslims, Romani people, and women from ethnic minorities, discrimination represents a fundamental barrier to finding work. The situation does not improve for many minority group members even if they do manage to gain employment.  full story

Commentary: Czech racism reaches a new low

Prague, 21.3.2014 17:37, (ROMEA) On 19 March, the Czech media reported that a 14-year-old girl from Ostrava had not been seen since the previous afternoon and is considered missing. The Czech Police are asking the public to aid in the search for her.  full story

Czech students, German volunteers launch anti-racism campaign tomorrow

Prague, 20.3.2014 23:03, (ROMEA) In 1966, the UN General Assembly declared 21 March the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day was chosen to protest the brutal murder of 69 people in 1960 who had been demonstrating in the South African city of Sharpeville against apartheid.  full story

Jan Josef Rosenberg: Roma are now doctors and teachers, but we can't forget about morality

Prague, 20.3.2014 22:03, (ROMEA) Jan Josef Rosenberg is a journalist and photographer who works in film, radio and theater. On 8 April 2014, International Romani Day, the public will once again have the opportunity to see one of his unique exhibitions, "Roma Today as They Were Centuries Ago" ("Romové dnes jako před staletími").  full story

EU Commissioner László Andor: Czech Govt must not ignore jobs, preschools, Roma

Brussels, 20.3.2014 18:39, (ROMEA) The Czech Government should not ignore the issues of the position of the Romani minority, preschool education, and youth unemployment. EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor made those remarks to the Czech News Agency and Czech Radio during his visit to Prague last Friday.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Avoiding failing again -The EU Roma Summit – problems and solutions

Bucharest, 20.3.2014 11:57, (ROMEA) The biggest problems in the Roma Social Inclusion process are related to the inability, incompetence and lack of political will at the level of the national governments. There are ways to address these problems but due to strong anti-Gypsyism and corruption addressing these problems is a much more complicated process than solving the existing problems within the European Commission (EC).  The EC  needs to pressure states into reform but has no legitimacy to do so if it doesn’t first change itself.  full story

Commentary: The Roma and the Vietnamese, or the "evil" and the "good" aliens

Prague, 19.3.2014 19:39, (ROMEA) Opinions on the so-called "Roma question" are encoded in the generally popular comparisons of Romani and Vietnamese people that we hear being made in the Czech Republic. In these figures of speech, where Vietnamese people play a purely rhetorical role, the "Roma question" is actually the main topic of discussion; such tropes are essentially just a more sophisticated form of "cursing the Gypsies" here.  full story