News

Czech Republic: Romani man risks life to save infant threatened at knifepoint

Tábor, 29.7.2013 23:04, (ROMEA) Táborský deník (Tábor Daily) reports that Stanislav Kováč of the IMPULS Tábor civic association recently displayed great courage when he stood up to a drunken man threatening adults and children with a long knife in Husovo Park in the town of Tábor. The drunken man walked up to Irena Dzurková as she was sitting on a bench with her daughter and younger brother and asked her for a cigarette.  full story

Czech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party protests neo-Nazi march at scene of 2009 arson attack

Plzeň, 29.7.2013 18:01, (ROMEA) The Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) says it is unacceptable for radical militant extremists to march through localities predominantly inhabited by Romani people. The party has issued the statement in response to a series of anti-Romani assemblies and marches being organized by the Czech Lions, a group connected to the newly-established Democratic Worker's Party (Demokratická strana pracujících - DSP) which seems to be profiling itself as a sort of ultra-right People's Militia (Lidové milice).  full story

videoCzech Republic: About 30 neo-Nazis gather in Prague, antifascists counter-protest

Prague, 27.7.2013 0:01, (ROMEA) Roughly 30 right-wing radicals gathered today after 5 PM at the Černý Most housing estate in Prague. The event was organized by a group called the "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi), who are a sort of ultra-right People's Militia connected to the new right-wing extremist Democratic Workers' Party (Demokratická strana pracujících - DSP).  full story

Czech Republic: Prague 14 calls on citizens not to interfere with neo-Nazi assembly and march today

České Budějovice/Prague, 26.7.2013 22:58, (ROMEA) A neo-Nazi march is scheduled to take place today in Prague. Organizers did not announce it to City Hall but only to the local municipality of Prague 14, which means the event was not listed in the online database of announced assemblies.  full story

Czech-Roma association calls for Romani people to counter-protest anti-Romani marches

Ústí nad Labem, 26.7.2013 17:54, (ROMEA) On 20 July the Konexe association issued the following call to all Romani people in the Czech Republic out of concern over the violent anti-Romani marches planned to take place throughout the country. News server Romea.cz publishes it here in full translation:  full story

videoRoma Inclusion: What We Can Learn from Croatia

Zagreb, 26.7.2013 13:43, (ROMEA) Call me a starry-eyed idealist, but I believe schools are the primary institution in society where we should learn to live together. As a parent, I’ve never seen the point of teaching kids how to divide numbers or how not to split infinitives if we can’t first teach them how to love and treasure each other’s differences. For far too many of Europe’s Roma children, however, schools are still places far more adept at dividing communities than uniting them.  full story

Denitsa Mihaylova: A Bulgarian woman proud of her Roma origin

Sofia, 26.7.2013 13:30, (ROMEA) Denitsa Mihaylova is the first and, so far, the only woman of Roma origin who works at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She speaks to her 5-year-old daughter Madona like an adult, demanding that she take decisions on her own, including what to order from a menu full of tempting dishes.  full story

ERRC Condemns Hitler Hate Speech Against Roma

Budapest, 26.7.2013 11:49, (ROMEA) The European Roma Rights Centre strongly condemns a French politician’s recent remark about Roma suggesting that “Maybe Hitler did not kill enough.” The comment, made by Gilles Bourdouleix, an MP and Mayor of the western town of Cholet, is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, this incident does not reflect an isolated position. This is just the latest example of racist and discriminatory remarks by French politicians targeting Roma and Traveller communities and individuals in France.  full story

Robert Rustem: Le Point’s editor should resign after ‘Hitler and the Roma’ poll stunt

Brussels, 26.7.2013 11:19, (ROMEA) With breath-taking speed, Europe moves from one ugly episode to the next in its summer rampage against Roma people.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Blacklisted – the new low of the European Commission

Bucharest, 26.7.2013 10:33, (ROMEA) Last week a close friend told me that the European Commission blacklisted the NGO she works for. I used to work for the same NGO in the past. The members of the network are people I know for a long time- people I am proud to have worked with- committed and hardworking.  full story

United Nations Human Rights Committee urges Czech Republic to close pig farm at Lety

Geneva, Switzerland, 25.7.2013 18:48, (ROMEA) Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the Czech Republic today to shut down the pig farm that was erected by the communist regime in the 1970s on the site of a former concentration camp for Romani people. Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková said she supports removing the pig farm but the decision about its fate will be up to the new government.  full story

Montenegro: Right-wing extremists assault country's first Gay Pride Parade

Podgorica, 25.7.2013 17:32, (ROMEA) On Wednesday, 24 July, in the very conservative country of Montenegro, right-wing extremists shouting "Kill the gays!" assaulted activists from the gay community who were meeting up for the country's first-ever Gay Pride Parade in the seaside resort of Budva. Wire services report the attackers threw bottles, rocks, smoke bombs and other objects, including café tables, at several dozen participants in the march and their supporters before clashing with riot police protecting the event.  full story

French MP Bourdouleix leaves party after criticism for alleged statement about Hitler and Travellers

France, 25.7.2013 16:54, (ROMEA) Gilles Bourdouleix, the French MP who is also mayor of the town of Cholet, has now resigned his membership in his political party. Bourdouleix left the center-right UDI (Union of Democrats and Independents) after being criticized for statements he is alleged to have recently made about Travellers.  full story

Czech High Court softens verdict against Romani NGO director for falsifying data

Prague, 25.7.2013 16:25, (ROMEA) Today the High Court in Prague relaxed the original sentence of six years in prison handed down for subsidy fraud and falsifying official documents against Ladislav Bílý, the head of the Roma Civic Association (Romské občanské sdružení - ROS) in Karlovy Vary, shortening it to a three-year suspended sentence with five years' probation. The court upheld the first-instance ban on Bílý running any other nonprofits as well as the suspension of his driver's license.  full story

Czech President Zeman: Neo-Nazi demonstrations must be broken up at the start

Prague, 24.7.2013 22:50, (ROMEA) In an interview for the Czech News Agency today, Czech President Miloš Zeman said there is a need for much more intensive, repressive prosecution of neo-Nazi manifestations. He was responding to, among other things, the recent unrest at the Máj housing estate in the town of České Budějovice which has resulted in anti-Romani assemblies and marches by right-wing radicals, as well as other manifestations by the promoters of neo-Nazism in other parts of the country.  full story

Czech Republic: Splinter DSSS faction plans 13 more anti-Romani events by year's end

Prague, 24.7.2013 20:48, (ROMEA) All of the right-wing extremists in the Czech Republic are currently feeling the need for publicity because of the upcoming elections next year (some of which may take place later this year). Now we can expect more violent election-related events than ever before because the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) has split into two groups.  full story

Czech MP wants to introduce concept of "high-risk families and individuals"

Prague, 23.7.2013 22:27, (ROMEA) Czech MP Otto Chaloupka (Věcí veřejných - Public Affairs), who is known for his hateful statements about Romani people, has published proposed amendments to several laws regulating civil coexistence on his website. Without giving any evidence for his assertions, he claims the welfare system is being abused and must be tightened up.  full story

French MP allegedly said Hitler didn't kill enough Travellers, he denies it

France, 23.7.2013 15:50, (ROMEA) A remark allegedly made by a French MP who is also the mayor of the town of Cholet regarding several hundred Travellers who set up camp on municipal land there last Sunday has caused a sensation in France. French daily Le Courrier de l'Ouest reported that Gilles Bourdouleix, accompanied by four municipal policemen, visited the Travellers to eject them from the campsite. They greeted him with the Nazi salute and accusations of racism. He is alleged to have mumbled in response that "Hitler didn't kill enough of them".  full story

Gwendolyn Albert: Zimmerman verdict is about living in fear

USA, 23.7.2013 12:41, (ROMEA) The verdict of “not guilty” in the trial of George Zimmerman the weekend before last was extremely disheartening for millions of Americans, as indeed the entire drama has been. In order to understand why it was possible for Zimmerman to shoot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in the heart and be legally absolved of wrongdoing by his claim of self-defense, we need to understand where the law that has spared him the designation of “murderer” came from.  full story

Commentary: The structure of hatred

Prague, 22.7.2013 23:08, (ROMEA) A society dominated by relationships of competition, one where the argument that "the ends justify the means" is considered valid, creates lightning rods out of phenomena it doesn't know how to deal with or doesn't want to handle. In this society, those phenomena are homeless people and especially Romani people. Here, if you give these people a kick, you can easily justify your actions as moral.  full story