News

Roma Crisis Committee to Czech EdMin: Equal access to education for Roma

Prague, 18.3.2013 20:31, (ROMEA) Young Romani people associated with the Crisis Committee (Krizový štáb) have written an open letter to the Czech Education Minister and Prime Minister in which they express their support for inclusive education and the necessary measures which the Government and the Education Ministry should adopt to ensure equal access to education for all citizens of the Czech Republic. "Currently Romani children continue to be disproportionately enrolled into 'practical primary schools' that educate their pupils according to the primary education program's appendix for pupils with light mental disability," states the open letter. News server Romea.cz publishes it in full translation below.  full story

videoSlovakia: MPs, Mayor of Bratislava unable to block neo-Nazi march

Bratislava, Slovakia, 16.3.2013 22:13, (ROMEA) Approximately 100 demonstrators did not manage to blockade a march today by promoters of the ultra-right who gathered in Bratislava on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of the creation of the fascist Slovak state. Around 200 followers of the ultra-right Slovak Solidarity association (Slovenská pospolitost - SP) met in front of the office of Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič after 14:00 to march through the streets of Bratislava to the grave of wartime leader Jozef Tiso at the Martinský Cemetery. Tiso was sentenced to death for war crimes and executed in 1947.  full story

Czech Republic: Jan Horvátko, another Olah king, passes away

Prostějov, 16.3.2013 17:43, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that on Wednesday, 13 March, yet another Olah king, Jan Horvátko (nicknamed Bobko) passed away after a long period of health problems. Jan Lipa of Ostrava, who shared the post of king with Horvátko, also passed away last October. Horvátko's funeral was held today at 9 AM in Prostějov's main cemetery.  full story

"I don't want my children to feel like foreigners in their own country"

Czech Republic, 16.3.2013 0:07, (ROMEA) Not quite one year ago, the monthly Romano Voďi devoted an entire issue to the theme of identities in which ethnologist and social anthropologist Zdeněk Uherek reviewed the issue of the plurality of identities in his column "Beneath the Surface" ("Pod povrchem"). The first issue of Romano Voďi this year has returned to the topic of identity construction and the mechanisms through which identity is realized, this time through the lens of the recent Czech presidential election and its reception among members of the Romani minority.  full story

French Interior Minister: Romani integration not succeeding

France, 15.3.2013 23:21, (ROMEA) French Interior Minister Manuel Valls (Socialist Party) said today that Romani people coming to France from other EU states evidently do not want to integrate. In his view, the government's efforts to facilitate housing and work for Romani immigrants have met with a lack of interest.  full story

Czech President's remarks aggravate Journalists' Syndicate

Prague, 15.3.2013 22:07, (ROMEA) The Czech Journalists' Syndicate (Syndikát novinářů) is alarmed by the fact that Czech President Miloš Zeman compared some of the Czech media to neo-Nazi militants and organized crime in his inaugural address and has sent an open letter to him in response. "This downgrading of a significant part of the Czech media is all the more striking because it is our firm conviction that the better part of the Czech media are precisely those who have steadfastly, systematically pointed out the dangers linked to the infiltration of organized crime into politics and the threat to democracy in the Czech Republic posed by extremist movements," reads the letter, which is signed by Syndicate chair Adam Černý.  full story

AI: The President’s visit to Ostrava should send a strong signal against discrimination of Roma

Ostrava, 15.3.2013 17:03, (ROMEA) The new President of the Czech Republic is visiting the city of Ostrava today. In Ostrava and the Czech Republic at large, Roma are experiencing widespread discrimination in access to adequate housing, education, healthcare and protection from violence and harassment.  full story

Slovakia: Blockade of Neo-Nazi march in Bratislava tomorrow

Bratislava, Slovakia, 15.3.2013 16:28, (ROMEA) On Saturday 16 March a non-violent blockade of a neo-Nazi march will take place in Bratislava. The blockade will start at 14:00 on Náměstí SNP.  full story

Czech Republic: Inter-ministerial group on Roma has new members

Prague, 15.3.2013 16:08, (ROMEA) At its cabinet session on Wednesday, the Czech Government took up the nomination of David Tišer and Emil Voráč as new members of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs. Tišer is director of the ARA ART, o.s. association and has long worked as an activist promoting Roma integration, fighting against the discrimination of Roma and advocating for the media to report on the life of the Romani minority in the Czech Republic. Voráč is the chair and director of the o. s. Khamoro – Romské integrační centrum (Roma Integration Center) organization, which offers socially excluded Roma a drop-in facility for children and youth, field social work programs, professional social counseling and temporary shelter.  full story

NPR: A 'Recovering Skinhead' On Leaving Hatred Behind

Philadelphia, 14.3.2013 16:31, (ROMEA) As a teenager, Frank Meeink was one of the most well-known skinhead gang members in the country. He had his own public access talk show, called The Reich, he appeared on Nightline and other media outlets as a spokesman for neo-Nazi topics, and he regularly recruited members of his South Philadelphia neighborhood to join his skinhead gang.  full story

Czech Green Party chair: How far are we from Orbán's Hungary?

Prague, 14.3.2013 16:18, (ROMEA) The Hungarian Parliament has approved a series of changes to the constitution there that threaten, among other things, the independence of the Constitutional Court and weaken minority protections. This is further proof that the European economic and political crisis is starting to contribute to the growth of an extremism and a nationalism that jeopardize democracy.  full story

Benefit concert in Prague for resisters of gentrification in Ostrava

Prague, 14.3.2013 15:14, (ROMEA) A benefit concert to raise money to repair building no. 8 on Přednádraží street in Ostrava will be held this Sunday 17 March at 20:00 at the Café V Lese in Prague (http://cafevlese.cz/en). The program is jam-packed.  full story

Czech Police: Attackers of Slovak man shouted "Antifa Praha"

Prague, 13.3.2013 23:27, (ROMEA) Police officers in Prague are searching for unidentified perpetrators who allegedly assaulted a man at the Florenc bus station after he disembarked there last month. Police say the assailants shouted "Antifa Praha" several times during the attack. The man was hospitalized as a result of the beating.  full story

Commentary: The Romani crisis? A lack of unity!

Postoloprty, Czech Republic, 13.3.2013 22:30, (ROMEA) The Romani people were once a traveling nation. As they passed through different landscapes they encountered the diverse cultures of various nations. In some places they were welcomed for their skills in acrobatics and other arts, their manual dexterity, their musical sensibility, their temperament, and last but not least for their ability to work magic or their knowledge of how to mix herbal concoctions.  full story

Czech town reps attend ghetto meeting, bring few answers

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 13.3.2013 15:35, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Konexe association convened a meeting between local Romani residents of the Předlice quarter and representatives of the institutions responsible for ensuring order in the town. The meeting took place at the intersection of Prostřední and Řeháčkova streets.  full story

Czech court hears appeals in case of racist attack against Romani man last August

Ostrava, 12.3.2013 15:23, (ROMEA) Yesterday the Regional Court heard appeals from convicted offender Martin Smolko and from the Havířov District Attorney in the matter of a racist attack committed last August in Havířov. A first-instance court issued its verdict in the case in January 2013.  full story

Czech region asks police to investigate European Social Fund allocations

Liberec, 12.3.2013 14:32, (ROMEA) Today's Liberec edition of the daily Mladá fronta DNES (MfD) reports that the Liberec Regional Authority wants the allocation of social subsidies in recent years to be investigated by police. Due to errors in the management of those subsidies and insufficient oversight, the region may have to return millions of Czech crowns received from EU funds for spending on social projects. A recent audit has revealed that not only have some subsidy recipients committed errors, but that the blame lies mainly with politicians and regional bureaucrats.  full story

Romani groups ask Czech mayor to prohibit ultra-rightist march on 1 May

Přerov, 12.3.2013 0:09, (ROMEA) The Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH), the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) and other Romani initiatives have called on the Mayor of Přerov, Jiří Lajtoch (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) to prohibit the upcoming march by ultra-right extremists from the Workers' Youth (Dělnická mládež - DM) and the Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) on 1 May 2013. The groups are planning to march through streets predominantly inhabited by Romani residents.  full story

Czech association raising awareness among Romani tenants about hazards

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 11.3.2013 23:22, (ROMEA) The Konexe association is holding its third Romani community meeting on Tuesday 12 March at 13:00 CET on the corner of Prostřední and Řeháčkova streets in the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem. The program of the meeting will cover the overall fate of Předlice, a discussion of options for resolving the situation there, which buildings are hazardous and the risks they present for their occupants and to inhabitants of the quarter in general.  full story

Czech attorney claims police tampered with evidence in shooting of Romani man

Tanvald, 11.3.2013 22:38, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the father of Ladislav Tatár, the Romani man shot dead on New Year's Day last year, and his attorney want the state prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the shooting. A non-Romani pensioner shot two Romani brothers in the early morning hours of 1 January 2012 in Tanvald, killing one and injuring the other. The deceased's father and his attorney claim to have new evidence and have allegedly found many discrepancies in the previous investigation.  full story