Czech Republic

Slovak President: Politicians should not play with fire and go as far as populism

18.10.2016 21:29 Yesterday Slovak President Andrej Kiska gave a speech opening the Forum 2000 conference at which he said politicians should be aware of their responsibilities at this complex time. They should not play with fire or use words to spark emotions among people that might have far-reaching consequences, he said.  full story

Czech Republic: New project supports high school education among residents of Chanov housing estate

17.10.2016 14:43 News server iDNES.cz reports that at the Chanov housing estate in Most a new education project is being launched called "Support for High School Education for Youth at Chanov". The project will run for three years and involves a local primary school, the House of Roma Culture (Dům romské kultury), a vocational training institution in the Velebudice quarter and the nonprofit organization Naděje, targeting pupils attending 7th, 8th and 9th grade.  full story

Czech Senate elections: Some anti-Romani candidates win, some lose

16.10.2016 8:12 The Czech Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) have won this year's Senate elections. Candidates with that party's support have won in nine precincts.  full story

Czech Republic: More than 30 % of those surveyed believe Romani children should not attend mainstream education

14.10.2016 13:38 More than three-fifths of the respondents to a survey conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) in the Czech Republic agree that Romani children should be educated in mainstream classes, but approximately 30 % of respondents are opposed to the idea. The public continues to agree with the existence of various types of primary schools and multi-year college preparatory high schools.  full story

Czech eyewitness: Local racists insulted my Romani friends, assaulted us, and put them in fear for their lives

13.10.2016 21:36 On Saturday, 8 October in the town of Chotutice near Český Brod a brawl broke out between non-Romani and Romani customers at a local restaurant. Czech tabloid media outlets primarily described the entire event as an attack perpetrated by a group of Romani people against local habitués who were said to have first insulted them in a racist way.
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Commentary: Informing on the "Gypsies"

13.10.2016 10:38 On 11 October, František Ryba, chair of the Krušnohor Apartment Construction Cooperative, sent a message to the inhabitants of the town of Most through a spokesperson that they should begin informing the authorities about "Gypsies and inadaptables" if such people are bothering them as their neighbors. Ryba has traditionally always been harsh in his public statements - he does not pull his punches, insults people, and is not afraid to make racist attacks on Romani people.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani people remain the most victimized by prejudice

12.10.2016 20:58 "The Czech Republic is laying the foundations for a big disaster," Salim Murad, a political scientist at the University of South Bohemia, told journalist Daniela Drtinová in an interview for the online DVTV.cz broadcaster. Murad studies the perspective of the media and society on minorities, refugees, and other phenomena on the basis of public opinion polls and other data he has been collecting for years.  full story

Foster families of Romani children help them find their roots again in the Czech Republic

12.10.2016 17:17 Martina Vančáková, organizer of an annual meeting of foster families caring for Romani children as part of the "Our Romani Child" program, has just sent me a message: "I'll pick you up at the station in a big yellow car." She is a psychologist and Romani Studies scholar as well as a co-worker of the Center for Foster Family Care, which is organizing the experiential education trip.  full story

Holocaust survivors sharply criticize German justice authorities

12.10.2016 12:51 According to reporting in the New York Times, recently the International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) has criticized the German justice system for lack of activity. The specific subject of their complaint is the case of Oskar Gröning (age 95), a former SS member and accountant at the Auschwitz death camp.  full story

videoEuropean Roma Spirit Awards: Impreuna, Roma Education Support Trust, Romea.cz, Spišský Hrhov, Sabiha Suleiman

11.10.2016 15:15 Yesterday the first-ever European Roma Spirit Awards were announced in Bratislava. The ceremony included a video greeting from EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani scholarship recipients study economics, history, IT, languages and medicine

11.10.2016 14:29 Hundreds of young Romani people are studying at college throughout the Czech Republic. Frequently they are the first people in their families ever to do so.
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Analysis: How extremism has changed over time

11.10.2016 10:17 Times change. During the 1930s, the ruling elites were discussing deporting refugees to Madagascar.  full story

Romani hockey player Dominik Lakatoš: My Dad is my biggest hero

11.10.2016 9:10 Ice hockey forward Dominik Lakatoš was born in 1997. He is the first Romani player ever to play professional hockey in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Five physically injured after Hitler is praised in local restaurant

10.10.2016 14:14 A physical conflict occurred between two different groups of people on the evening of Saturday, 8 October in a restaurant in the village of Chotutice near Český Brod (Kolín district). According to eyewitnesses, the conflict happened after a local customer declared he was sorry that Adolf Hitler hadn't managed to fully implement his "solution" for the "Romani question".  full story

Czech Human Rights Ministry: Database of Roma victims of the Holocaust project discussed with Working Group

10.10.2016 13:46 On Friday, 7 October 2016, the Working Group for the Redress of Romani people, which advises the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs, convened for the second time this year. Representatives of the Terezín Initiative Institute were invited and presented the Working Group members with their project on developing a database of Romani victims of the Holocaust.
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Czech PM: Hate attacks in UK after Brexit are future of Europe if EU falls

10.10.2016 9:25 On Friday, 7 October, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said the British decision to leave the European Union has led to foreign nationals becoming targeted for assault in Britain. He believes a similar error must not be repeated in any other EU country, otherwise Europe will be smashed by its own hatreds and nationalism.  full story

Romani heroes: The "Black" Partisan, Josef Serinek

10.10.2016 8:23 Josef Serinek (1900-1974, sometimes also spelled Serynek), a Czech Roma who went by the code name of Černý ("Black"), was a soldier during the First World War, a prisoner of the Lety concentration camp during the Second World War, and later a Partisan commander. After the end of the Second World War he ran a pub called "U černého partyzána" ("At the Black Partisan's Place") in the Czech town of Svitavy.
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EUROPE: Roma Pride 2016 raised the issue of denying that Roma were Holocaust victims

10.10.2016 7:36 On Sunday, 2 October, the sixth annual Roma Pride event took place in a number of locations around Europe including Prague. Compared to previous years, there was significantly lower Romani turnout for it in Prague this year.  full story

Czech party revives anti-Romani slogan - "Gadje, get to work" - in Ústecký Region, and wins

9.10.2016 20:12 The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in Ústecký Region has revived a racist slogan from 2008 and struck an anti-Romani note in the run-up to this weekend's elections. The video clip published on the official Facebook page of the party begins with the sentence "Hey, gadje, why do you have time to sit down? Get to work so we'll have enough money for welfare!"  full story

Commentary: In a country with almost no refugees, why are they feared?

9.10.2016 19:32 "In two towns in the east of Germany on Friday evening small groups of local residents clashed with asylum-seekers. The scuffles resulted in four people suffering slight injuries," the Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported on Saturday, 1 October.  full story