Commentary

Commentary: An oasis of green and white has been flooded with Brownshirt mud

14.9.2016 15:27 The Bohemians Praha 1905 football club, based in the Vršovice quarter of Prague, is wearing a coat of shame today. Actually, we all are.  full story

Commentary: The pigs at Lety and Babiš shooting himself in the foot

8.9.2016 14:04 From 2007-2009 I served as Czech Education Minister, and together with [Human Rights Minister] Michael Kocáb we attempted, among other things, to advocate for the removal of the pig farm from the site at Lety u Písku. We were not concerned with just that location, but also with the site at Hodonín u Kunštátu, where a similar camp ran during the war, one that is remembered even less than Lety is.  full story

Karel Holomek: Merkel vs. Putin? Outrageous

2.9.2016 7:30 I frequently marvel at the values that are apparently held by a rather large number of people in the Czech Republic who make clear their hatreds and low instincts by protesting against God only knows whom (or why). I was most recently convinced of what those values are during German Chancellor Merkel's visit here.  full story

Renata Berkyová: Gays, hands off the Romani flag!

19.8.2016 17:09 What some Romani people are posting on social networks these days about the topic of sexual orientation has prompted me to respond. The springboard for these heated
debates is the fact that Prague Pride, the parade celebrating people of various sexual orientations, included Romani people this year who proudly raised the Roma flag.  full story

Commentary: Czech Social Democrats compete with ultra-right to see who can be more racist and xenophobic

19.8.2016 8:24 Czech MP Stanislav Huml of the Social Democrats, who is infamous for his extreme positions against Islam or refugees, as well as for his conspiracy theories about 9/11, recently published a video on his Facebook profile denying the Holocaust. He called it "brutal, [politically] incorrect, but inspiring".  full story

Commentary: Merkel, refugees, no to terrorism, Echo24 "mooing", Putin has already won

12.8.2016 17:24 This commentary reflects on selected events from this past week in the media. Commentator František Kostlán gives us his take on the news.  full story

Czech celebrity's music video against Islam earns ridicule, but at what cost?

12.8.2016 8:00 Erik Tabery, Editor-in-Chief of the Czech weekly RESPEKT, has commented on the phenomenon of celebrity Olivie Žižková and her music video against Islam, "Europe, Start Breathing" (Evropo dýchej). "We all love videos of people we can laugh at because they are a unique opportunity to feel better. The singer Olivie Žižková and her song 'Evropo dýchej' offer many reasons to feel better in this regard, but it's not really a laughing matter, for several reasons," Tabery writes for news server Respect.cz after Žižková was interviewed by journalist Daniela Drtinová of the DVTV channel.  full story

Commentary: Czech tabloid misinforms public that Romani children in Varnsdorf "don't go to school"

11.8.2016 18:59 After watching a recently televised interview between the journalist Daniela Drtinová and anthropologist Radka Vepřková about the situation in the Czech town of Varnsdorf, I was curious to see what the tabloid news server Parlamentní listy (PL) was publishing about it - and what I found was no surprise. PL once again has produced its own particular interpretation of what was said, this time cherry-picking from the anthropologist's answers and also directly misquoting her.  full story

Commentary: Czech broadcast regulator begins proceedings against TV Prima over report about Klinika social center

8.8.2016 9:40 In addition to its other manipulative reporting about refugees and Romani people, the Prima television channel in the Czech Republic broadcast a manipulative news report this spring about the Klinika Autonomous Social Center in Prague, which provides aid to refugees and the socially vulnerable. The Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) has now issued a press release announcing that it has begun an administrative proceedings with the station over its reportage about Klinika broadcast on 28 May 2016 in its News program.  full story

Commentary: How to demolish the pig farm at Lety?

5.8.2016 18:48 "Lety is a problem the resolution of which can naturally be postponed indefinitely. It is not known how much it will cost for the clean-up operation - and over the years that amount has loosely ranged from between roughly CZK 70 million (EUR 2.59 million) to a virtual billion crowns (EUR 37 million) - but it is certain that basically it will never be possible to properly 'calculate' it or compare it to anything that might placed on the table as a counter-argument that 'it would be better to spend that on XYZ' ", writes Czech journalist Jindřich Šídlo on news server iHNED.cz in response to remarks by Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman about resolving the problem of the industrial pig farm on the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek.  full story

Commentary: Czech TV Prima broadcasts manipulative report about Roma returning from Britain en masse

3.8.2016 20:00 The Prima television station in the Czech Republic must have some sort of "anti-ethics code" obligating it to constantly incite the public against minorities. Previously, for example, it was revealed that its news editors were instructed by their superiors to report about refugees in exclusively negative terms.    

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Emílie Žigová: Czech ethnologist's rhetoric reminiscent of the Nazi era

23.7.2016 17:04 I recently read an article by ethnologist Mnislav Zelený-Atapany in the Lidové noviny daily called "Is a genocide against whites next for Europe?" (Je na řadě genocida bělochů v Evropě?). The peice opens by attempting to describe the feelings of an ordinary person who is both afraid and angry that politicians are not telling people the truth and that the danger posed by terrorist attacks is growing here.  full story

Commentary: Integration of impoverished Roma must begin immediately in the Czech Republic

18.7.2016 8:17 Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman has said good-faith, intensive negotiations are underway with stockholders to remove the pig farm from the site of the former concentration camp at Lety where Romani people died. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier has said he believes a law on social housing can still be approved before the next elections.  full story

Czech commentator: The Nice attack is all about the PR of fear

17.7.2016 17:01 If you want to be seen, you must be in the media, and if you want to be in the media, then you must make yourself visible. What are all these terrorist attacks really about?  full story

Prarthna Johri: Being an American in Prague is a curious thing

1.7.2016 14:57 There are practices vastly different here, such as the pleasantness of people you sit with on a train. You will get a warm, “Dobrý den!” and when you leave you’ll receive a “Na shlédanou!”. The brusqueness of the waiters and waitresses is another change but my personal jury is still out on whether the fake happiness of tip-motivated American waiters is better than the genuine lack of caring.
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Prarthna Johri: Make American Hate Again

1.7.2016 10:40 Donald Trump is a candidate unlike anything the United States has seen. He is brash and is unrestricted by the constraints of political correctness. He turned his nose up at his fellow opponents for accepting donations and has told his supporters not to contribute money. He has absolutely no political experience, despite having years of business experience behind him. He stands for nearly everything that the average candidate does not.  full story

František Kostlán: Brexit is unwelcome because the British are great. Let's not be vindictive.

28.6.2016 7:14 The main reason Brexit is unwelcome hasn't been said yet: The British are great - they are simply themselves, with their experienced, ingrained democracy and their bravery, dedication and humanity. In other words, they have all the things we lack.  full story

British educator, ashamed of his country's vote on remaining in EU, calls for referendum on exit terms

26.6.2016 10:13 Mark Penfold, an educator and founding member of the Roma Education Support Trust, has written the following letter in response to the results of the referendum on Brexit. News server Romea.cz republishes it here in full.  full story

Timea Junghaus: Roma art as an act of resistance

27.5.2016 21:27 On May 16, Europe’s Roma commemorated the 1944 uprising in the so-called Zigeunerlager (“Gypsy Camp”) in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, the idea of Roma resistance is understood as the Roma people’s perseverance in fighting different forms of oppressions, now and in the past.  full story

Member of Czech Freedom Fighters' Union says chair did not speak for her during the Terezín commemoration

17.5.2016 15:02 As a member of the Founding Organization of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (ČSBS) in Kladno, I must respond to the speech given by the chair of the ČSBS, Jaroslav Vodička, on behalf of all the members of the ČSBS during the official speeches at the Terezín commemoration on 15 May 2016. Speaking as a representative of the ČSBS, Vodička called for protecting our borders against refugees and for the protection of our culture.  full story