Czech Republic

Discrimination proceedings launched against Czech property management company over Roma segregation

4.4.2015 22:41 News server Romea.cz has been exclusively informed by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce - ČOI) that it has launched an administrative proceedings against the CPI BYTY a.s. firm after investigating them on suspicions of discriminating against Romani clients. The Janov housing estate, where CPI BYTY manages some properties, recently drew the attention of media and politicians after some local residents there addressed a petition to the Czech Prime Minister complaining they are being "terrorized by the Gypsy minority".  full story

Analysis: Roma replace Muslims as main target for Czech hate online

4.4.2015 21:30 Hatred on the Czech-language Internet has returned to its traditional target, Romani people, as a result of the declining outrage over January's attacks in Paris, when Muslims became the main target of Czech-language online hate. Current data from the Yeseter company measuring the intensity of hatred and its trends for the HateFree Culture initiative reveal several interesting facts, including the fact that most "haters" don't focus on a single theme, but can flow freely from "hating" one group to another.  full story

Czech TV journalist Richard Samko on the "Romani star" scandal

4.4.2015 19:10 It took me a few days to be able to write a response to the article recently published by Mf DNES and iDNES.cz about Klaudia Dudová. I am disgusted.  full story

Commentary: Tabloids are based on stupidity, with racism as a side effect

4.4.2015 1:05 "I knew she was the actress from the film 'The Way Out'. That was a guarantee for me of a certain seriousness. I told myself that it's not possible that all Roma are the same," says a landlord whom Klaudia Dudová owes approximately CZK 25 000 in back rent.  full story

Klaudia Dudová responds to Czech article about back rent: "I wanted to help my family"

3.4.2015 0:42 In response to an article entitled "Award-winning star of the film 'The Way Out' owes back rent" ("Oceněná hvězda filmu Cesta ven dluží na nájemném") published by the Czech news server iDNES.cz and on the front page of the print edition of the daily Mladá fronta DNES under the headline "Star Romani actress never paid for apartment" ("Romská herecká hvězda neplatila za byt") on 1 April 2015, as well as in response to many related media stories, the production team of the film "The Way Out" has published the following response from Klaudia Dudová  full story

Czech journalists criticize paper for article about Romani actress's alleged debts

2.4.2015 23:23, (ROMEA) Yesterday, 1 April, the front page of the Czech daily Mladá fronta DNES and the main page of its online news server iDNES.cz featured an article by reporter Artur Janoušek with the headline "Star Romani actress never paid for apartment" ("Romská herecká hvězda neplatila za byt"). While the vast majority of those posting comments to news server iDNES.cz were enthusiastic about this news and posted racist comments about it, some journalists are horrified by the lengths to which this daily, previously considered "serious", has gone by publishing the piece - many still cannot believe this was not actually an April Fool's joke or that the paper can have been serious about publishing it.  full story

Czech Republic: Visiting season opens at Lety memorial

Lety u Písku, 1.4.2015 0:42, (ROMEA) The memorial at Lety by Písek will launch yet another season for visitors on Tuesday, 31 March 2015 with a program for youth called "Closer Together" ("Sobě blíž") which will feature performances by Mário Bihári and Bára Hrzánová, among others.  full story

Czech Republic: Street Battle Jam dance competition comes to Khamoro World Roma Festival for the first time

31.3.2015 23:58 This year the Street Battle Jam dance competition will take place for the first time as part of the Khamoro World Roma Festival. The competition will take place on 30 May 2015 from 9:30 to 19:00 at the Vltavská metro stop in Prague.  full story

City of Prague establishes National Minority Committee with seat for Roma

Prague, 31.3.2015 1:12, (ROMEA) More than 5 % of the residents of Prague are of a nationality other than Czech. The City Council has therefore fulfilled its legal obligations and established a National Minority Committee with representatives of 12 nationalities.  full story

Czech film series "Bastards" humiliates Romani people

30.3.2015 20:54 Is the "Bastards" film series a serious portrayal of the environment in the Czech "practical schools", or is it just a sampling of generalizations, prejudices and stereotypes about Romani people? Martina Šafářová, a student at the University of Pardubice, has analyzed Magnusek's series in her thesis.  full story

Promoter of status quo segregation believes the Czech state takes excellent care of Romani children

30.3.2015 2:55 Jiří Pilař, chair of the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů - ASP) is a longtime defender of the "special schools" who has been fighting with the advocates promoting what he calls "inclusion at any price". He recently published a commentary on the educational news server Česká škola (Czech School) about the current state of his fight on behalf of the "practical schools" (previously called "special schools") and the recent amendment of the Schools Act.  full story

Commentary: If I were Romani, I'd go crazy

29.3.2015 20:25 "To be Romani all too frequently means living in an excluded locality. To live in a ghetto means being close to the drug mafia, loan sharks, and speculators in social housing, to be in the sights of those who traffic in poverty. It means to experience despair, frustration , hopelessness and resignation. In such a situation, merely finding the will to escape it is a minor miracle," writes commentator Martin Vrba in an article for the Czech online magazine A2larm.cz.  full story

Karel Holomek: Segregation is a source of crime, frustration and hatred

28.3.2015 19:45 I do not want to a priori suspect Mr Čunek of endeavoring to harm Romani people, even though he is succeeding exceptionally well at exactly that. He is being applauded on an open stage and people undoubtedly ultimately sent him back as Mayor of Vsetín and even as Senator for exactly that reason.  full story

Czech Republic: Nonprofits help unemployed Roma, save the state millions

Prague, 27.3.2015 23:51, (ROMEA) Last year, within the framework of a project run by the ROMEA nonprofit (the publisher of news server Romea.cz) and the Slovo 21 NGO, 59 Romani clients in Prague succeeded in finding jobs, saving the state budget more than CZK 6 million (EUR 218 000). "We are glad that last year we succeeded in helping almost 60 Romani residents of Prague find work, and we managed to change their life situations. That is no easy task and I consider it a big success," said Jelena Silajdžić, director of Slovo 21.  full story

Czech Romani Studies scholar says that when Roma do well, so does all of society

27.3.2015 22:25 "The values held by Romani people are basically the same values as those held by the majority society," Mgr. Zbyněk Andrš, Ph.D., an ethnologist and Romani Studies scholar from the Social Sciences Department at the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Pardubice said in an interview for news server EuroZprávy.cz. Andrš says the reason that a large number of Romani people perform unskilled labor and enjoy lower standards of living is that their access to the authorities and to education is comparatively worse.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel owner fined CZK 550 000 over shocking conditions

27.3.2015 21:31, (ROMEA) Pavel Mirga, the operator of a troubled residential hotel on Dluhonská Street in Přerov, has been fined CZK 550 00 (EUR 20 000) because his residential hotel facility was never properly registered. Kamila Navrátilová, spokesperson for the Regional Authority, told the Czech News Agency that the decision has yet to take effect and could be appealed.  full story

Czech ombud responds to critics about Romani discrimination findings: Test cases are a serious approach

27.3.2015 19:57, (ROMEA) The Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, issued a press release about discrimination against prospective Romani tenants on 22 December 2014. There was no greater response to her findings at that time.  full story

Czech News Agency produces biased, stereotyping report about Janov housing estate

25.3.2015 20:51, (ROMEA) In its 24 March report about the events around the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, the Czech News Agency, an independent public wire service, has committed some serious infractions against the "objective" reporting that is its mission under the law. The criticism levied by media analyses showing that Romani people ("inadaptables") are depicted stereotypically by the Czech media applies to this wire service to a great extent .
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Czech ministers of human rights and labor to review situation at Janov housing estate

Litvínov, 25.3.2015 19:07, (ROMEA) The situation at the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov, according to Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, will be reviewed by his fellow Social Democrats in the cabinet, Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová. The PM has written as much to the initiators of a petition who complained of their allegedly impossible coexistence at the housing estate with socially vulnerable residents, primarily Romani ones.
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Internet discussions: To delete, or not to delete?

25.3.2015 17:23, (ROMEA) The vast majority of democrats are advocates of the broadest possible freedom of speech, because no democracy can exist without it. Those who back an absolute freedom of speech, however, are most frequently recruited, paradoxically, from the ranks of those who disseminate pornography or racism, people whom it may difficult for the rest of us to consider democrats.  full story