Commentary

Commentary: Czech trial of police president shows state attorney not independent

Prague, 16.1.2014 23:56, (ROMEA) The recent trial of Czech Police President Petr Lessy unfortunately has once again demonstrated the inability of the state attorney to proceed independently. I personally consider Lessy to be incompetent and to bear his share of the blame for the very poor reputation of the police, who constantly face criticism from human rights activists; despite this, I cannot agree with his being convicted without evidence.  full story

Commentary: In defense of Ivana Čonková

Ústí nad Labem, 15.1.2014 0:48, (ROMEA) I disagree with most of the opinions expressed in the piece entitled "Commentary: Some Romani activists are spreading anti-Romani sentiment", which has recently been published on Romea.cz. In that article the author attacks in an ugly, sometimes chauvinist, and vulgar way an activist from the Konexe association, my friend Ivana Mariposa Čonková.  full story

Commentary: Some Romani activists are spreading anti-Romani sentiment

Prague, 14.1.2014 23:40, (ROMEA) Most of the readers of Romea.cz have probably watched the most recent episode of the Czech Television discussion program "Máte slovo“ ("You Have the Floor"), which is presented by Michaela Jílková. I have to admit that during that broadcast I found myself wondering whether I was really watching a Czech Television program at all.  full story

RomaReact: The European Parliament elections are approaching: Will Roma candidates succeed?

Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 13.1.2014 23:09, (ROMEA) It is not something new for a Roma origin person to run candidature in European Parliament elections and be a MEP, Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia was the first Roma ever to serve as a Member of the European Parliament, his example was followed also by Lívia Járóka or Viktória Mohácsi. As the 2014 European Parliament elections are approaching the reports about the increasing number of Roma origins candidates for MEP are increasing.  full story

Commentary: Czech TV talk show contributes to anti-Romani sentiment

Prague, 13.1.2014 5:28, (ROMEA) Last Thursday evening the public channel Czech Television 1 broadcast an episode of Michaela Jílková's "Máte slovo" ("You Have the Floor") program on the topic of "Tightening up Welfare". Romani activist Ivana Mariposa Čonková was in the studio audience and protested against the management of the program, whom she believes have grossly violated the public broadcasting statutes of Czech Television and intensified anti-Romani sentiment in the country.  full story

Miroslav Kováč: Let's pay more attention in 2014

Litvínov, 30.12.2013 20:08, (ROMEA) Everyone reading these words is blessed, because it has been possible for us to live until the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 in peace. Whether we are healthy or ill, we can all say we have also been a part of the hierarchy of those who make history.  full story

Gyulla Banga: FIFA punishes Croatian footballer for promoting Nazism

Prague, 30.12.2013 17:25, (ROMEA) Josep Šimunič, a player with the Croatian football team, has been harshly punished by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) for making an inappropriate display of joy after successfully winning a close match with Iceland. Šimunič was "awarded" the privilege of watching the next 10 matches from the warmth of his home on TV (the punishment includes a clause banning him from the stadium and being with the other players) and, as if that weren't enough to regret, he also received a "Christmas present" in the amount of a fine for 30 000 Swiss francs for his "exemplary" behavior.  full story

Ivanka Mariposa Čonková: The international protest against neo-Fascism

Prague, 28.12.2013 19:42, (ROMEA) The Slovak region of Bánská Bystrica has undergone a shock. Neo-Fascist Marián Kotleba was elected Regional Governor in last month's direct elections there.  full story

Karel Holomek: Some Czech senators know not what they do

Brno, 27.12.2013 17:56, (ROMEA) Our senators have distinguished themselves once again. About a week ago they adopted a resolution by a large majority in response to recommendations from the Council of the EU on the matter of discrimination against Romani people.  full story

Commentary: Czech social housing concept needs a total rewrite

Prague, 24.12.2013 0:21, (ROMEA) It seems the outgoing Rusnok cabinet wanted to manage the production of as many conceptual materials as possible before leaving office. Fortunately, they have resisted pressure to make a decision on whether to breach existing environmental protection limits on mining.  full story

Commentary: Czech Senator says Romanes language lacks future tense

Prague, 6.12.2013 23:11, (ROMEA) Edward Said, the renowned post-colonial critical theorist, once said that the Roma are the only group about which anything can be said "without challenge or demurral". Ferdinand de Saussure, one of the founders of modern linguistics, noted that few other subjects have sparked as much fantasy, illusion or prejudice as language.  full story

Commentary: Senator Doubrava the Czech equivalent of Kotleba in Slovakia

Prague, 4.12.2013 16:16, (ROMEA) I am convinced that every social group, including senators, includes a few cunning hucksters. Czech Senator Doubrava (Severočeši.cz) definitely belongs to that category.  full story

Czech Social Democratic shadow minister: D.H. judgment key to desegregating schools

Prague, 25.11.2013 15:42, (ROMEA) This month marks six years since the groundbreaking judgment from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of D.H. and Others vs. the Czech Republic. That judgment confirmed that the Czech Republic discriminates against Romani children by disproportionately sending them to what were once called the "special schools" and today are called "practical schools."  full story

Karel Holomek: What democracy and freedom mean to me

Brno, 17.11.2013 15:29, (ROMEA) For me, democracy and freedom mean the opportunity to express my opinions on public affairs and to participate in them. When I express my opinions to the public, I don't feel restricted by anything other than the accuracy of my statements, which can be critical of abuses in society and eventually of those who personify those abuses, such as people in politics, including at the highest levels, and in public offices.  full story

Time to renew the meaning of 17 November

Prague, 14.11.2013 2:08, (ROMEA) The anniversary of 17 November is over-saturated with historical content in the Czech Republic. Two milestones in the grand story of the history of the Czech nation happened on that day.  full story

Join the open letter to the Board of Czech Television on the depiction of Romani people

Prague, 9.11.2013 19:07, (ROMEA) Documentary filmmaker Lukáš Senft, who has previously written an open letter to the creators of the "Sanitka 2" television serial, has decided to contact the Board of Czech Television about his concerns. "I would like to know: Will Czech Television soon be taking a clear, decisive step toward more fair and socially sensitive productions that will present the complexity of our world through the language of images in a way that does not simplify or trivialize it, but that reveals contexts, carefully making and analyzing important connections?" Senft writes in his open letter.  full story

Commentary: No surprise Czech MP Schwarz is being called a racist

Lom, 8.11.2013 21:50, (ROMEA) Who is newly-elected Czech MP Bronislav Schwarz? He is the director of the municipal police force in Most, a regional representative, and a councilor in the town of Lom who has loaned his name to the ANO 2011 political party which, as he has said, paid for his recent election campaign in exchange for his devotion and loyalty.  full story

Commentary: Romani actors play only primitive criminals in Czech tv serial

Prague, 8.11.2013 20:31, (ROMEA) A few days ago, Lukáš Senft, a documentary filmmaker and student at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, published an open letter to screenwriter Ivan Hubač and director Filip Renč, the creators of the tv serial "Sanitka 2", which is known to everyone from the time of the previous regime. In his letter, the author criticizes primarily the eighth episode of this serial and its depiction of the Romani minority as a dangerous, foreign, and incomprehensible group.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: We can fight back if necessary, but what about our children? Go vote!

Prague, 23.10.2013 0:05, (ROMEA) Romale, I presume you are all noticing how a large proportion of the political candidates are speaking about us in the television debates, how so-called experts on Romani people are proposing solutions for our lives. Notice how almost all of those solutions call for forceful measures - we're going to increase the numbers of police officers in the streets, hire police assistants, introduce CCTV systems in troubled localities.  full story

Commentary: In the Czech Republic, the Roma's image could get them killed

Prague, 21.10.2013 16:38, (ROMEA) This past spring the third - and so far the greatest - wave of anti-Romani protests has risen up in the Czech Republic. The first such wave, from 2007-2009, resulted in what was the most serious arson attack to date on a Romani family here in the town of Vítkov, and in the arrest of the perpetrators in August 2009. The second such wave, from 2011-2012, ended with a march by 2 000 people through the town of Břeclav, where locals and out-of-towners passionately protested an alleged attack by Romani people on a 15-year-old boy. One month later, it was proven that he had invented the entire story.  full story