Commentary

"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

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

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

Commentary: Hate is just around the corner in Europe

Uppsala, Sweden, 28.2.2013 22:15, (ROMEA) They say 2013 is the year when the euro crisis will resolve after hitting rock bottom and everything will start to get better. We hope so, but we can only say this about some parts of Europe. In Spain we have six million unemployed and in Greece there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  full story

Commentary: Did Romani activist cause CZK 10 million damage?

Prague, 24.2.2013 20:46, (ROMEA) Ladislav Bílý, the chair of the Romani Civic Association (Romské občanské sdružení) was sentenced this week to six years in prison for subsidy fraud. According to information in the media, he committed the fraud between 2007 and 2010 when he requested subsidies in the name of the association from the municipality of Karlovy Vary, the Karlovy Vary Regional Authority, and the Czech Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and submitted a falsified confirmation of solvency with his application.  full story

Commentary: Martin Luther King, Jr's testament for Romani people

Prague, 22.2.2013 22:11, (ROMEA) This piece was composed as an introductory contribution to a debate about Martin Luther King, Jr in Prague that was convened by the American Center and the Slon publishing house, which has released the first selection of Dr King's works in Czech translation.  full story

Commentary: The difference between Czech and French politicians

Prague, 21.2.2013 19:27, (ROMEA) This is really interesting: One comment by Maurice Taylor, head of the American firm Titan International, about the work morale of the French employees of a Goodyear factory has upset almost all of France. Taylor wrote to the French Government that "French employees receive high wages but work only three hours. They get hour-long breaks for snacks and lunch, talk for three hours and work for three." He went on to add that he is no longer interested in French workers or preserving the factory in France and would therefore be closing it.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Why I quit

Bucharest, 14.2.2013 10:11, (ROMEA) The main focus of most of the important donors, governments and intergovernmental organisations when it comes to the Roma inclusion field is to find positive practices and replicate such positive practices.  full story

Commentary: Dilemma of the "decent Gypsy"

Prague, 13.2.2013 17:58, (ROMEA) Consensus-building and efforts at dialogue are part of democracy. On the other hand, we cannot completely smooth over any conflict ongoing in society. Which is better: To soften your formulations when conversing with someone whose opinions contradict yours, or to go into conflict with them?  full story

Commentary: Czech residential hotels now worse than refugee camps used to be

Prague/Ostrava, 12.2.2013 16:16, (ROMEA) It's Wednesday, 6 February 2013 and we're in Prague at a large roundtable - police officers, psychotherapists, social workers, child welfare department staffers, employees of civic associations in the helping professions. All together we are doing our best to resolve the complex medical, relational and social problem of a single family that resulted in domestic violence recently.  full story

Commentary: Slovakia's TV Markíza misinforms viewers about "activation jobs"

Detva, Slovensko, 9.2.2013 19:22, (ROMEA) In the Czech Republic they've elected a president. Lawsuits are being planned against the Slovak President. In Syria the murder continues. In Somalia 29 000 children have died of hunger, while another 300 000 are expected to die there soon. The world is spinning in a crazy dance and the economic crisis is conducting the music, but Slovakia lives for its own domestic problems. No one here is much interested in the war in Syria or famine somewhere in Africa.  full story

Analysis: High emotions no help in housing drama

Ústí nad Labem, 6.2.2013 19:03, (ROMEA) The recently resolved case of the residential hotel occupants in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem is a clear example of something we are all aware of: The dismissive approach taken toward Romani people in this country is often based on the social positions of those involved and the sense of superiority felt by those who are better off. During this recent scandal, the situation of people who are some of the very poorest in this country was spun by the Romani owner of the building in the Předlice quarter which they had to evacuate, by the town government (in the hands of the Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD), by the Romani operator of the residential hotel, and by the firm owning the building in which it was located. Unfortunately, some NGOs also spun their story as well.  full story

Commentary: Czech Residency Bans will solve nothing

Litvínov, 29.1.2013 0:43, (ROMEA) Almost anything at all can be imagined as falling under the concept of democracy, and many of us are somehow prevented from understanding what kind of power we all acquired here in November 1989. Most of us have a basic problem with the very definition of democracy. It is, therefore, easily understandable why today's functionaries do not have to distance themselves from previous totalitarian practices, which seem democratic and excusable to us today, at least under their definition of democracy. The truth is that the achievement of real democracy is very complex, and navigating it is too complicated. Our society is not prepared for complications - or better said, it is not capable of compromise.  full story

Jarmila Balážová: I will vote for Karel Schwarzenberg

Prague, 24.1.2013 17:14, (ROMEA) It has been interesting to see what the first direct presidential election in the Czech Republic has unleashed and shown us. Even though some of this all could have been predicted, I really did not expect some of the responses I have seen, just as I did not expect certain people active in cultural and public life to back the candidates they are now backing.  full story

2012 in the Czech Republic: The Romani point of view

Prague, 29.12.2012 22:42, (ROMEA) It's the custom at this time of year to take stock of the failures, possibilities, and successes of the year that has passed. I will, therefore, briefly reflect on the matters that drew my attention this year. There were rather a lot of them, but nothing much that was positive, and that's why in closing I have to dig deep and look closer to hand so as not to succumb to skepticism during this holiday period. I will even talk a bit about my own work.  full story

Karel Holomek: 2012 brought us decline - but also hope

Brno, 28.12.2012 17:59, (Romano vod'i) It's usually a good rule to reflect at the end of each year on what the year was like, what happened that was bad and good, and to try to predict on that basis whether the year to come and the years after that will be better or worse. There is probably nothing more we can do, because our personal desires and wishes are hard to fulfill through just our efforts alone, given the broader context in which they take place.  full story

On transforming the Czech "practical primary schools"

Prague, 27.12.2012 17:37, (Romano vod'i) Iveta Němečková is the coordinator of the Together to School coalition and has worked as a special educator, a director, a lecturer in education programs, a coordinator and a specialist in education methods for the Step by Step program. She has implemented a project aimed at integrating Romani pupils into primary education and has participated in designing an international education program focusing on working with prejudices and stereotypes. She has long been an advocate of inclusive education and has worked as the coordinator of early childhood care projects. She is a lecturer in adult education and a coordinator and organizer of educational events. She contributed the following commentary to the latest issue of Romano voďi.  full story

Norman L. Eisen: 2012 Human Rights Award Ceremony Remarks

Praha, 13.12.2012 6:30, (ROMEA) Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honored to welcome you to the Human Rights Award Ceremony at the US Embassy in Prague.  full story

Czech Senator Gajdůšková: Everyone must receive the same opportunity!

Prague, 28.11.2012 17:16, (ROMEA) I recently convened a round table in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the European Court of Human Rights handing down its judgment in the case of D.H. and others versus the Czech Republic. In November 2007, the court ruled that the "practical primary schools" (previously called the "special schools") in our country were disadvantaging Romani children.  full story

Commentary: "Yuck, the gypsies touched that!"

Prague, 27.11.2012 0:31, (ROMEA) "Yuck, the gypsies touched that!“ The cry came from the mother of a two-year-old infant. Startled, he burst into tears. He had taken an interest in something on top of a concrete trashcan on the square of a North Bohemian town. The first instruction to leave the trashcan alone didn't end his fascination - he seemed not to have understood it.  full story