Category Archives: Czech Republic

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma and Media

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Roma and Media

Roma have long been portrayed in limited and stereotypical roles in Czech media and film – as victims, perpetrators or caricatures. Alica Sigmund Heráková, founder of the Tuke.TV platform and the TUKINO film festival, talks about why authentic Roma stories, Roma authors and diverse characters are missing in audiovisual media in the new episode of the SODAcast podcast.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Jana Horváthová

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Jana Horváthová

An Interview with the director of the Czech Museum of Roma Culture Jana Horváthová. She was asked what issues from her own family did she have to deal with?

“Throughout my childhood and youth, I considered my Roma origin to be a kind of mark of Cain,” she says.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

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Czechia, Slovakia, and Christmas

The well-known Roma musician Gejza Horváth can tell you at length how they celebrated Christmas. He was born in 1948 in Písečná in the Šumpersk region, but spent his childhood in the settlement of Kolinovce near the Slovak town of Krompachy. He comes from a musical family and was already playing with the biggest bands in Slovakia at the age of twelve. So he was definitely not bored at Christmas. In Gejza Horváth’s childhood, Roma would go around the village to play carols for the gádže

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Sally Cortes

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Sally Cortes

“The first step must be taken by oneself – to believe that one can achieve everything one dreams of,” says Romani writer and activist Sally Cortés in an interview.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romano Football

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Romano Football

The Roma football club, which was founded without a pitch and without money, today attracts the attention of opponents and spectators throughout the district. SK Roma Mělník had to fight for its place in football. “I was excited, but at the same time I knew that starting from scratch would be incredibly difficult,” says its chairman and player Dominik Malinský in the DROMcast podcast.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Law in Romanes

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Law in Romanes

The Hermeniculum Association is preparing the first translation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms into the Romanes. It will be created as part of the Romani version of the book Constitutional (Disorder) in Pictures, which will be published by Wolters Kluwer. The translation is intended to symbolically and practically strengthen the position of Romani in the public sphere and draw attention to the importance of not only the linguistic rights of national minorities.

Well, not sure of the purpose.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Stereotypes

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Stereotypes

Nick Ferenc is an actor and musician who breaks stereotypes about Roma in the Czech public space. He studied alternative and puppet theatre at DAMU, dubbed the character Tibor in the English version of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and is heading to the new series Oddíol B, directed by Petr Kolečko. “We Roma are not portrayed as characters, but as Roma,” he says in the podcast Režim neršit.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Podcast

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Czech Podcast

In the December review episode of SODAcast, podcast authors Zdeněk Ryšavý and Patrik Banga look back at the key events of the end of the year. In addition to the newly published Report on the Status of the Roma Minority and the debates surrounding anti-Gypsyism, they also address one of the most controversial moments of the current political situation – the nomination of Filip Turek as Minister of the Environment in the emerging government of ANO, SPD and Motorists.

 

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma Business Fair

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Roma Business Fair

A Roma business fair was held at the Grandior Hotel in Prague on November 27, presenting successful examples of business, a space for sharing experiences and new opportunities for cooperation. The event was created as an extension of an educational project focused on community development and entrepreneurship, implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Interview

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Interview

Education, community projects, consulting, activism, writing and support for Romani culture and identity. All of this belongs to the world of Janka Plešková, a native of Slovakia, a student at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University.

“As far as I can remember, I have always lived in two worlds, Romani and non-Romani. And I searched for myself for a very long time, I did not know where I belonged.”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romanes Workshop

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Romanes Workshop

A day-long series of workshops called Phen oda romanes (Say it in Romanes) took place in Prague. The aim of the project is to support the development of written Romani and to connect novice and experienced authors, journalists, translators and students of Romani studies from both the Roma and the majority society.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Choir

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Czechia: Choir

More than three dozen Roma children from Ostrava have had their first rehearsal of a new choir. This is the only regional branch of the well-known choir Čhavorenge under the direction of singer and choirmaster Ida Kelarová. They will rehearse regularly and hope that it will change their lives.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Are you Rom?

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Are you Rom?

An interview with Nikolas Ferenc, a 26-year-old Roma actor, voice actor and musician. On the social network Instagram, he creates videos about Roma culture, stereotypes and prejudices that Roma men and women encounter.

When early in his career he was asked whether he was Rom, he then did not say yes.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Phen Oda

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Phen Oda

After the successful October meeting in Třebechovice, the Phen oda romanes (Say it in Romanes) project continues with another full-day series of workshops, which will take place on November 22 in Prague. The project aims to support the development of written Romani and connect novice and experienced authors, journalists, translators and students of Romani studies from both the Roma and the majority society. The project thus offers a unique opportunity to share experiences, establish contacts and find inspiration for all those interested in contemporary Romani culture and language.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

School Segregation

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School Segregation

The segregation of Roma pupils in Czech schools is failing to be addressed. The European Commission has repeatedly ordered the Czech Republic to deal with inequalities in education. Fines of hundreds of millions of euros are looming over the Czech Republic.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romanes in Czechia

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Romanes in Czechia

The Faculty of Arts at Charles University publicly celebrated the International Romani Language Day for the first time on November 5th this year. The event, initiated by students of Romani studies in cooperation with teachers and the Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, offered not only expert contributions, but also a panel debate and authorial readings by Romani writers. The meeting showed that this language is not just a legacy of the past, but a living tool of communication, cultural expression and personal identity.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

New Estate

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New Estate

The plan of the city of Šluknov (Czechia) to buy out approximately 400 apartments in a socially excluded locality and transfer them to its own administration has provoked a reaction from the civil part of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs and the platform of Roma and pro-Roma organizations RomanoNet. Although they consider the plan to be potentially beneficial, they point out serious shortcomings in the proposal that may lead to destabilization of the community and violations of the rights of residents.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Racism in Sports

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Racism in Sports

The police is investigating an incident in which fans of the LHK Jestřábi Prostějov hockey club chanted racist slogans and sang a song with hateful lyrics in Hodonín (Czechia) on Saturday, November 8, 2025. According to the police, an anti-conflict team intervened on the spot and stopped the illegal actions. The police are investigating the case.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

On the Election Campaign

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On the Election Campaign

The portrayal of migrants in Toni Okamura’s SPD election campaign is similar to how members of other races and social classes were portrayed in Nazi and communist propaganda, the Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) said. In today’s decision, it was critical of the SPD campaign, but it still rejected the complaint of a voter from the Central Bohemian Region. It failed to prove grossly influencing the election result, which is a condition for possible court intervention. According to the NSS, the SPD campaign speaks more about the movement itself, other parties could have reacted to it and voters ultimately made up their own minds. The decision is temporarily available on the official noticeboard.

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