Category Archives: Czech Republic

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Forced Sterilisations

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Czechia: Forced Sterilisations

Sixty-five-year-old Jarmila Adiová from Jirkov near Chomutov, who has applied for compensation for forced sterilisations tells about what happened to her. She said “First, social workers came to me and constantly checked how I was taking care of our five sons. They went to school and everything was fine. I was pregnant at the time and expecting a girl. The social workers threatened me that if I didn’t have an abortion, they would take my children away.”

The office in charge of granting compensation is working so slowly that the deadline for applciations will be missed by many if a new law proposal to extend it by two years is not voted soon.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Musicians

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Roma Musicians

How to make a documentary film not about Roma musicians, but with Roma musicians? This is what ethnomusicologist Petr Nuska thought about. For many years, he knew musicians from central Slovakia and they wanted to create their own music videos. So he helped them create the video clips, the Roma musicians themselves took on the roles of directors, and Petr Nuska then made a film about the film. The feature-length documentary is called Hopa lide and was filmed with its author by Jana Šustová.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Integration or Emancipation

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Czechia: Integration or Emancipation

An interview with František Lacko, a Roma activist from Czechia. He says that Roma do not need to integrate, but to emancipate. Integration is just parasitism of non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations only do what they can get in grants. They are interest groups and mainly family businesses. Integration costs millions a year.

He has a point, as NGOs do have a conflict of interest: If the problems they aim to tackle are solved, so is their “raison d’être”.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Forced Sterilisation

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Czech Forced Sterilisation

Two articles in the French press about the forced sterilisations of Romnja in the Czech Republic.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Welfare Reform

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Czechia: Welfare Reform

The Czech Welfare Reform committee adopted changes to the current laws on welfare, including a potential increase of support, expanding the scope of the welfare, and some weakening of sanctions for people who break the rules.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Romano Suno

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Czechia: Romano Suno

The Romano suno (Roma Dream) competition has been organized by the non-profit organization Nová škola since 1996. It is open to everyone who knows Romanes and wants to write their own text in that language, make a video, or compete live in Romanes. The purpose of the competition is to encourage people to take an interest in Romanes, to create in it, and to use Romanes publicly.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Na Plech

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Na Plech

Extremely incorrect comedy “Na plech” is a big hit  in Czech cinemas with more that 65’000 viewers in the first week, Slovak cinemas are afraid of it. It is an extremely incorrect comedy, with uncompromising style and humor that goes beyond the limit. For example, one of the scenes features a group of Roma cooking methamphetamine.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma-Czech Talent

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Roma-Czech Talent

The Roma-Czech Talent talent competition aims not only to discover and support talented participants, but also to connect different communities and bring Roma culture closer to the non-Roma audience.

“This event is not only to search for and support talents, but also to emphasize the importance of connecting people across communities. “We want to create a platform that will allow non-Roma people to get to know our culture and thus contribute to mutual understanding,” Dana Chromeková, a member of the Roma Spolek HK association, told the Romea.cz news server.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Writer

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Roma Writer

An article about the Roma writer Michal Šamko. His parents and siblings came from Svidník, but he was born in Jičín, Czech Republic, where he did not have an easy childhood. “Gypsy filth,” they shouted at him in elementary school, where there were 23 children in their class, but he was the only Roma. The biggest punishment for his classmates was not the remarks, but being seated next to him. Michal Šamko was determined to achieve something in life and in the end he succeeded.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Education

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Czechia and Education

Czech Education Minister Mikuláš Bek has presented the new Framework Education Programs (RVPs) for nursery and primary schools which are supposed to strengthen the connection between knowledge and skills and focus on reducing inequality in the Czech education system. For the first time ever, institutions focused on supporting the Romani minority have significantly contributed to the design of the programs.

Let’s see what this brings. Schools are still segregated…

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Charter 77

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Charter 77

The human rights movement Charter 77 published a significant document, “The Status of Gypsies and Roma in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic”, which is presented by Charter 77 signatory, former chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee and former public defender of human rights Anna Šabatová.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Racism in Czechia

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Racism in Czechia

Roma, Ukrainians, Jews, Muslims. Racism is not just the domain of one party, but is widespread in Czech politics. And this is not new. In the 1990s, the politician Miroslav Sládek already made an outrageous racist statement saying that “Roma should be criminally responsible from birth, because that is their greatest crime”. And with social media, this is not getting better.

Scary.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia, Roma, and Genetics

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Czechia, Roma, and Genetics

Another article following the statements of a deputy mayor Alena Pataky (Ano), who complained that Roma are not interested in education and that they have nomadic genes that they acquired long ago in India.

The article says that while Alena Pataky was forced to resign, politicians of all sides say very similar things about Roma and a large part of the Czech population agrees. Now, it also raises the question of who are Roma and how many of them live in Czechia. Official census states that there are roughly 20’000 Roma in Czechia. Unofficial statistics say that the number is at least 10 times bigger.

Finally, the article also raises the question of segregated and special schools where Roma are still mostly assigned to in Czechia.

Bad.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: School Segregation

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Czechia: School Segregation

The Czech Republic has been struggling with the problem of segregation of Roma children in education for more than fifteen years. The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of D. H. and others v. the Czech Republic from 2007 clearly identified the practice at that time as discriminatory. Instead of accepting this challenge as an opportunity for change, we resorted to writing strategies, plans and reports that remained only on paper. Despite tens of millions of crowns invested in various action plans, the reality is still the same.

Children from Roma families often find themselves in segregated schools that offer them a lower quality education. The consequences are devastating – these children remain trapped in a cycle of poverty and social exclusion, while society loses their potential. Moreover, segregation is not just a problem in primary schools. This phenomenon also continues in secondary schools, where the socio-economic background of families and place of residence play a major role.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Roma

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Czechia and Roma

Following the controversy of the a deputy mayor who claimed that Roma are not genetically programmed for education, a blog about education and Roma. The blog’s intentions are good, as it states that “the poorer academic results of Roma children are caused by poor socio-economic background, not by their racial differences”.

Unfortunately, after noting that only 11,746 people registered as Roma in the last census, whereas estimates say there are around 300’000 Roma in Czechia, it goes on with percentages … 30% of children end up in special schools; 57% are long term unemployed, etc. How does one arrive at those numbers if one doesn’t know how many there are?

Actually, this is racist, albeit with good intentions.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, the deputy mayor of Přívoz, Czechia, and member of the Moravian-Silesian Region council for the ANO movement (extreme right), made the following statement:

“The mentality of the Roma has not changed since the 13th century, because they are genetically equipped in a completely different way. They do not have an education as their life-goal. They have completely different goals. The nomadism that was planted in them somewhere in India persists in a certain way.”

Well, if that isn’t racist, what is…

She resigned from her job following the hefty criticism.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, deputy mayor of the Ostrava-Přívoz municipal district and member of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Council for the ANO movement, found herself criticised for her openly racist statements about Roma in an interview with the Okraj.cz server. In the interview, Pataky suggested that the problems with the low success rate of Roma students in primary schools are due to the different genetic makeup and mentality of Roma, which she believes hinders their interest in education.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Patrik Bartko Interview

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Patrik Bartko Interview

Patrik Bartko, one of the leading Czech guitarists and a member of Marek Ztracený’s band, gave an interview to the first Romani internet television channel ROMEA TV. In the pre-Christmas interview, he talked about his musical life, the influence of family tradition and how his music connects with Romani culture.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Paramisja

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Czechia: Paramisja

The Pig Bride and the Talking Horse is a book of Romani fairy tales: far from the first to be published in Czechia, but in many ways the best so far, because the most thorough. It is intended primarily for adults, both researchers and ordinary readers – they will find amusement and many surprises in it.  It is now a well-known fact that traditional Romani folklore is not for young ladies.

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