Category Archives: Czech Republic

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26.09.2014 “Red card Against Racism: diplomats support Roma football club”

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Radio Praha (Kraus 2014) and Le Matin (2014) report on a charity match between a Czech Rroma soccer team and a diplomatic team with the ambassadors from Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Denmark. Organised by the Swedish ambassador Annika Jagander, the game is meant to draw attention to the discrimination against Rroma: “In the still young season, two teams have refused to compete against the TJ Junior Roma, and instead preferred to pay 3,000 crowns (about 109 Euros) of fine. As a reason, the county division cites an incident dating back to 2011. A match between FC Děčín und Lokomotiva Děčín then ended in a brawl and the police had to intervene. […] “Football and sports should actually bring people closer together: both people of the same as well as from different nationalities. That this no longer works, we feel very bad about. That’s why we want to show the red card to racism” (Kraus 2014). Libor Šimeček, chairman of the Czech Football Association, meanwhile denied that the case has anything to do with racism. One will now examine in detail why five of the eleven teams in the league do not want to play against the Rroma team, he stated. The club from Frantiskov had announced that they did not want to play against the team because of the aggressive behaviour of the players of TJ Junior Roma. The Czech Republic has a population of 300,000 to 400,000 Rroma. Exact figures do not exist. Many are integrated and have a job. However, numerous are also affected by strong exclusion and social problems. Particularly, since the economic crisis and the strengthened nationalism that occurred since the end of the Eastern Bloc. Also, in several schools there is still a segregation of ethnic Czechs and Rroma (compare Le Monde 2014).

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26.09.2014 European Commission investigates segregation of Rroma in the Czech Republic

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Robinson (2014) reports on an announced infringement procedure of the European Commission against the Czech Republic, due to the violation of the legislation on discrimination. The Commission has stated it will investigate the discrimination against Rroma in the Czech Republic, in particular the segregation of Rroma children in public schools: “The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into the Czech Republic’s treatment of its Roma minority, in the latest attempt to improve the circumstances of the often persecuted group in Europe. […] A disproportionate number of Roma pupils are educated in schools for students with “mild mental disabilities”, which campaign groups say amounts to segregation. Roma pupils account for more than a quarter of students in these schools, despite being just three per cent of the Czech population […].” The high proportion of Rroma children at schools for the disabled, which is documented by various studies, is actually in itself proof that the minority is in fact discriminated against at public schools. The Czech government for its part has announced that one has made progress in the fight against segregation, but that one could not abolish it from one day to the other, but only undo it step by step. Amnesty International in turn emphasizes in a public statement that one has suggested to the Czech government for years that the segregation of Rroma  children constitutes an intolerable situation. But nearly nothing was done: “For years, Amnesty International has documented systemic discrimination against Roma children in Czech schools,” said Nicolas J. Beger, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office. “Yet the Czech government has so far failed to take effective measures to prevent, address and remedy this. In agreeing to launch infringement proceedings, the commission has sent a clear message to the Czech Republic and other member states – systemic discrimination towards Roma cannot and will not be tolerated”,  he added.”

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17.09.2014 Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina: safe countries of origin for Rroma?

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The daily news of the ARD (2014) reports on the ongoing discussions and protests because of the declaration of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina as being “safe countries of origin”. Accordingly, the federal government will soon enact a law that puts these three countries on the list of countries safe of persecution. Thereafter, minorities like the Rroma will have very poor chances of obtaining asylum in Germany. This is being criticised especially by social democratic politicians and non-governmental organisations. Recently, the Central Council of German Sinti and Rroma has spoken out. Its chairman, Romani Rose, criticised in his statement that the three countries are anything but safe for Rroma: “In the three countries, the argument goes, there is no persecution, torture, violence or degrading treatment. […] Life for Rroma in Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina is anything but safe, Rose declared. “Large parts of the minority in these countries have no chance in the labour market, they are excluded from any participation in social life.” For Roma, which are merely tolerated in Germany, the implementation of the plans could mean deportation.” While it is true that the Rroma in the Balkans were exposed to little discrimination until 1989, and many of the common stereotypes about the minority originated in Western Europe, this does not mean that the exaggeration of ethnic differences and the marginalisation of the Rroma have not become a real issue since then that affect many members of the minority. The adoption of the new law is due to an increase of asylum applications from Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which are turned down in the majority of the cases as being unfounded. However, these decisions are also criticised, since individual fates of exclusion and persecution get too little attention and are not considered appropriately due to lack of evidence. The status of safe countries puts administrative estimates about the protection of the civilian population, especially minorities, over the individual experiences of those affected. Whether this is a smart procedure that meets the real-life experiences of victims of discrimination, should be critically assessed. What matters in the end is the individual fate and not the official status (compare Amtsberg 2014, Attenberger/Filon 2014, Die Welt 2014, Ulbig 2014).  

Eastern Europe correspondent Mappes-Niediek (2014) contradicts this opinion: He claims that the Rroma in South Eastern Europe are often affected by poverty, but are not persecuted. In Macedonia and Serbia, the Rroma rather build part of local communities and are found in all social classes and positions. Even the Rromanes is widely accepted in Macedonia: “Traditionally, in Macedonia and Serbia, it is far less disparagingly spoken about Roma than in the neighbouring countries of Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The major, wearing his chain of office and shaking hands, attend Roma celebrations. In the newspapers one respectfully speaks of “citizens of Roma nationality”, and ethnic Macedonians also attend Roma pilgrimages. The European cliché that Roma steal is unknown in both countries. […] If Roma are exposed to persecution somewhere in the region, then it is the EU-country Hungary, where right-wing extremist groups inflame the atmosphere, literally hunt for Roma and the police looks the other way. However, from EU-countries no asylum applications are accepted in principle. Even discrimination based on ethnicity is likely to be far less in Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia than what Roma have to endure in Hungary, the Czech Republic or France.” Thereby Mappes-Niediek addresses an important point: the difficulty of assessing the discrimination or acceptance of a minority that is already perceived very one-sided in the public in its entirety and complexity. For Mappes-Niediek, the Rroma in South Eastern Europe are particularly affected by poverty. This is certainly true for a part of the minority. But he also hides a part of reality: in particular the integrated Rroma, which can be found in all the countries of Europe and are not perceived as Rroma by the public. Rroma should not be equated with an underclass. They build part of all strata of society. Regarding the aspect of discrimination, the individual fate should still favoured to a reductionist, generalising assessment: because mechanisms of exclusion in a society cannot be read on a measuring instrument. They are subtly distributed in all spheres of a nation and not necessarily occur in the open.    

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22.08.2014 Integration of immigrant Rroma-children in German schools

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Der Westen und Radio Ennepe Ruhr report on the integration of children from immigrant Rroma families in the public schools of Ennepetal in North Rhine-Westphalia. This is said to proceed in a largely positive fashion. According to the journalists’ estimates, the families were a part of those families that received media attention while living in the “Rroma house” in Duisburg and who subsequently  moved to Ennepetal. Around 30 adults and 80 children are now living in the worker housinf of a former metal factory. While it is stressed that the integration of the families has enjoyed top priority from the start and will be actively promoted by the community, one is nevertheless irritated by the fact that the children are not integrated into regular classes, but are rather taught in so-called “integration classes”. Of the 52 Rroma-children who were enrolled into these integration classes, in which their viability for the regular school is assessed, only six now will go to regular classes with the new school year starting. For those responsible for integration, this seems to be a success. However, from the perspective of a real integration, the segregated teaching of Rroma children is extremely problematic, as they can hardly socialise with other children. Anke Velten-Franke from the mayor’s office sees this differently: since Rrroma children are taught in the buildings of the middle and primary school, they were able to make contact with other children during school breaks, she states. It is to be hoped that the politician proves right. Principally, segregated schooling, especially in the context of negative experiences from the Czech Republic or Romania, where it is still widespread, should be seen very critically, since it fosters and maintains the discrimination and marginalisation of the minority. The focus on the recently immigrated Rroma families should not obscure the fact already now 110’00 to 130,000 Rroma are living integrated in Germany, many for generations. Their children are not taught segregated. In addition, Stefan Scherer commits a gross error in judgment when he reproduces without comment that the social workers of Ennepetal would share a fear with many other residents: “The Roma are not sedentary people. The fear to invest a lot of money and energy, and then they move to the next town or the next country is still present in Ennepetal” (Scherer 2014). However, most Rroma are not travellers and never were. The alleged wandering lifestyle is rather the result of their continuous expulsion, which was and is reinterpreted in a false analogy to a travelling way of life (compare Radio Ennepe Ruhr 2014).  

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06.08.2014 KZ Lety: demand for an appropriate memorial instead of pig farm

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During the occupation by the Nazis, there was a concentration camp for Rroma in the South Bohemian town of Lety, which was operated by Czech collaborators. Some 1,300 people were interned there; hundreds of them were murdered. Despite this grim finding, today there still is no memorial at the site of the former labour camp. Instead, there is a pig farm built under communist rule. This irreverent handling of a memorial site was protested against for years. Culture Minister Daniel Herman reaffirmed in a broadcast by the Czech radio the plans to establish a permanent memorial: “I am very pleased that the Prime Minister has asked me and Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier this spring during the commemorations in Lety to find a solution for the pig farm, and if appropriate, to seek its transfer. The aim is to build a memorial at the site of this former concentration camp, since currently, the memorial is located on the former burial ground. […] Of course, we want that there is a solution during the mandate of our government, because we feel responsible that it has not yet happened. It is certainly a disgrace in the accounting of our past. I think it is necessary that one also confronts the painful moments. And it is necessary to remember that this camp was not under the auspices of German Nazis, but was led by their Czech collaborators. The guards were Czechs. And that’s actually our share of the Holocaust against the Roma. We have to face this issue.” The poor handling of the historical heritage of the Rroma Holocaust is emblematic of the insufficient respect for the minority in the present. Segregated schools, discrimination in the labour market and widespread prejudices continue to make the life of the Rroma anything but easy (compare Kraus 2014). – The chairman of the right-wing nationalist Úsvit party, Tomio Okamura, provoked a political outcry on Monday when he announced that no one had died in Lety. The concentration camp of Lety was a myth, he stated. Numerous politicians, including the Czech minister for human rights, Jiří Dienstbier, called for his resignation (Prager Zeitung 2014).

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18.06.2014 Lety: protest against pig farm at the site of the former concentration camp

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Several newspapers reported on the protest by activists in several European countries, who objected to the presence of a pig farm at the site of a former concentration camp in Lety, in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic itself, several representatives of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) were present. They remembered the approximately 1,300 Rroma women and children who were interned between August 1942 and May 1943 in the concentration camp of Lety. Most of them were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and gassed there. In Lety itself, around 330 Rroma died, most of them children. They perished of typhoid fever, hunger, or because of the catastrophic conditions in the camp. Under the communist government, an industrial pig farm was built on the site of the former concentration camp. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, members of the Rroma community and human rights activists have called for the demolition of the pig farm and the establishment of a memorial (compare 20 minutes 2014, L’essentiel 2014, The Times of Israël 2014).

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18.06.2014 Obrnice receives award for its integration policy

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The Czech town Obrnice was awarded the European integration award for its successful inclusion of the Rroma into social life of the city. Rosenzweig’s (2014) article focuses on the work of the two social workers Milan Grundza and Zdeněk Nistor. They check if everything is in order and at night, send young people back home or tell them to linger somewhere else. The peculiarity of the social work of the two officers: Milan and Zdeněk are Rroma. Their work is said to be representative for the successful integration of the minority in Obrnice. However, it is noticeable that Rosenzweig mentions only positive aspects and denies still existing problems. The mayor of Obrnice, Drahomira Miklošová, sees the reason for the success of her integration strategy in a policy of simultaneously promoting and demanding: “Receiving this award from Strasbourg was a wonderful moment and gave me energy to keep on going. This has convinced me not to give into the negative voices that say that the situation requires radical solutions. For me, it is vital that nothing is freely given – I always say that the rewards are only given in exchange for something else. I will help you, but only if you do something in return. If you take this approach, I think that all cities in the country could make the same progress […].” However, it remains unclear how the integration policy in Obrnice, in addition to the example given, proceeds in detail.

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13.06.2014 Rroma in the Czech Republic: between self-determination and discrimination

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Schultheis (2014) reports on the Czech-German project “Roma-generation 2.0”. The aim of the project is to motivate the young generation of Rroma to break out of the victim role and to determine and shape their own future as far as possible. This in spite of the fact that the discrimination against Rroma is still strong, and there is marginalization especially in schools and in the labour market. Around one third of Rroma children are assigned to special schools for mentally disabled, which is clearly racially motivated and fighting such assignments is beyond the power of the Rroma alone. However, an active self-determination is an important first step to overcoming exclusion and towards the abolition and prohibition of segregation. Martina Horváthová, of the organizing committee of the project, explains: “The aim of this project is to talk to young Roma and non-Roma about what it means to be an active citizen. We want to give young people opportunities to demonstrate how they can get involved. We Roma have the right to use all opportunities of EU-membership – just like everyone else. Roma must stop to stigmatize themselves to a discriminated minority.” Magdalene Karvanov, from the Open Society Foundations, is committed to get Rroma parents actively engaged on the educational opportunities of their children: “We want that Roma parents become major players themselves and fight for better educational opportunities for their children. Through our campaign, we have managed to give them greater self-confidence. When we asked the parents before the campaign, what career they wished for their children, they said I do not know, they will probably live on welfare. And now they say: my child should become a doctor or lawyer. They have higher expectations and get more active themselves.”

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11.06.2014 Anti-Rroma pogroms in the Czech Republic have increased

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Maegerle (2014) reports on increased pogroms against Rroma in the Czech Republic. Of particular concern is the increasing violence against the minority that is tolerated by middle-class residents, or even supported. Maegerle states: “The current Czech extremism report suggests that actions against Roma are the biggest threat in the country. Marches and demonstrations against Roma were held in České Budějovice, Duchcov, Vítkov and Ostrava. […] Hundreds of neo-Nazis tried to start a pogrom against around 350 Roma in the town [České] of approximately 100,000 inhabitants. The attacks were accompanied by hooting and applause from the public.” The right-wing extremist scene in the Czech Republic remains dominated of the “Workers ‘Party for Social Justice” (Dělnická strana sociální Spravedlnosti – DSSS), as stated in the report cited by Maegerle. The party abuses and exploits the minority for its scapegoat politics, in which the Rroma are held responsible for all possible social ills. For the complex economic, historical, political and legal backgrounds of these grievances, for which society is responsible as a whole, the right-wing extremists shows no understanding at all. That it is very much possible to successfully integrate the Rroma is shown by Rosenzweig’s (2014) report on a small town in the Czech Bohemia.

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07.05.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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Schneibergová (2014) reports on the symposium „people on the margins“ in Brno. MEPs from Germany, Austria , Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic came together to discuss the marginalization of minorities. The presentations and discussions featured MEPs, ministers and local politicians. The focus was on the minorities and their position in society. Most speakers agreed that access to education should be facilitated and that the Rroma should finally be included in politics. Left-wing politician Ondřej Liska stated: “I think that one speaks too much in the Czech Republic about minorities instead of with the minorities. We should say goodbye to the concept of policy for Roma, because we need a policy with the Roma. We need children and young people who are educated, who can assert themselves in the labour market. We need young Roma citizens who participate in the dynamics of social processes. There are such people among the young generation. But an average Czech – although I hate using that term –  has not been informed about it.” To what extent Rroma representatives themselves also took the floor, is not discussed. Therefore, one gets the impression that also at the meeting one did not speak with but about the minority.

Nejezchleba/Waldmann (2014) report from Ústí nad Labem, in north Bohemia. There, on the first of May, a group of right-wing radicals demonstrated against the EU and the Rroma. The local Rroma organized a counter-demonstration, where they expressed their displeasure with the nationalists. This it a recent development, since usually Rroma preferred to stay away from the demonstrations of the right-wing extremists: “For years, the state agency for social integration had recommended the Roma to abandon the city during the Nazi marches, so to leave the matter to the police. A father in Ústí said on the sidelines of the demonstration, he feared for his children, that why he would not come into bigger appearance at the counter demo. Like him, many Roma prefer to remain silent. But the number of those who want to oppose the right-wing extremists with a new self-confidence increases. Around Konexe [a citizens’ initiative] a new alliance has formed; it brings together both anti-fascist activists from Prague and Saxony, as well as local Roma, priests and students.” Human rights activists such as Markus Pape see it as a positive development that the still highly marginalized Rroma in the Czech Republic increasingly resist their defamation and actively stand up for their self-determination (compare Schultz 2014).

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12.03.2014 Segregation of Rroma in European schools

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Fontanella-Khan (2014) reports on the continued segregation of Romany children at European schools. She starts with a cursory overview of the almost exclusively repressive policies of European governments towards Rroma. She is decidedly against the often used argument that Rroma don’t show any will to integrate on their side: “Often, segregation is blamed on the Roma themselves, whom many accuse of not wanting to integrate due to a “nomadic culture.” However, an insidious form of segregation, happening within the educational system, belies this simplistic view.” As reported last week by CBC News, segregation of Rroma children is particularly strong in Slovakia: 65-80 % of children enrolled in special schools for slow learners are Rroma. The methods of analysis as well as the selection for such tests are extremely controversial. If the children are allocated to a special school, they will never have the opportunity to attend a University. Another problem, according to Fontanella-Khan, is the deficient implementation of court decisions against segregation. A verdict that was asserted by the European Court of Human Rights in 1999, changed little about the segregation of Rroma children in the Czech Republic. To end the exclusion of the Rroma from the educational institutions requires more than court decisions: “This raises the point that deep, structural changes to society cannot happen through the judiciary alone. What is required is the involvement of Roma civil society. The problem is, it barely exists.” Fontanella-Khan sees the reasons for the weak formation of the Rroma civil society in the changes that happened in reaction to the EU-accession of Eastern European countries. Many international donors and activist groups withdrew their funds after EU accession and discontinued their activities, since it was assumed that the EU would support the emerging Rroma NGOs. However, this said to have never happened. As long as the Rroma don’t start to form their own civil rights movement, law professor Jack Greenberg states, there will be no significant change.

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11.04.2014 Robert Kushen: the integration of Rroma remains a challenge

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, the chairman of the European Rroma Rights Centre, Robert Kushen, reflects on the situation of the Rroma in Europe and the continuing challenges for this minority (Kushen 2014). He arrives at a sober view: the decade of Rroma inclusion, which was adopted in Sofia in 2005, and encompassed the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain, unfortunately cannot fulfil the expectations that it raised. Rroma are still affected by widespread poverty, discrimination, unemployment and insufficient access to public institutions such as schools and hospitals: “Despite this political recognition of an unconscionable social crisis, Roma remain among the poorest, unhealthiest, least educated and most marginalised European citizens. The data are devastating: Across Central and Southeast Europe, 90 percent of Roma live in poverty. Fewer than one third of adults have paid employment. Only 15 percent of young Roma have completed secondary or vocational school. Nearly 45 percent of Roma live in housing that lacks basic amenities. Life expectancy in Roma communities is 10-15 years less than in non-Roma communities, with many Roma lacking access to insurance and health care.” Kushen refers in his judgement to information from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP 2013). Reasoning with such figures is not without dangers, since the representation of the Rroma as uneducated, poor, and unhealthy is often interpreted by the polemical, public discourse as a cultural peculiarity of the minority, although these characteristics are inevitably a poverty phenomenon. Although is not to deny that numerous Rroma are poor and uneducated, the relevant question is whether such an argument can contribute to the  integration of the Rroma. In addition, surveys often only take into account the visible Rroma, because the integrated ones are hard to identify as Roma and difficult to contact. Not only images of misery are needed, which generate compassion, but also images of success that allow a positive identification.

Kushen continues with information about the marginalization of the Rroma in Italy, France, Sweden and Hungary, and then gets on to the latest report from the European Union on the situation of the Rroma. The report published on April the second this year, can not present success stories either: “In early April, the European Commission convened a “Roma Summit” and issued a report assessing how member states are doing in addressing the interconnected problems of poverty and discrimination which the Roma are facing. The report noted “the persistence of segregation” in education, a large and in some cases widening employment gap between Roma and non-Roma, big differences between Roma and non-Roma in health insurance coverage, and an “absence of progress” in addressing the need for housing. Finally, the report noted that discrimination remains “widespread” (compare European Commission 2014).

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09.04.2014 Amnesty International criticizes the continuing discrimination against Rroma

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Many newspapers chronicle the report published by Amnesty International on April the 8th, the International Rroma Day, which accuses the social discrimination against Rroma. Amnesty International comes to a grim conclusion in regard to the social integration of the minority: the Rroma in Europe are still highly marginalized, the political will to foster them is often deficient and hate crimes against the minority are all too often re-interpreted as a lack of willingness to integrate: “The violent offenders are encouraged by the passive attitude of the governments, which accept a systematic discrimination against the Roma silently”, notes Çalışkan [German secretary general of AI]. “Instead of resolutely opposing violence and discrimination, many European politicians even fuel the notion that Roma are responsible for their own exclusion. Such statements by high-ranking politicians encourage further violence in society and are a distortion of the facts. The current situation of many Roma can be traced back to the years of disregard for the rights of Europe’s largest minority” (Amnesty International 2014/IV). –  “In its report, Amnesty urges national governments in Europe [and the European Union] to condemn hate crimes and to clarify that racist acts will not be tolerated. Among other things, the human rights activists propose to collect data and publish data on hate crimes” (Kalkhof 2014). There follows an analysis of the status quo of the minority in the Czech Republic, France and Greece. In all three countries, the defamation of the Rroma is still massive, the report states. While right-wing extremist groups in the Czech Republic rally against the ethnic group, in France the already mentioned discourse of a supposedly lacking will to integrate dominates the debate. This view totally ignores the exclusion of the minority in the sense of a repressive, nationalist governance. If the Rroma are not given any opportunity to integrate, they cannot, no matter how hard they try. Especially worysome is the repression on Rroma exerted by state institutions. This includes both governments and their measures taken against the minority, as well as executive institutions such as the police and the judiciary. Romani Rose describes the voting share of 21% of the openly Rroma-hostile Jobbik party as a “danger signal for Europe” to no longer passively accept discrimination against the Rroma (Amnesty International 2014/I, Amnesty International 2014/II, Amnesty International 2014/III, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2014, Joerin 2014, Kalkhof 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung 2014).

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09.04.2014 Stigma and the international Rroma Day

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On the occasion of the international Rroma Day, Grunau (2014) spoke with the president of the central council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose. Rose’s assessment of the social integration of the Rroma is mediocre. While there has been progress in terms of political and historical recognition of the Rroma, there still are massive stigma and appalling living conditions in which Rroma have to exist: “In some areas some things have improved, but what we are not satisfied at all with is the situation of the Roma minority in Eastern Europe. There are situations that are catastrophic. […] These are particularly Bulgaria, Romania, but also the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There are informal ghettos that are without sewerage, without electricity, and water. There are villages, where over a thousand people live without any perspective. This situation has been known for many years. It is no longer acceptable. There is an infant mortality-rate that is four times higher and a life expectancy that is ten years lower compared to the majority population.” In this regard, Rose demands easier access to funding that doesn’t need not be refinanced by the states themselves. He proposes the creation of a special fund for the Rroma. Next, Rose criticizes the continuing discrediting and instrumentalization of the Rroma by right-wing nationalist parties and actors, but also by bourgeois politicians in the wake of the immigration debate in Western Europe. Thus, the openly racist Jobbik party made a share of 21% of the votes, in the elections in early April. At the end of the interview, Rose also points to the still highly distorted perception of the minority. 64% of the people of a survey said that they did not want Rroma as neighbours. However, many of them already have neighbours, friends or acquaintances that are Rroma are, but they do not know that they belong to the minority: “However, these 64 percent do not know that they already have work colleagues, neighbours and tenants, they do not know that they are shopping in stores with people who are members of the minority. Also in show business or in football, everywhere there are members of the minority.”

Caspari (2014) emphasizes in her conversation with the antiziganism researcher Markus End that there are not only negative but also positive stereotypes that encourage the idea of a cultural alterity of the Rroma: “Those who say that all Sinti and Roma make such great music just positively present a stereotype. It implies that members of the ethnic group are different, that they only make music and do not like to work as “we” do.” The same is the case with emphatic articles about the Rroma that still reproduce stereotypes: “In many – also benevolent – reports clichés of supposedly typical characteristics of the Roma are used, even though the Rroma do not exist at this general level. [ … ] An online editor recently headlined concerning the debate over free migration: “not only Roma are coming, but also academics” – as if there were only uneducated members of the ethnic group. About the nurse, the doctor or the construction worker, who are well integrated in Germany, rarely if ever is reported. Images that are added to the articles on the situation of Roma, often show poor, barefoot children. Here again, a cliché is conveyed.”

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04.04.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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The Prague Daily Monitor (2014) reports on the candidacy of two Czech Rroma parties for the European Parliament. The Equal Opportunities Party (SRP) and the Romani Democratic Party (RDS) will advocate for the rights of the Rroma at the forthcoming European Parliament elections of 23th and 24th of May: “With the participation of two Romani parties in the EP elections, the Czech Republic is likely to set a record in the EU as no Romani party from Slovakia and Hungary or any other countries with a numerous Romani minority has done so. […] The manifestoes of the SRP and RDS are similar. The parties advocate the law on social housing, work for people from ghettoes, the limitation of seizures and they want Romani children to be sent to normal schools, not to the “special schools” for retarded children […].” Rroma activist Radek Horvath criticizes that the insistence on ethnically based parties as counterproductive. The Rroma should seek admission in the major parties.

Kachlíkova (2014) reports on the demand of the Rroma opposition party “Top 09” to introduce Rromanes in Czech schools as a teaching language. Anna Putnová, of the opposition party, sees the lack of Czech language skills among Rroma children as an important reason why the children do worse in the schools: “We send the children to school so that they develop. However, through the language we are creating a hurdle. I would therefore like to start a debate about whether to allow students to use Romani as an auxiliary language in the first, second, and third grade to develop a positive relationship to the school.” Some parts of the lessons should be held in Rromanes, the politician demands. Critics counter that the introduction of Romani in public schools would promote the segregation of the Rroma, because it would require ethnically divided classes. Rroma representatives as Stanislav Daniel rather want a better promotion of Czech language skills among Rroma children.

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29.03.2014 Rroma writer Hejkrlíková: giving Rroma a voice

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Fischer (2014) reports on Jana Hejkrlíková, a Rromni writer from the Czech Republic. She experienced life before and after the Prague Spring. She describes the political event as a turning point in her life and that of many other Rroma: “When I was little, my life was very different than elsewhere in the Czech Republic”, translates Veronika Patočková, co-initiator of the book tour, the conversation into German. Jana Hejkrlíková lived together with her mother, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins in a house. “You could not disguise or retreat yourself. They were all around you.” The law of the Roma provides for that. The family as a refuge, as a home. However, the situation changed with the so-called normalization after the Prague Spring. Large Roma families were torn apart, resettled into small families. “Since, I have lived in two worlds”, says Hejkrlíková. [ … ] “In school, we had to pretend as if we were Czechs”, she says. Their language was prohibited. Most Roma children were sent to special schools, which often still happens today.” For Hejkrlíková, it is important to point out to the public that there are Rroma writers too. She aims to deconstruct prejudices with her books and to demonstrate similarities between Rroma and Gadje (compare Weser Kurier 2014).

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21.03.2014 Bohuslav Sobotka wants to fight discrimination against Rroma

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Acting Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka stated in a message to the Council of Europe that he wants to fight discrimination against Rroma in the Czech Republic. At the end of February, the human rights minister of the council, Nils Muiznieks, wrote a letter to Sobotka, in which he expressed his concern about the marginalization and discrimination against Rroma. Muiznieks called forth a firm approach of the Czech government against anti–Rroma demonstrations and pogroms that are taking place all over the Czech Republic and are often organized by extreme right-wing groups. Twenty-two Rroma were victims of racially motivated attacks in 2013. Sobotka announced in his reply that his government is striving to curb the exclusion and discrimination against Rroma. He wants to support all the mayors of the country actively in taking action against anti-Rrroma demonstrations and pogroms. The government is also working on a national Rroma integration strategy. The racism of the population is in part due to poor social and economic conditions, the prime minister said, but this does not justify in any way the scapegoating of the Rroma for these problems. The Council of Europe has repeatedly criticized Czech Republic for the marginalization of the minority (Prague Daily Monitor 2014). It is much to be hoped that these statements will be followed by concrete actions and not, as it unfortunately often happens, remain only intentions.

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28.02.2014 Discrimination against Rroma in the Czech Republic

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Anna Šabatová has just been elected as the ombudswoman of the Czech Republic. In an interview with the Prager Zeitung she declares her intention of a dedicated combat against the discrimination of Rroma in the Czech Republic: “We should especially start to consistently call by name the discriminatory acts arising from prejudice. In this matter, I agree with the intention of the ministry of education, to make one year kindergarten for all pre-school children – including for Roma children – compulsory. This could have a positive impact on their entry into the school system. Education is the move toward integration into society and also to a balanced perception through society.” Rroma are affected by strong discrimination in the education system in the Czech Republic. They are often put into separate classes for learning difficulties or disabilities, although no deficiencies are present. In addition, segregated classes as well as segregated schools still exist (Prager Zeitung 2014).

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07.02.2014 Segregation of Rroma in Northern Bohemia

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Ebert (2014) reports on the children centre “Ambrela” in Schluckenau, an institution for assisting disadvantaged children, primarily Rroma. The children are – amongst others – helped with homework, whereby the still widespread segregation of Rroma children in the Czech Republic should be challenged. Many Rroma children are enrolled into so-called “practical classes”, which do not foster their skills and greatly reduce their chances on the labour market: “educational discrimination” is the keyword. This phenomenon ensures anywhere in Central and Eastern Europe that ethnic or social minorities remain where they are: on the edge of society. The Czech Republic is no exception. Especially members of the Roma minority are likely to be sent into the so-called “practical schools”[ … ].” Pastor Pavel Prochazka complains that the support of the Rroma is boycotted or disapproved by numerous representatives of the majority society and thereby maintains segregation. The emphatic article disapproves the educational discrimination against Rroma in public schools in the Czech Republic. However, it also indirectly confirms notions of impoverished, poorly educated Rroma, as they regularly circulate in the media.

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31.01.2014 Immigration debate in Germany

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Wragge (2014) raises the question why the debate about the supposed mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria ever evolved. There are plenty of reasons to refute the arguments of the proponents of mass migration as the experiences with the free migration policy with Poland and the Czech Republic show. Also, the EU law protects Germany against excessive payments from the social security system. Wragge sees the origin of the debate in polemical statements by conservative politicians and in the dissemination of distorted images through the media: “An attempt to explain the existence of this debate leads to the images that we have of Bulgarians and Romanians. If one speaks of the predicted 80,000-200,000 newcomers – do we see only low-income families in Duisburg’s “problem houses” in front of us, or also the engineers, doctors and nurses who come to us? Around these images there is a raging “semantic battle” in the media […].”  Furthermore, the responsibilities of the EU and the German government are repeatedly mixed in the debate and a false image the various actors is spread. Wragge identifies the debate as permeated by fears and taboos, such as naming problems as the immigration of Rroma by their name. He is, however, clearly wrong if he means that the immigration debate is a problem with the Rroma. The Rroma are exploited and instrumentalised by politicians and journalists for their purposes. They create a distorted, negative caricature of the Rroma, what makes them the real aggressors in the debate.

The district Reinickendorf in Berlin has been allocated 130,000 Euros for the years 2014 and 2015 to support immigrant Rroma in their integration process (Schindler 2014). The integration assistance is supposed to encompass language courses and the teaching of general social competences. The awarded funding is surprising in the sense that the ethnicity of immigrants is not identified. The figures are based on estimates and speak of 900 to 1000 immigrant Rroma in Reinickendorf. Schindler reproduces a one-sided image of needy, uneducated Rroma, which has been spread the media for over a year.

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