{"id":1833,"date":"2013-08-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/30-08-2013-anti-rroma-pogroms-in-the-czech-republic\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T14:35:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T13:35:36","slug":"30-08-2013-anti-rroma-pogroms-in-the-czech-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/30-08-2013-anti-rroma-pogroms-in-the-czech-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"30.08.2013 Anti-Rroma pogroms in the Czech Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Odehnal \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) reports on the alarming increase of extreme right-wing movements against \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRroma in the Czech Republic. On the occasion of the \u201cNational day of struggle\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tproclaimed by Czech neo-Nazis on August 24, followers of right-wing extremist \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgroups gathered in several Czech cities. This included about 800 members of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewly formed society of the \u201cCzech Lion\u201d who tried to enter a Rroma quarter in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOstrava. Odehnal notes soberly that the extreme right, after a weakening in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trecent years due to the arrest of a few leaders seems no to have reorganized. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut they continue to argue as before with old slogans: They regularly march up \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin cities with high unemployment rates and say they \u201cwant to protect ethnic \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCzechs against the crimes of the Rroma\u201d. In addition, there is a latent racism \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagainst Rroma in broad sections of the population, of which the far-right scene \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis just a particularly prominent part. In recent times, there also have been \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tseveral anti-racist demonstrations in which participants have been advocating a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmulti-ethnic, open society.<\/p>\n

The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsociologist Barbara Tiefenbach sees the economic crisis as an additional \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcatalyst for the racism of the Czech majority society towards Rroma. Moreover, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tderogatory statements against Rroma have recently become increasingly socially \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tacceptable and are therefore repeated uncritically. Politicians such as the President \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMilos Zeman or the Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, however, have tried to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscredit the riots and call for the creation of more jobs, instead of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torganizing pogroms. Most bohemian Rroma, according to Tiefenbach are, were \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkiller in the Holocaust under the Nazis. A fact that is often dirsregarded \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tduring the current events (Mappes – Niediek 2013).<\/p>\n

Janzer \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(2013) provides detailed reports about what actually happenedg in Ostrava. The neo-Nazis \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twould wanted to initiate a panic among people there and the police by throwing \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfirecrackers. The Socialist Mayor of Ostrava, Petr Kajnar, denied in an \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinterview that the right-wing radicals successfully recruited undecided or \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdissatisfied local citizens for their projects, which was their intended target. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlso, the Social Affairs Minister Martin \u0160im\u00e1\u010dek sees no significant \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tassociation between right-wing and socially disadvantaged citizens. Whether the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tlatent racism of a broad part of the population could be channelled through \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tradical action into an escalation of social tensions remains an open question and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconcern.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n