07.05.2014 Integration of the Rroma in the Czech Republic

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).