Tereza Heková

Amateur photo contest won with images of Romani people sparks hateful reactions on Czech internet

30.7.2018 10:06 An amateur photography competition called "One Day in Přerov" was recently organized by that town in the Czech Republic, and of the more than 20 photographs submitted, the series capturing the life of Romani people there, taken by Iris Kopplhuber of Austria, won the award. The winner was chosen by visitors to the town's website, who voted for their favorites.  full story

Czech politician spreads hateful racist hoaxes online against dark-skinned footballers, Muslims and Roma

16.7.2018 6:32 The Czech daily Právo reported on 10 July that Dominik Hanko, chair of the Ústecký Regional Authority's Committee for Social Affairs, Security and Socially Excluded Localities and vice-chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) party there, recently posted to social media the allegation that "Pensions for the unemployed are calculated based on the average wage. That's not fair!"  full story

Edita Stejskalová: OSCE should send observer missions to Ukraine regarding pogroms against Roma and monitor the police investigation

11.7.2018 9:28 Speaking on Slovak Radio's "Romani Word" (Rómské slovo) program, political scientist Edita Stejskalová said she believes the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should take action regarding the recent fatal attacks against Romani people in Ukraine by creating an observer mission to monitor the investigation of the recent pogroms against Roma there. Stejskalová reminded listeners that from 2008-2009 such attacks against Roma were perpetrated in Hungary, that police in Slovakia have attacked Romani settlements in similar ways, and that a similar neo-Nazi arson attack in the Czech Republic led to the severe burning of a Romani child, Natálka.  full story

Czech research shows 96 % of poorest families in Rapid Re-Housing maintain their housing and improve their health

4.7.2018 16:39 A project in Brno, Czech Republic called "Rapid Re-Housing" providing municipally-owned apartment units for lease to families at risk of homelessness is celebrating significant success after its first year. According to research by Ostrava University, a total of 96 % of the families in the project have managed to maintain their housing, and what is more, the state of health of the children involved and their parents has improved.  full story

Czech landlord allegedly threatens to pull the plug tonight on evictees' amplified displacement party

27.6.2018 16:00 The people being evicted from the Klíšská and Modrá residential hotels in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic are bidding farewell to the neighborhood today with musical performances under the slogans "We Won't Go Live on the Street!" and "Black, White, Together We Fight!", holding a community gathering in advance of their having to move out on 30 June. The evictees want to draw attention to their desperate situation and to point out that the authorities have de facto created a real quandary when it comes to making social housing accessible.  full story

videoMuseum of the Romani National Revival to open with "A Century of Roma in Czechoslovakia" exhibit

15.5.2018 9:21 On Thursday, 10 May an informal gathering of selected Romani figures was held at the Divadlo v Korunní theater in Prague by the newly-established Museum of the Romani National Revival. The Museum has been established by Emil Ščuka, who was previously part of the birth of the Roma Civic Initiative (ROI) in the 1990s and became its first chair.  full story

videoMEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe

29.4.2018 8:51 According to Romani MEP Soraya Post, antigypsyism and discrimination against Romani people are a problem in every European country. In Sweden, where she comes from, the general living conditions for Romani people are, in her opinion, much better than in Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.

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videoCzech MEP Zdechovský for ROMEA TV: Romani projects must have concrete outputs like the Romani scholarships do

29.4.2018 7:29 According to Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský (Christian Democrats - KDU-ČSL) the main aim of the EU Roma Week, which began on the occasion of International Romani Day in Brussels, is to familiarize the larger public with the Romani community. "Many people have Romani neighbors, but they know nothing about Romani culture. I believe that's a shame," he said in an interview for the Romani internet television station ROMEA TV.  full story

videoRoma Week at the European Parliament: 40 young Roma discuss antigypsyism with MEPs

27.4.2018 8:07 Activists, experts, organizations working to combat persistent hatred of Romani people in Europe, and politicians have finished the third annual Roma Week at the European Parliament and other EU institutions, which began on 8 April 2018, International Romani Day. According to the organizers, the aim of Roma Week is to bring together Romani activists, experts and youth from the European states in order to contribute to developing a European strategy against antigypsyism and to discussing options for addressing the situation of Romani people throughout Europe.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Pigs finally leave Romani genocide site

17.3.2018 8:28 On Thursday, 14 March 2018, at 8:18 AM a truck drove away with the last 150 pigs from the farm in Lety that is located on the site of the WWII-era concentration camp for Roma at Lety. The AGPI firm, which owns the pig farm, transported the 330 animals left that day away from the grounds.  full story

Czech Labor Minister praises container housing in Romani ghetto

17.3.2018 6:46 Czech Radio reports that outgoing Czech Labor Minister Jaroslava Němcová of the ANO movement likes the container type of housing in the Poschla locality of the town of Vsetín into which former Mayor Jiří Čunek removed Romani residents from the town center in 2006. The minister said the dislocation of the Romani residents had been the correct "solution".  full story

Czech Justice Minister: State has no solution for social exclusion, Romani children not on an equal footing with others

13.3.2018 6:18 Speaking in an interview for ROMEA TV, Czech Justice Minister Robert Pelikán (ANO) said the state has not yet managed to introduce even a hint of a solution for addressing the problems that arise in socially excluded localities. "This is a big problem for the people living in such localities, but it is also a problem for those living nearby," he said.  full story

Slovakia: Romani family rejected by neighbors before they even move in

22.2.2018 7:40 News server noviny.sk reports that the Štrkáč family recently bought a new home in the village of Oščadnici near Žilina, but their future neighbors disagree with their moving in, allegedly because they are Romani. Everything began on the day after the family bought the house and began reconstructing it.  full story

Czech historian reminds public that cruel abuse was perpetrated at concentration camp for Roma in Moravia

20.2.2018 6:44 Michal Schuster, an historian with the Terezín Initiative Institute in Prague, has described the operations of the former concentration camp at Hodonín u Kunštátu in Moravia in an interview for the Brno edition of news server iDNES.cz. Given the recent remarks made by Czech politicians Tomio Okamura and Miroslav Rozner casting doubt on the camps, Schuster said he believes the public is not able to draw accurate comparisons when it comes to Holocaust victims who are Romani.

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March against Roma Holocaust denial and for removing vice-chair of Czech lower house THIS THURSDAY IN BRNO

13.2.2018 20:11 On Thursday, 15 February there will be a march against denial of the Romani Holocaust and in favor of honoring the memories of its victims. "It is absolutely unacceptable to us that representatives of the SPD party of Tomio Okamura are denying the Holocaust of the Roma. Their statements are not just brutally harsh toward the victims and their families, but are also inappropriate behavior by the representatives of the state," the organizers of the march have posted to social networks.  full story

Czech Culture Minister: Buyout of pig farm was important, human dignity cannot be measured in money

19.1.2018 7:31 News server Novinky.cz published an interview on 17 January with Czech Culture Minister Ilja Šmíd in which he said he agrees with the amount of money paid to buy out the pig farm in Lety u Písku that stands on the site of a former concentration camp for Romani people because this was an important step and human dignity cannot be measured in monetary terms. "The last Government made that decision and I am convinced it was absolutely correct as far as the amount paid to buy the farm," the minister said.

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Czech pro-Kremlin disinformation Facebook page sparks wave of racist, vulgar comments about non-white infant

13.1.2018 11:04 News server Aktuálně.cz reports that police in Třinec, Czech Republic are investigating racist comments made online against a male infant whose parents have Czech-Vietnamese and Kurdish roots. The commentaries were posted to the xenophobic Facebook page WeAreHereAtHome, which has renamed itself Zprávy.cz and purports to publish serious news reporting.  full story

Czech Green Party co-chair wants Interior Ministry to dissolve the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" Movement

3.1.2018 10:55 News server Info.cz reported last week that Ondřej Mirovský, co-chair of the Czech Republic's Green Party, has said he wants to ask the Interior Ministry to dissolve Tomio Okamura's "Freedom and Direct Democracy" Movement (SPD). Mirovský made the decision after Okamura invited extremist politicians from all over Europe to Prague.
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Czech Republic: Romani children's grades improve after joining floorball teams

3.1.2018 10:23 Last week the Czech daily Mostecký deník reported that Romani children attending a primary school that serves the Chánov housing estate have begun to dedicate themselves to the sport of floorball. They play after school twice a week.  full story

Greek court sentences woman who kicked Romani girl on the street to three months in prison

3.1.2018 7:12 News server Keep Talking Greece reports that a woman who assaulted a young Romani girl on the streets of Athens four years ago has finally been convicted and sentenced to three months behind bars. The incident happened on 17 September 2013 when the woman saw the seven-year-old sit down on the sidewalk of Dionisiou Aeropagitoy Street, which leads to the Acropolis, and begin playing the accordion.  full story