Czech Republic

videoRomani tenants finally get housing through Czech nonprofit "real estate agent" Fair Housing

25.6.2017 10:41 Mária Pompová was living with her boyfriend and young daughter in a substandard apartment in the Czech Republic where the rent was high even though the heating didn't work and there was only cold running water. They decided to move but could not manage to find a landlord to take them.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: It's strange for LGBT people to hold the rainbow and Romani flags while speaking of Roma pride

24.6.2017 13:16 At the beginning of June the third international conference on upholding the human rights of LGBTI members of the Romani community was held in Strasbourg, France, co-
organized by the Prague-based ARA ART association, whose director, David Tišer, is an activist, artist, and Romani Studies scholar who is a member of both the LGBTI and the Romani communities. Tišer posted a photo of the Romani people attending the conference holding both the international rainbow flag of the LGBT community and the international Romani flag to his Facebook profile.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani people discuss whether the approach of Afrofuturism could empower them

23.6.2017 7:22 On Friday, 16 June, the Romafuturismo Library hosted a discussion at the Tranzitdisplay Gallery about Afrofuturism and how it could relate to Romani people. The discussion began with a Skype conversation with writer and director Ytasha L. Womack, who talked about her film, "A Love Letter to the Ancestors from Chicago", and her book, "Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture".  full story

Czech Republic: Romani family allegedly refused service in restaurant owned by Staropramen Brewery

22.6.2017 19:12 A reader of news server Romea.cz has informed us of a case of alleged discrimination in access to services at the branch of the "Potrefená husa" restaurant located inside of Prague's main train station. Andrej Krišta invited several of his relatives to have dinner with him and a friend there before they traveled back to Slovakia.  full story

videoDirector of the Institute of the Terezín Initiative says story of Czechoslovak Romani partisan could raise awareness of Roma Holocaust

21.6.2017 6:57 Last month a two-day international conference about Romani victims of the Holocaust was held in Prague by the Institute of the Terezín Initiative and the Antikomplex association in collaboration with the ROMEA organization and other partners. Experts on documenting Holocaust victims and on modern history in Central Europe discussed the current state of research in the area of the Roma Holocaust and their experiences with documenting Holocaust victims generally.  full story

Together We Can: Staffer of youth drop-in center says differences between Czech and Romani youth are minimal

18.6.2017 10:02 News server Romea.cz has been regularly publishing interviews this year with people who are involved in interesting work that aids inter-ethnic coexistence in the Czech Republic. Beginning in May, interviewer Dana Moree also began asking her interviewees questions about certain terms being used here with contested meanings - words like "Czech", "gadjo", "Roma", etc.  full story

Analysis: Czech Police say situation after Chomutov shooting not tense, locals say otherwise

16.6.2017 6:56 In Chomutov the funeral is being prepared of the 34-year-old Romani man who died there on the night of 27 May as a consequence of a gunshot wound. The shooter, who is not Romani, is in custody and facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted.  full story

Czech Television: Successful Romani families aid the community

15.6.2017 11:47 A Czech Government report on the state of the Romani minority last year has found that half of the Romani people in the Czech Republic are educated, fully integrated into society, and middle class. Now public broadcaster Czech Television has visited two such families living in the Ústecký Region.  full story

Czech youth faces three years in prison for Nazi salute and swastika

15.6.2017 10:23 A youth wearing a Nazi swastika on his back was arrested on Zábělská Street in the Czech town of Plzeň on Sunday morning. He had consumed alcohol and drugs and was giving the Nazi salute.  full story

They didn´t believe he was a university student, but he didn´t give up. Baruvas helps young Roma grow.

15.6.2017 8:57 During the first weekend in June, the third meeting of Romani students in the Baruvas program ("We Are Growing", in Romanes) - part of the Roma Scholarship Program offered by the ROMEA organization - happened in Prague. The aim of this regular event is to give Romani students room to get to know and motivate each other and support their identity and personality development through various activities and workshops  full story

Czech prosecutor agrees with police that threat to burn down ROMEA is not a crime

12.6.2017 7:19 A threat to burn down an NGO is apparently not a crime in the Czech Republic. Police and one District State Prosecutor's Office don't see one such incident that way, at least.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani law student from Slovakia says feeling her teachers cared about her future was a big help to her

9.6.2017 9:40 Since January, news server Romea.cz has been publishing interviews with people making a contribution to interethnic coexistence under the series title "Together We Can". Since May these interviews have begun to feature questions about some words that frequently seem to be losing their meaning because their definitions are no longer agreed on here - terms such as "Czech", "gadjo", "Rom", etc.  full story

Czech Republic: "Gypsy Soul" exhibition on view at Jerusalem Synagogue through August

8.6.2017 11:41 The opening of an exhibition of photographs by Mark Wiedorn called Gypsy Soul/Romská duše was opened in Prague's Jerusalem Synagogue along with a concert of classical music inspired by Romani motifs. Both events took place on 2 June 2017 as part of the 19th annual KHAMORO World Roma Festival held by the Slovo 21 organization.  full story

Czech Republic's 2017 Ghettofest to feature Amaro Records music stage, an Anne Frank corner, and readings in a former prison

8.6.2017 9:46 The multi-genre street fair known as the Ghettofest annually opens up the locality around Brno's Bratislavská and Cejl streets - this year it is changing its usual backdrop, thanks to the closure of Francouzská Street, and is offering its program at the Hvězdička Park, in the spaces of a former prison, and at the Museum of Romani Culture. The sixth annual Ghettofest will take place in those locations on Saturday, 10 June.  full story

International Duke of Edinburgh's Award given to students in Prague

7.6.2017 10:27 The international Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a program that has run for 60 years in more than 140 states and involved more than eight million young people worldwide.
Established by the British royal family, it has attracted more than 2 000 participants in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Govt report: Half of Romani population are middle class, half in social exclusion

7.6.2017 8:49 Half of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in social exclusion. According to the qualified estimates of the coordinators for Romani minority affairs that is almost 123 000 people.  full story

Julius Zajac: Czechs and Romani people don't like each other

5.6.2017 9:55 Czechs and Romani people have not liked each other for generations (generally speaking) and is is clear to see that future generations will not like each other either. While the situation is gradually improving, that fact is not visible, for the most part, because the tempo of improvement is too slow.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court rejects complaint from municipality defending its 2006 eviction of Romani residents

5.6.2017 8:34 The Czech Constitutional Court Ústavní soud (ÚS) has rejected a complaint filed by the town of Vsetín about its protracted dispute with the Romani people whom it "deported" and forced to take up residence in municipalities outside of the Zlín Region altogether. The Czech News Agency reported the news on 1 June after discovering it in the judiciary's database.  full story

Romani amateur theater group from Slovakia pokes fun at the cult of youth

5.6.2017 7:02 A theater production entitled "Kamav aver muršes" (I Want Another Man) was performed at Prague's Rock Café as part of the KHAMORO World Roma Festival 2017 last week. The production was performed by an amateur Romani theater group from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Khamoro 2017 ends with gala concert in a packed SaSaZu club

5.6.2017 6:28 A closing gala concert in Prague's SaSaZu club was the high point Saturday to the 19th annual review of Romani culture that is the KHAMORO World Roma Festival. Seven bands and ensembles performed, incuding the Viliam Didiáš cembalom band from the Czech Republic, the Fuego y Fragua flamenco ensemble from Spain, and Parno Graszt from Hungary, and all of the performers came together at midnight to sing the international Romani anthem, "Dželem, dželem".  full story