Czech presidential candidate: Democracy can't work without civil society

News server Romea.cz has prepared a questionnaire for candidates running in what will be the first-ever direct election of the president of the Czech Republic. We asked all of the candidates, among other things, about their strategies for addressing the issue of social exclusion and their opinions on the integration of the Romani minority, particularly on how they intend to achieve improvements in that direction. We were also interested in their approach toward right-wing extremists, toward the issue of segregating pupils in primary schools, and toward the case of the pig farm located on the site of a WWII-era forced labor camp for Romani people.

We are publishing the responses in the order in which the candidates send them to us. Below are the responses from Táňa Fischerová.

Q: Do you take a "programmatic" or "systemic" approach to minorities in society, or do you understand the citizens of the country purely in individual terms?

A: Your question seems imprecise to me. If you are asking me whether I have some sort of program for minorities in our society, I don’t. I help them wherever and however I can.

Q: In your view, are the rights of the Romani minority in the Czech Republic sufficiently fulfilled?

A: I believe that so-called minority rights in our country are evidently treated sufficiently in law. I see the basic problem as lying in the abridgement of fundamental human rights for people from socially deprived groups, i.e., for the Romani minority as well.

Q: Are politicians here responding adequately and sufficiently to racist or xenophobic events – for example, to the anti-Romani demonstrations being held by extremists? Are politicians here responding adequately and with sufficient speed to events that may not be extremist, but that are connected to protests against Romani people?

A: In most cases not, because they are either populists or even sympathizers with such events.

Q: In your view, is it important to start addressing the social exclusion experienced by a rising number of citizens in the Czech Republic and the poverty related to it?

A: Yes, unequivocally.

Q: What should the overall strategy for correcting social exclusion and all its related phenomena look like?

A: In particular, a transformation of the current system, which is based on a growing difference between rich and poor, on the marginalization of a continuously growing number of citizens and throwing those who are vulnerable overboard.

Q: Despite various efforts, Romani children are still segregated educationally in the Czech schools, either because they are sent to the practical (special) primary schools or because they attend segregated classes in mainstream primary schools. Would you speak out against this phenomenon?

A: I already have and I will continue irrespective of whether I will be in office or not.

Q: What kinds of solutions for correcting it would you propose?

A: The proposal for solutions is for professionals to design.

Q: Would you visit memorial sites linked to the genocide of the Romani people during WWII on their annual days of commemoration? (We have in mind here the former so-called "gypsy camps" at Lety by Písek and Hodonín by Kunštát, from which Czech Romani people were transported to Auschwitz.)

A: Yes.

Q: Would you call for the removal of the pig farm located on the territory of the former so-called "gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek?

A: In principle this is about honoring the pain that happened there and the lives of the people interned there, not about a specific site. If a pig farm providing jobs is located at Lety now, then removing it would prompt another wave of grudges and misunderstanding. If the farm were to cease operations, then it definitely should be purchased and torn down.

Q: Why, in your opinion, is civil society important for democracy? Many people, for example, Václav Klaus, don’t like this concept at all.

A: I have spoken and written a great deal about this, so I will be brief: Without civil society, without active, self-assured citizens, democracy can’t work at all, or even exist, really.