Czech Public Defender of Rights will help launch new publication about Romani political and social engagement

The Museum of Romani Culture is preparing an evening about the societal engagement of Romani people during the last 100 years from the former Czechoslovakia to its successor states. On Wednesday, 24 October 2018 at 18:00 in the Fresco Hall at the Old Town Hall in Brno there will be a panel discussion on the subject of Romani social engagement from the First Republic until today.

The event will include the awarding of the Museum’s Prize for 2018 to Romani activist David Tišer by Mayor Petr Vokřál and the launch of the new publication Aby bylo i s námi počítáno: Společensko-politická angažovanost Romů a snahy o založení romské organizace v poválečném Československu (So That You Count on Us Too: Politico-social engagement of Romani people and their efforts to establish a Romani organization in postwar Czechoslovakia). Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of 1918-2018 are being joined by the Museum through this social gathering, open to all, aiming to raise awareness about the question of how Romani people have coexisted with the state here over the last century.

Those participating in the moderated debate on “Romani People and the State” will be the Director of the Czech Government Department for Social Inclusion (the Agency), David Beňák; the first Romani MP seated in the National Assembly of the Slovak Republic, Petr Pollák; a lawyer from the Office of the Public Defender of Rights, Jana Mikulčická; and Anna Červeňáková, a lawyer at Charles University’s Law Faculty, Department of International Public Law. The debate will be moderated by the Director of the Museum of Romani Culture, Jana Horváthová.

During the evening, Czech Public Defender of Rights Anna Šabatová will help launch a new publication Aby bylo i s námi počítáno (So That You Count on Us Too), co-authored by historian Dušan Slačka and Romani Studies scholar Milada Závodská from the Museum of Romani Culture and the head of the Romani Studies Seminar at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, Helena Sadílková. The book presents an all but unknown period in the history of Romani people in the former Czechoslovakia and maps in detail the period from 1945-1968, which resulted in the establishment of the first official Romani organization, the Union of Gypsies-Roma (Svaz Cikánů-Romů), based in Brno (1969-1973).

Contemporary events will also be touched upon with the awarding of the Museum of Romani Culture Prize for 2018 to David Tišer for organizing cultural life, for his ability to create solidarity across the generations, and for his brave, persistent efforts to improve the quality of coexistence between Romani people and the rest of society. He has also combated stereotypes both within the Romani community and the larger society, and his activities in the area of LGBT members of the Romani community and his creativity in organizing celebrations of International Romani Day all make him deserving of this recognition.