Czech Republic: Radicalization of Romani people increasing

For some time now news server Romea.cz has observed that in several localities throughout the Czech Republic some Romani people, adolescents or young men in particular, have been radicalizing. Footage taken of the anti-Romani demonstrations earlier this year in České Budějovice shows us that the possibility of being filmed, either with a mobile device or video cameras, did not deter some Roma from responding to racist provocations there with violence.

Activists and Romani people have given news server Romea.cz more than one reason as to why Romani people are losing patience now:  Not only the rising intensity and number of neo-Nazi marches in the country, but the fact that more and more ordinary people are joining the right-wing extremists. Another factor is that towns where anti-Romani demonstrations take place often respond in their aftermath by heightening their repression of Romani people, even directly introducing so-called "zero tolerance" policies that target them.

Sometimes municipal or regional politicians publicly insist that the Romani people themselves, not the racism of those attacking them, is to blame for all the attempted pogroms we have seen this year. Daily humiliations such as being subjected to racist insults are also contributing to the radicalization of Romani youth.

NGOs are seeing this rising radicalization primarily in the two places in the country where the most Romani people live all together in what are segregated neighborhoods: Ostrava in the Moravian-Silesian Region and Ústí nad Labem in the Ústí Region. "The radicalization of Romani people is 100 %. People are more and more alarmed by and resentful about the Nazis and about the fact that locals are joining them. All they have been waiting for is for someone to start organizing a bigger event. That’s happening now, we’ve already begun," a man from Ostrava’s Vítkovice quarter who is organizing the response to the next neo-Nazi march in Ostrava told news server Romea.cz, requesting anonymity.

Josef Stojka, chair of the Union of Olah Roma (Unie olašských Romů), also believes radicalization is underway. "Radicalization among Romani people is understandable, because violence just produces violence. Pogroms on Romani people are being attempted, most recently against the residential hotel in the Zábřeh quarter of Ostrava. Those who are assaulting us with the intention of getting rid of us should realize that if they don’t obey the law, then some Romani people might stop obeying it as well. Everyone is constantly telling us ‘Back away, back down’, but the right to life is a fundamental human right. If someone wants to destroy our lives or directly take them from us, we have the right to defend ourselves against that," Stojka told news server Romea.cz. 

Stojka believes there is still time for diplomacy. "Representatives of the government, the regions and the towns should meet with us as soon as possible. This is not just about Romani people and their lives, it’s a matter of concern to all of society," Stojka said.    

Renáta Gažiová, head of the Hrušov community center in Ostrava, which is run by the Life Together (Vzájemné soužití) civic association, senses radicalization in the Romani community as well. In her view, Romani people are radicalizing throughout the Moravian-Silesian Region, but for the time being not to the extent that it might manifest as a tendency to radical or tough action.

Gažiová believes that with the rising number of anti-Romani demonstrations, enormous fear is growing among Romani people, but they are willing to take to the streets despite their fear. "Previously there wasn’t such great determination here. This isn’t just about the anti-Romani demonstrations, however. First and foremost it is a response to everyday humiliation. Recently, for example, a little girl came to us and said some man had forced her off of a trolleybus with the words ‘Get out of here you black mug’. Other people were cursing out a Romani lady whose child was crying in public, saying ‘You Gypsies just make a mess everywhere’. We face this kind of behavior and similar treatment today and every day. Young Romani people, primarily, are having more and more of a problem holding their tempers and not responding in kind. We are doing our best to rein them in, we do not want war in the streets," Gažiová told news server Romea.cz.   

Gažiová believes the main point at which this tense situation can be addressed is the question of enough work for all. "Romani people want to work, but there is so little work now that almost no one can find a job. Politics are to blame for that, not Romani people, " she said.

In Ústí nad Labem, Iveta Jaslová is convinced that Romani people are currently under the pressure of a "murderous combination". "On the one hand Romani people are afraid, primarily of these neo-Nazi actions and the omnipresent hatred, and on the other hand their resentment and determination to defend themselves is rising, because they can’t take this constant maligning of the Romani minority anymore, not as a group and not of themselves as individuals," Jaslová told news server Romea.cz    

According to activist Míra Brož from the Konexe association there, radicalization in Romani communities in the north of Bohemia has risen sharply. In his view, the escalation of such negative sentiments is dangerous.

"In addition to radicalization per se, anti-‘white’ racism is rising in the communities that have been the targets of these anti-Romani marches, unfortunately. It’s a logical result of the situation:  If a mob of your ‘white’ neighbors is chanting ‘Gypsies out’ beneath your windows, or ‘Let us at them’, or is even fighting with the police to get to you, then logically this will not enhance your love for the people in that mob. I have been involved with Romani communities for a long time, and what I have had the opportunity to experience and see during the past half-year is unprecedented, I never would have believed it possible. Romani people are afraid. Their trust in majority institutions is continually declining," Brož told news server Romea.cz.

Brož says many Romani communities are endeavoring to build up militias and the habit of always being armed is also spreading. "There is a risk that such groups will not just be used to defend communities when they are threatened, but that they might also be used to exact revenge. Once again, I repeat:  This is the unavoidable result of these attempted pogroms, the hatred, and the repression of Romani people. We know that this is how every group has always behaved and does behave when it finds itself facing risks like those faced by the Romani people in the Czech Republic," Brož said.  

What does Brože see as the immediate reason for some Romani people to be radicalizing now? Municipalities and other public institutions are responding to the recent racist events with repression against Romani people, often as part of "zero tolerance" policies:  They beef up the police presence in Romani neighborhoods, start building up Romani police and other surveillance services, increase the number of CCTV cameras installed in Romani ghettos, and start performing various kinds of monitoring of Romani people in their own households.

"I understand that the local antigypsyists who joined the anti-Romani demonstrations will be glad about such measures. These measures are partially a concession to the demonstrators’ demands, it gives them the feeling that their anti-Romani demonstrations have been worth it, that they have fought for what they wanted. They take it as proof that local government shares their view of the situation, which is that those to blame for everything are the evil, inadaptable Gypsies and the only thing those trash understand is the whip. Naturally such measures do not improve the situation on the ground, the real solution does not lie in CCTV systems and fines. Those measures will not reduce hatred and racism against Romani people. On the contrary, beefing up repression increases the suffering and subsequent radicalization of people in Romani communities," Brož is convinced.