New brooms sweep well, they say – but sweeping isn’t everything. What to do with the mess afterward? The new Human Rights Minister will be the one to give a new, correct direction to resolving the problems of coexistence and the realization of national minorities’ rights. Coexistence between the Roma and the majority has never been considered good, neither in recent history nor in the distant past. According to a public opinion poll taken in 2006, 79 % of citizens questioned from the majority society expressed a negative view of the Roma. The current media icon of the state of that coexistence is the Janov housing estate in Litvínov. Unfortunately, there are many other such icons throughout the republic.
The Czech Government Council for Roma Community Affairs and other state institutions have failed to resolve these problems, but not for lack of trying. Their failure is due to their powerlessness. The new minister and his team now have the chance to try and focus on that powerlessness and propose institutional solutions guaranteeing not only systematic work, but most of all providing effective tools for assistance.
Is is possible that I am hoping for too much from the new minister!? Is it possible to expect such changes would be implemented by anyone else? The push for these changes just might be the Czech EU Presidency. True, serious problems such as natural gas supply are being addressed right now, but once they are resolved (and they will resolve), the Roma and their situation will still be here. It will be just as alarming and urgent. What has significantly changed is the ever-rising cost to the state to resolve the situation. What was possible to implement for tens of millions of crowns 10 years ago costs hundreds of millions today – but the state can evidently afford to waste the taxpayers’ money. The so-called Agency is a half-measure which has not yet been implemented to its 100 % effectiveness. That would be approximately CZK 100 million for the selected locations.
This situation merely plays into the hands of groups such as the Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana) and others like them, whether legal or illegal. This just makes a hard situation worse. There is the risk of upheaval, a wave of those sympathetic to the Workers’ Party speeches and others like them. These groups might legally enter the democratic process and take up their share of political responsibility for the management of this country – or of a region or municipality. That might sound like sci-fi, but can anyone guarantee 100 % that it will never happen, especially if the situation in towns where there are tensions is not effectively resolved? The approach of the Litvínov town hall – evictions, depriving families of their homes – will evidently help Litvínov and the local neighbors who have complained, but it helps the town hall leadership most of all, since there will be elections next year. What about the communities to which the evicted families move? From a regional and statewide point of view, such solutions are short-term. Other solutions are much more demanding, risky, and their expected effects are at first glance very minor, or will take a long time to implement, Nevertheless, I believe they are the right way to go.
