Roma aven Jekhetane: Open letter to Czech President Václav Klaus

An anti-racism community has recently been set up on Facebook called “Roma aven Jekhetane”. In an open letter to Czech President Václav Klaus, the community expresses its uneasiness at his open support for Ladislav Bátora, a former candidate for the extremist National Party (Národní strana – NS). Representatives of this group point out the danger of similar statements which will be strengthened in situations where the President backs them and which might incite and inspire extremist and extreme-right wing parties to other attacks on the Roma community. The letter calls on the President to do more to advocate the promotion of human rights and the fight against prejudice. News server Romea.cz publishes the open letter below in full.

An Open Letter to President Václav Klaus

Esteemed Mr President,

Your recommendations and public support for naming as first Deputy Education Minister in charge of administration, budget, economics and EU funds a certain Mr Ladislav Bátora, previously a top candidate for the extremist National Party (which while it existed was not ashamed to speak, for example, of a “Final Solution” to the Roma question or to create a paramilitary group, the so-called National Guard), your support for a person who says civil society is alien to him, whose all but fascist rhetoric is similar to that of the Second Republic and who has, moreover, been accused of tunneling funds from the College of Media and Journalism (VOŠP) – all of this confirms us in our conviction that Roma in the Czech Republic not only cannot trust the legislative, executive or judicial powers, we also cannot trust you as the President of this country. In our view you have joined and completely openly allied yourself with the extreme right, which you (politically correctly) term deeply conservative and authentically right-wing. This is the part of the right wing that has dozens of murdered Roma on its conscience. During your time in office as Czech Prime Minister, Czech racists supported by people such as Bátora caused the death of the Roma man Mr Tibor Berki of Žďár nad Sázavou on 13 May 1995. While those dearest to him watched, he was beaten to death with a baseball bat and succumbed to his injuries on the scene.

Mr President, what specifically did you do, as the Prime Minister at that time, to make sure politicians started concerning themselves with the issue of racism in this country? What did you do as Prime Minister so that Roma in the Czech Republic would not have to live in conditions comparable to the poverty and squalor of the poor in the countries of Africa? What did you, as Prime Minister and as President, do to make sure the Roma did not have to emigrate from this country because of anti-Gypsyism, racism and racist murders, so the Czech Republic would not have to expert this problem to Canada and Great Britain? We are convinced that as a politician, you bear your share of the blame and political responsibility for the current state of the Roma in the Czech Republic.

You evidently did not consider the political repercussions of your statements on the currently tense situation in which the Roma find themselves at the local level in this country. Your public support for the extreme right can become an inspiration for racist and extremist parties to organize anti-Roma pogroms.

We demand that you personally refrain from harming Roma people in this country. You should have more foresight when it comes to your speeches and statements, because your words, the words of the President of the Republic, may become an impulse and inspiration to someone to attack Roma children, the elderly, men and women. We do not want to see anyone else die this way! You as the head of state should do more to advocate for the upholding of human rights. Don’t allow this strong hatred of the Roma to win in the Czech Republic. Help us fight the prejudices that are hear and that have already cost the lives of Roma victims.Sincerely,

Roma aven Jekhetane, Roma Facebook community against racism.

Ondřej Giňa Jr., Miroslav Kováč, Ladislav Bílý, Iveta Bilková, Antonie Burianská, Denisa Pšeničková, Dana Hrušková, Pavla Olahová, Ladislav Grundza, Nadežda Kováčová, Růžena Horvátová, Ružena Vaňová, Alexandra Poláková, Anna Pulková, Bill Bila, Franta Pfann, Kristýna Čonková, Lucie Čonková, Michal Bílý, Roman Čonka, Zyad Yassin, and others.