opinions

videoMEP Soraya Post supports Romani photo campaign responding to Czech President's antigypsyist remarks

5.10.2018 10:52 Czech President Zeman's antigypsyist remarks from last week continue to resonate at all levels of political life. MEP Soraya Post of Sweden has tweeted her support of the photo campaign initiated by Romani community member Štefan Pongo and the ROMEA organization in response to Zeman's remarks.  full story

Martina Horváthová: Freely casting your ballot is your right - and nobody elses business!

30.9.2018 9:57 I vote regularly in every election. If I ever were to not vote, I would feel pangs of conscience for having neglected my duty as a citizen.  full story

Lucie Fuková: There's no excuse for not voting

23.9.2018 7:00 I still remember the moment I went with my parents to cast a ballot in an election for the very first time - we all got dressed up and left the house together as a family. It was an important day for us.  full story

Štefan Horvát: Okamura should not lead the lower house, Communists have harmed and are harming Roma, Czech Justice Minister should stay

4.3.2018 7:54 The news that Czech MP Okamura will remain in his function as vice-chair of the lower house of Parliament has really infuriated me - it is clear to all of us why he should be dismissed. We are a democratic country and it is absolutely unacceptable for anybody here to say what Mr Okamura has said and is continuing to say.

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Margareta Matache and Cornel West on the common struggle of African Americans and Roma against white normativity

26.2.2018 7:57 Margareta Matache, a Roma rights activist and scholar who directs the Roma Program at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, and Cornel West, an American author and civil rights activist who is currently Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard, have co-authored an analysis for The Guardian newspaper in the UK on the commonalities between the struggles of African Americans and Romani people for equality. The piece notes that the history of African Americans and Romani people bear similarities with respect to the way "white policymakers" have employed similar tactics against members of both groups in order to maintain "white normativity, social power, and privilege".  full story

Karel Holomek: Inclusion in education is the same as equality

24.4.2017 10:26 Mr Marek Přibil is doing his best to convince us, for the umpteenth time, that inclusion in education is the ruin of the Czech schools. He also alleges that what he describes as an absolutely untrustworthy failure has been produced by the Social Democrats.  full story

Helsinki Agreement marks 40th anniversary

17.8.2015 0:01 Rudolf V. Perina, the U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, has released an opinion piece that was reprinted by the Slovak daily Hospodarske Noviny on 29 July to mark the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, which concluded the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a process that resulted in the creation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The piece explains how Helsinki became the basis for international criticism of various countries' human rights records.  full story

Gallup poll shows Roma isolation from Bulgarian society has intensified over the last 20 years

2.8.2015 20:58 Radio Bulgaria reports that as the Decade of Roma Inclusion comes to a close, Roma are still permanently excluded from Bulgarian society, according to a representative Gallup International poll. Researcher Dimitar Ganev said the poll was conducted in response to inter-ethnic tensions in May and June of this year.  full story

Yet another Czech tabloid news server perpetrates a racist hoax

26.7.2015 20:53 On 16 July the European Court of Justice (ECJ) announced a significant finding in the area of racial discrimination. The court did not pronounce judgment on anyone, but merely expressed a legal opinion which an EU Member State court should now follow.  full story

Julius Zajac: I will never recognize a self-appointed Council of Elders

25.5.2015 7:52 So: Now we have a Council of Elders. How its members intend to aid the integration of Romani people into Czech society is unclear.  full story

Poll finds most Czechs disagree with all foreigners having the right to seek citizenship

28.4.2015 0:06 The openness of Czech people toward foreigners has reached an historic low. Almost three-quarters (73 %) of respondents disagree that every person living in the Czech Republic should have the right to apply for citizenship; last year only 67 % disagreed.  full story

Commentary: Dismissal of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion director is bad news, and not just for impoverished Roma

26.4.2015 5:30 At the end of last week, most of those "involved with Roma" were startled by the news that Martin Šimáček had been dismissed as director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Voices were immediately raised in support of him by more than 50 employees of the Agency.  full story

Renata Berkyová: Should the Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion have been more "Romani"?

24.4.2015 21:33 Over the last few days, Martin Šimáček has become a popular face in the media in connection with his dismissal from the post of director of the Agency for Social Inclusion. The entire Agency staff and a noticeable portion of the public have protested the decision of Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier to remove him.  full story

Romani Studies scholars don't like what they've learned so far from cooperation with Council of Europe and EC

20.4.2015 22:24 Professor Yaron Matras of the University of Manchester has released a paper summarizing the achievements to date of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies (EANRS), a Joint Programme of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Commission (EC) that is ending on 31 May.  full story

Czech survey shows welfare less acceptable than murder or stealing

5.4.2015 23:01 Czechs believe that living on welfare is worse than either murdering someone believed to be a thief or committing theft itself. Those are the results of an opinion poll conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research (CVVM).  full story

Commentary: Extraordinary meeting on discrimination against women and social inclusion in Europe

Brussels, 2.4.2012 12:42, (ROMEA) On 22nd March 2012: the biggest, and most expensive EU event ever on discrimination against women, promoted as an ‘Extraordinary meeting on discrimination against women and social inclusion in Europe,’ takes place in Brussels. The meeting focuses on the national strategies and EU framework meant to address discrimination and exclusion faced by women.  full story

Chad Evans Wyatt's commentary of violent hate mail, which received Museum of Roma Culture director

USA/CR, 28.8.2011 23:36, (ROMEA) PhDR Jana Horváthová, Direktor of the Muzeum romské kultury in Brno, recently received an execrable, hateful letter, here is one excerpt:  full story

Press release: Council of Europe - European media and anti-Gypsy stereotypes

Strasburg, 19.7.2011 13:45, (ROMEA) Anti-Gypsy stereotypes continue to be spread and perpetuated in a several media across Europe. The media has an important role to play in countering prejudices – but a number of journals and broadcast media have not lived up to their responsibility when it comes to Roma and Travellers. They have contributed to xenophobia through biased reporting and cheap sensationalism, says Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in his latest Human Rights Comment published today. It is time to promote ethical journalism and codes of conduct to end the all-negative portrayal of Roma in the media.  full story