Politika

Slovakia now has an MP from the Romani minority, Štefan Vavrek

19.9.2018 9:14 Wire services report that Slovakia's unicameral legislature has just seated a new MP. After MP Edita Pfundtnerová (Most-Híd) relinquished her seat in order to become a state secretary at the Justice Ministry, Romani community member Štefan Vavrek has now replaced her.  full story

Czech landlord pressured to leave Civic Democratic Party for trafficking in poverty, he denies the accusation

25.7.2018 5:59 Martin Kuba, the chair of the South Bohemian regional association of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), has met with his party colleague, Jan Zedník, seeking an explanation of Zedník's business enterprises leasing apartment units in socially excluded localities. News server lidovky.cz reports that Kuba has proposed cancelling Zedník's party membership.  full story

Independent Romani candidate collecting signatures to run for Czech Senate

23.7.2018 7:26 Petr Jano wants to become a senator representing the district of Chomutov. Like all other independent candidates, he needs to collect 1 000 petition signatures by 31 July 2018 to qualify for applying to run on the ballot.  full story

Young Czech journalist: School didn't teach me not to generalize, I had to learn that on my own

22.7.2018 13:10 Jakub Čech seems to be the incarnation of an "old soul" in the body of a teenager. Many people admire him for the constancy and toughness with which he has, since primary school, been fighting a dysfunctional or malfunctioning state administration, while others find him annoying.  full story

Residents of Czech neighborhood announce "Two Weeks of Vigilance" to protest their impending eviction

16.7.2018 7:43 On Monday 9 July the residents of the Bedřiška neighborhood in Ostrava, Czech Republic announced "Two Weeks of Vigilance" out of concern that they will lose their housing there. The event, subtitled "Colors of Bedřiška" (a reference to the annual music festival Colors of Ostrava), is meant to draw attention to the difficult situation of the locals and present life in the neighborhood, which has not met the definition of an "excluded locality" for some time, to the public.  full story

Romani community member David Beňák now director of the Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion

2.6.2018 19:16 As of yesterday, the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is David Beňák, previously vice-minister for the Human Rights Section at the Office of the Government. He will take over the job after its having been entrusted to acting director Radka Soukupová for the last seven months.  full story

Czech Republic: Conditions for leaving the debt trap may be relaxed

28.3.2018 7:13 The conditions for people in the Czech Republic to leave the debt trap may become more relaxed. The lower house, despite criticism from members of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), has supported the Government's amendments to the bankruptcy law that will make it possible for debtors to enter the debt relief process irrespective of how much they owe.  full story

Czech MP from the far right is a trafficker in poverty

19.3.2018 8:29 Lubomír Volný, an MP in Tomio Okamura's "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement and a regional assembly member, has been renting properties for five years to the same impoverished families that the SPD customarily labels as "inadaptables" or "parasites", making money from the very welfare system that the SPD otherwise rejects as costly and dysfunctional. Public broadcaster Czech Television has reported on his business dealings in detail during an episode of Reportéři ČT that aired on 12 March.  full story

Czech anti-immigration activist launches book on the premises of the lower house, ultra-conservatives support it

18.3.2018 10:19 Petr Hampl, the anti-immigration and anti-Islam activist and sociologist, has launched his new book about Islam and the alleged "Islamicization" of society on the premises of the Czech Chamber of Deputies. Hampl is known for having publicly expressed support for the father who filmed himself urging his preschool-aged daughter to hit a pillow with a baseball bat while pretending she was hitting a Muslim or a Romani person, and his book launch was attended by the son of former Czech President Václav Klaus and by other MPs.  full story

Czech Green Party co-chair wants Interior Ministry to dissolve the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" Movement

3.1.2018 10:55 News server Info.cz reported last week that Ondřej Mirovský, co-chair of the Czech Republic's Green Party, has said he wants to ask the Interior Ministry to dissolve Tomio Okamura's "Freedom and Direct Democracy" Movement (SPD). Mirovský made the decision after Okamura invited extremist politicians from all over Europe to Prague.
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Ladislav Body, Romani man elected MP in the former Czechoslovakia, has passed away

27.11.2017 9:34 On Saturday, 26 November 2017 a former deputy to the Czech National Council and to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Ladislav Body, passed away at the age of 68. A relative of his has confirmed this to news server Romea.cz.  full story

Czech Greens call on Prague Vice-Mayor to stop sharing racist video

24.11.2017 12:33 Green Party members from the Žižkov neighborhood of Prague have published an open letter to Vice-Mayor Alexander Bellu (Civic Democratic Party - ODS) asking that he stop sharing a racist video on his Facebook page promoting his project for parking sensors for the Prague 3 Municipal Department. In the stylized video, a comedian tells a joke about "millions" of Romani people waiting near parking spaces for the opportunity to steal a car.  full story

Iveta Bílková: Romani people must vote - it is a citizen's most basic right

6.10.2017 9:05 The elections for the Czech lower house are coming up. The Chamber of Deputies is where decisions are made about how the republic should run, the direction the state should head in, and mainly, where the citizens of this state are headed, including minorities.  full story

Czech folk singer publicly supports ultra-nationalist in runup to elections

29.7.2017 9:00 The chair of the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" movement, Tomio Okamura, has a new supporter. After meeting the famous singer Jaromír Nohavica last Sunday at a shopping center in Ostrava, he posted a photograph of the two of them to online social networks.  full story

Slovak Prosecutor-General files motion to dissolve Kotleba's party

1.6.2017 13:19 The Slovak Prosecutor-General has filed a motion with the court to dissolve the ultra-right Kotleba-Lidová strana Naše Slovensko (Kotleba-People's Party Our Slovakia,
or LSNS). The party is currently seated in Parliament.  full story

Stano Daniel: Slovak Roma have to let themselves be beaten up now, otherwise the fascists will be elected

30.5.2017 8:00 Among Romani people in Slovakia the feeling is prevailing that the biggest threat to their future is the fascist party chaired by Marian Kotleba. It is quite possible to agree with their sentiment.  full story

Czech Republic: David Beňák is now Deputy Human Rights Minister, his priority is the law on social enterprises

7.4.2017 7:44 David Beňák (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) has become the new political deputy to Czech Human Rights and Legislation Minister Jan Chvojka (ČSSD) on Monday, 3 April. He replaces Marek Ondroušek, who is now moving to the Trade Ministry to be Deputy Minister for Electronic Communications.  full story

Commentary: Paradoxes in the war on political correctness

31.3.2017 21:01 The war against political correctness is a long-term process that was begun in the Czech Republic by ultra-right extremists during the 1990s. Their motive was apparent: They wanted to legitimize racism and xenophobia so their own "politics" would be acceptable to the broadest possible circle of voters.  full story

Commentary: Czech Foreign Minister is all over the map when it comes to the issue of freedom of movement - why?

28.3.2017 11:04 My favorite demagogue, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek, is once again shining like a supernova in the night sky. He has declared war on the free movement of persons on the labor market inside the European Union.
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Czech Human Rights Minister meets with management of Hate Free project to discuss its future

16.2.2017 8:21 Czech Human Rights Minister Jan Chvojka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) met on 7 February with the leadership of the Czech Government's campaign against hate violence, Hate Free Culture. The three-year project, scheduled to end in April, combats hate speech and xenophobia as well as refuting fake news and hoaxes, mainly in the online environment.
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