Šíření nenávisti a nesnášenlivosti

Slovakia wants obligatory work for Roma on welfare

Slovakia, 1.12.2013 19:08, (ROMEA) Last Tuesday the ruling Směr (Direction) party in Slovakia was joined by opposition MPs to override a presidential veto of an amendment requiring work in exchange for aid to those in material distress. Unemployed persons will have to work at least 32 hours a month in order to receive the state benefit of EUR 61.60.  full story

Czech Anti-Fascist Action writes open letter to the ultra-right

Prague, 2.11.2013 19:04, (ROMEA) On 25 October, the website for Anti-Fascist Action in the Czech Republic, Antifa.cz, reported that the group sent an open letter in the run-up to the recent parliamentary elections to members of the ultra-right DSSS party as part of Anti-Fascist Action's ongoing campaign against antigypsyism. News server Romea.cz presents the introduction to the open letter from the website below, as well as the letter itself in full translation.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis attempt pogrom in Ostrava, 500 Roma march against them

Ostrava, 28.10.2013 21:25, (ROMEA) Approximately 200 - 300 neo-Nazis gathered today at 14:00 for an anti-Romani, racist demonstration on Prokešovo Square in Ostrava. Two separate gatherings were convened against racism by the "Let's Block the Marches!" (Blokujeme!) platform, one on nearby Sokolská Street in front of a residential hotel called "Colorful Ostrava" (Barevná Ostrava), and another on Svatopluk Čech Square.  full story

Czech Republic: Right-wing extremist threatens to kill Mayor of Ostrava

Ostrava, 23.10.2013 0:29, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that a man demanding the release of 15 aggressive demonstrators who participated in last Saturday's neo-Nazi demonstration in Ostrava has threatened to murder the Mayor of Ostrava and his family. It did not take long for police to take him into custody, where he remains.  full story

Czech Republic: Municipality in Ostrava plans to ban right-wing radical meeting

Ostrava, 15.10.2013 16:55, (ROMEA) The local council of the centrally-located municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz in Ostrava is planning to ban an anti-Romani event organized by right-wing radicals for this coming Saturday who have announced their intentions to gather and march through the town. Jana Pondělíčková, spokesperson for the Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz local government, told the Czech News Agency that the demonstration would coincide with an open house being held at the Ostrava Town Hall in the vicinity and the municipal department is concerned the ultra-right gathering poses a risk to security and will cause transportation complications.  full story

Commentary: Romani unemployment endangers the Czech economy

13.10.2013 21:56, (ROMEA) According to estimates by the Czech Labor Office, the number of unemployed Romani people has significantly grown in recent years. While official statistics are not kept about the ethnicity of the unemployed, the Labor Office has produced its estimate for the Office of the Government to use as part of its reporting on how it is fulfilling its obligations as part of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.  full story

Czech court overturns acquittal of former neo-Nazi party members

Prague, 12.10.2013 19:29, (ROMEA) At the end of September a Prague appeals court overturned the first-instance acquittal of former members of the now-defunct Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS) and other right-wing extremists charged with promoting neo-Nazism. Court spokesperson Zuzana Steinerová has confirmed the eight defendants will have to appear once more before the Prague 1 District Court.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis hack e-mail and Facebook accounts of anti-racist activists and candidates

Prague, 3.10.2013 22:09, (ROMEA) Approximately 10 racist images, texts, and videos were posted today by neo-Nazis onto the Facebook profile of the Změna ("Change") movement, which is running in the parliamentary elections. The attack was just the latest in a series committed by racists against the e-mail accounts and Facebook profiles of groups and individuals who have long protested against neo-Nazism and racism in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: More than 100 people demand investigation of social work in Litvínov

Czech Republic, 23.9.2013 17:25, (ROMEA) Members of the social welfare department of the Czech town of Litvínov, accompanied by municipal police and a reporter with a video camera, recently paid unannounced visits to allegedly troubled families, primarily Romani ones, to see whether adult family members were using alcohol or drugs in the presence of their children. Zuzana Candigliota, legal director of the League of Human Rights (Liga lidských práv) says the staff of these public authorities exceeded their official powers during the incidents.  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right extremists now candidates for the "Heads Up!" bloc

Prague, 21.9.2013 18:34, (ROMEA) The "Heads Up!" (Hlava vzhůru!) bloc is running in the Czech Republic's early elections with the slogan "We fight for you!", but a more apt slogan for the group might be "We pick fights with you". Two right-wing extremists are among its candidates, as is a politician infamous for her previous racist remarks.  full story

Czech Green Party chair: All of society must collaborate on building the road out of the ghetto

17.9.2013 22:25, (ROMEA) During the launch of the Green Party's electoral campaign, news server Romea.cz spoke with Green Party chair Ondřej Liška. Human rights considerations, according to Liška, play only a weak role in Czech politics.  full story

Czech sociologist hopes "war of nerves" before elections does not result in violence

Prague, 17.9.2013 0:28, (ROMEA) In the context of the upcoming early elections, increased activity by the right-wing extremist DSSS party and the exploitation of Romani-related issues can be expected in the Czech Republic. The series of organized anti-Roma demonstrations in recent weeks has made it clear how DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas and his promoters will most likely behave going forward.  full story

Czech human rights defender calls for media regulation in light of anti-Roma events

16.9.2013 21:26, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, a human rights defender and former chair of the Czech Helsinki Committee, says educating children in the schools to be racially tolerant and regulating the media and public discussions are the cure for widespread anti-Romani sentiment in society. The Czech Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služba - BIS) has recently joined the Czech Helsinki Committee in warning of the dangers of antigypsyism in the country, reporting that anti-Romani demonstrations are no longer being attended just by right-wing extremists, but also by ordinary people.  full story

Czech Republic: Charity refutes rumors that Romani people receive more child support from state than others

České Budějovice, 14.9.2013 19:54, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reports that the Diocesan Charity of České Budějovice (Diecézní charita České Budějovice) is refuting yet another widespread, false rumor about the alleged privileging of Romani people. Rudolf Kondáš, the newly-hired crime prevention assistant to the municipal police at the Máj housing estate there, says he hopes this summer's police operations at the housing estate in response to neo-Nazi provocations there will not have to be repeated.  full story

Czech Republic: "Let's Block the Marches!" supporting Roma in Varnsdorf tomorrow during DSSS rally

Varnsdorf, 13.9.2013 17:44, (ROMEA) Tomorrow, 14 September, racists from the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) are planning yet another provocation in the town of Varnsdorf. Almost exactly two years to the day from when violence was provoked there by the party's promoters, the DSSS has announced an assembly on Edvard Beneš Square in Varnsdorf.  full story

Czech Helsinki Committee: Neo-Nazi, ultra-conservative and fascististic fighters gear up for elections

Prague, 11.9.2013 16:49, (ROMEA) The Czech Helsinki Committee (Český helsinský výbor - ČHV), which monitors adherence to human rights in the Czech Republic, has published its 19th Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic. The ČHV is the only organization in the Czech Republic to publish this report regularly since 1994. The complete "Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic for 2012" (Zpráva o stavu lidských práv v České republice za rok 2012) is available online in Czech only at http://helcom.cz/ke-stazeni/zpravy-o-stavu-lidskych-prav-v-cr/.  full story

Leading Czech right-wing extremist acquitted for lack of evidence

Most, 11.9.2013 15:29, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reported last week that right-wing extremist Lucie Šlégrová, one of the organizers of an attempted pogrom in 2008 on Romani people living at the Janov housing estate in the Czech town of Litvínov, has won a complicated, lengthy trial at the court of first instance in Most. Šlégrová, who was once an influential member of the neo-Nazi Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS), which has since been dissolved by court order, faced charges of promoting German Nazism, which is banned.  full story

Czech state prosecutor objects to release of Romani people charged with Duchcov attack, they remain in custody

Duchcov, 6.9.2013 22:48, (ROMEA) The state prosecutor has filed a complaint against a recent decision to release from custody the three Romani people who assaulted a non-Romani married couple this past May in the town of Duchcov, an incident that prompted an ongoing series of anti-Roma demonstrations there. The defendants are remaining in custody for the time being.  full story

Commentary: Experts and extremists at Czech Television

Prague, 1.9.2013 22:21, (ROMEA) At public broadcaster Czech Television (ČT), anyone can be a sociologist. All it takes is to blame everything on the "inadaptables."  full story

Commentary: Frustration, political vacuum, and a society without vision

Prague, 1.9.2013 1:06, (ROMEA) It is both remarkable and symptomatic that the unrest in the Czech Republic this summer and the increasingly oppressive atmosphere in society is receiving no response from the country's political representatives. They are all so overwhelmed by their own operations, by the ongoing chaos and the "fight for parliamentary democracy" here that they have no energy left for what is going on beyond the walls of their party secretariats.  full story