Commentary

Commentary: The thorny path of Romani emancipation from Czechoslovakia to today's Czech Republic

2.11.2018 12:43 It has been 50 years since I first encountered the call for Romani emancipation. I was in Paris when the "fraternal" Warsaw Pact armies occupied Czechoslovakia in 1968, and after arriving back home by train to Prague's Smíchov station, I went into the restaurant there.  full story

Commentary: Roma Pride and listening to each other

1.11.2018 14:35 It's a pity that the Roma Pride march failed to make an impression on the Czech media. It deserved the attention of the broader public.  full story

Roma Pride Manifesto 2018

1.11.2018 9:10  full story

Monika Mihaličková: Silence is consent

19.10.2018 19:52 In mid-August the RomanoNet and ROMEA organizations launched a campaign called "ME DŽAV! A so tu?" (I'M GOING! Are you?), the main aim of which was to
awaken Romani voters' interest in local elections. I was in charge of the online part of the campaign.  full story

Renata Berkyová: How a Czech gadjo from Reflex magazine couldn't help showing his racism

30.5.2018 12:40 The discussion of what words we are supposed to use to refer to people who are not Romani has apparently been underway since the term "Rom" became domesticated as part of Czech journalistic discourse. The Editor-in-Chief of Reflex magazine, Marek Stoniš, published a commentary on 24 May in which he objects to the term "non-Rom", specifically, the term "non-Romani children".  full story

Commentary: Terezin commemoration this year was a travesty, civil society group calls for director's dismissal

26.5.2018 7:56 A delegation from the controversial "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement; the controversial chair of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union, Jaroslav Vodička, again invited to speak; the homophobic Czech MP Jaroslav Foldyna seated on the main tribunal; no Jewish rabbis in attendance; no Romani flag flying - this was what the Terezín Commemoration looked like on Sunday. The Konexe organization considers this year's ceremony to have been a desecration of the site and will be demanding the dismissal of the director of the Terezín Memorial.  full story

Commentary: "Zero tolerance" is back in North Bohemia, a "sure bet" for the Czech local elections

16.5.2018 12:30 What image comes to mind when you hear the term "socially excluded locality"? Most people in the Czech Republic will imagine the Chanov housing estate in Most or the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, both towns in North Bohemia.  full story

Vojtěch Pačan: The gadje turned out in person for the Prague demonstration, but Romani people only express their criticism on Facebook

22.3.2018 13:39 I regret that many Romani people on Facebook are criticizing the demonstration against racism that took place last weekend in Prague. That demonstration was about you, about us Roma.  full story

Czech and Slovak Victims of Coercive Sterilization Await Justice

8.3.2018 8:21 In November 2017, nine governments of the United Nations urged the Czech Republic to provide compensation to women – in particular Romani women and women with disabilities – coercively sterilized between the 1960s and 2004. The Czech government is expected to provide an answer to these Governments in the UN Human Rights Council in March.  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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Stano Daniel: A message from Slovakia. First, words fall. Then people.

27.2.2018 13:05 On Monday, February 26, Slovakia suffered from a shock. The frost outside came into households, offices, and workplaces. It was impossible to feel anything else while looking at the news. A 27-year-old journalist and his partner had been shot dead.  full story

Czech Police officer explains why he donated to Romani Scholarships

18.2.2018 10:44 One day a few months ago I saw a hate campaign online by some Czech citizens against a primary school in Teplice. Then I found out that other Czech citizens had organized a collection for the children of that school and to support Romani students.

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Julius Zajac: Ascendancy of extremists and liars may augur a new kind of totalitarianism in the Czech Republic

15.2.2018 7:04 A President who has won election thanks to a brazen (non)-campaign, among other things. A President whom the courts have ruled is a liar.  full story

Patrik Banga: How can people in the Czech Republic write about reviving the concentration camps?

10.2.2018 7:25 I have just read online, for the third time in the last several hours, the opinion that the concentration camps should be revived, and not surprisingly, one such opinion was posted by a commenter to the Facebook profile of Tomio Okamura. For several dozens of hours I have been thinking about whether I basically can even say anything about what is going on because I am in a stage where I am afraid to say anything - and that is because the moment I say something, I begin to receive hate mail and racist messages that disgust me so much that I have even stopped blogging on the blog site that I myself am in charge of.  full story

Jan Cverčko: Romale, vote for Jiří Drahoš!

22.1.2018 11:22 In the first round of voting for president it has been demonstrated that the current Czech President, Miloš Zeman, is not as dominant as it seemed - personally, I voted for Michal Horáček, and he deserves all honor and respect in defeat. Unfortunately, he was not selected for the second round, and I really regret that, because I can imagine him as a decent, humane, wise President of the Czech Republic.  full story

Opinion: Running a nationalist party in Europe is a very good business plan

21.12.2017 9:43 According to the director of the Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations Working with Migrants, Anna Dumont, running nationalist parties in the Czech Republic is a very good business plan for those in charge of them. "As a result of their gains in the recent elections, the SPD has been given from the state budget CZK 54 million [EUR 2 million] plus another CZK 20 million [EUR 777 700] annually per elected MP. This is a business. This is a machine for producing money that functions effectively, and not just in our country. This is a perfect way to cheat the voters. All of these party leaders have known, from the beginning, that they will be unable to fulfill any of their promises," Dumont said in her speech at last weekend's demonstration against the Prague conference of the anti-immigration, hateful, xenophobic parties in the ENF group at the European Parliament, which news server Romea.cz is publishing here in full translation.  full story

Monika Mihaličková: In Romanes we never say "Me som cikános" ["I am a gypsy"]

20.12.2017 13:13 Romale, recently I have very frequently encountered debates on the subject of whether we are Roma or "gypsies". I comprehend that this society is confused and does not know what name to call our nation.  full story

Czech MP wants to close nonprofits, Romani psychology student diagnoses him

15.12.2017 6:39 As a young child I used to dream that one day a phase would arise in human society where the main priority would be empathy, love and peace. Unfortunately, I am 21 years old now and nothing of the sort has come to pass yet.  full story

Stanislava Ondová: The Czech courts use a double standard for non-Roma and Roma, I may emigrate

10.12.2017 14:41 The other night I was watching "Braveheart" on television, my favorite film about fighting for freedom, and during the advertisements I took a look at Facebook. I saw a commentary from one of my friends, clicked on it and read that the court has fined perpetrators "a mere EUR 4 for death threats and racist insults".  full story

Czech "November Challenge" against racism and xenophobia responds to online racist death threats against children and more

22.11.2017 16:05 Czech blogger Viktor Machek's "November Challenge" is responding to the rising wave of hatred and racism in the country. "Capturing these openly racist or xenophobic remarks is just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening around us day after day, and not just on the Internet. We are being confronted more and more openly with hate, with scorn, with open xenopobia or racism. Instead of strongly objecting to these negative displays we are silent. Just a few manage to speak up, to demonstrate their opinions, to object," Machek writes in his challenge, which news server Romea.cz translates in full here.

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