Roma Rights

International Roma Day: A time to celebrate Roma heritage & condemn anti-gypsyism

2011-04-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

April 8 is International Roma Day, an occasion when Romani culture and history are celebrated, but also when awareness of the issues facing the Roma people should be discussed.

In the Czech Republic, where I was brought up, the Roma comprise the largest ethnic minority. Across Europe, there are an estimated 10 to 12 million Roma. University of Texas Professor, Romani scholar and advocate Ian Hancock estimates as many as one million Roma live in the America.

As groups around the world honor the rich history and cultural heritage of the Roma communities, it must be emphasized that to this day, Roma all across Europe face intense discrimination and continue their struggle for human rights.

As the economic downturn hits harder and causes insecurity and inter-group friction, disturbing trends are emerging. The far-right across the European Union continues to grow more powerful and inconspicuous as seen in both mainstream (no longer fringe) politics and in the streets, where neo-Nazis meet, march, intimidate and even attack Europeans of color and immigrants with intensifying frequency.

Two years ago, a notable shift took place in European politics when during the biggest transnational vote in European history, the EU Parliament elections, far-right and anti-immigrant parties gained visibility and a significant amount of political power.

In Hungary, for instance, the far-right Jobbik ("For a Better Hungary") party performed stronger than expected. Jobbik, which blames the Roma, or Gypsies, for a perceived breakdown of law and order in the countryside, the BBC reported, took nearly 15%, giving it three seats in June, 2009.

Incidentally, I met a Czech Jew with Hungarian citizenship who unabashedly admitted she voted for the Jobbik party despite their fascist doctrine. When asked why, she justified her vote by insisting that Jobbik promised to "create order" in her home country of Hungary, an insightful, albeit disturbing and paradoxical window into the mentality underlying the rise of the region's ultra-right.

Nearby in the Czech Republic, controversial figures continue to be selected by policy makers as key advisers. One such person is Roman Joch, appointed human rights adviser to the Prime Minister. Joch is a neocon-Christian right ideologue, who denies that well-documented human rights violations against the Roma exist in the Czech Republic.

More recently, Minister of Education appointed a former leading candidate of the extreme-right National Party to be his adviser. The party, which no longer exists, Romea.cz reports, "profiled itself as anti-foreigner and anti-Roma. In 2009 their video advertisement for the EP elections even included the words 'final solution to the Gypsy question' ('konečné řešení otázky cikánské')."

In addition to ultra-right ideologues in key advising positions, blatantly racist policies from forced evacuations and raids to welfare reforms disproportionately affecting impoverished Roma communities are being proposed and implemented in towns and countries across Europe (in Italy, France and elsewhere).

And in the streets, right-wing extremists continue to flex their power. In Hungary just last month, 1,000 black-uniformed neo-Nazi vigilantes surrounded a 450-strong Roma community, rolling out a "law and order" mission in Gyongyospata, a Hungarian village of 2,800 people 80km north-east of Budapest. Some, as Al Jazeera reported, were reportedly armed with dogs, whips and chains. The local Roma's crime? Two hens allegedly stollen by a Roma from a non-Roma neighbor. Supposedly, one elderly non-Roma man killed himself because he thought Roma neighbors might move in. And it is said that some Roma in Gyongyospata beat a young female school teacher. But there is no proof, according to Al Jazeera.

It must be stressed that, as Al Jazeera reported, "there is no evidence that even petty crime has risen in Gyongyospata, but the financial crisis has driven up the significance of people's everyday possessions and the far right is only too happy for the chance to profit from the heightened sensitivity."

Incidents of racially motivated violence, though underreported, have significantly impacted Roma communities throughout the EU. In Hungary, attacks on the homes of Roma people, planned and carried out "with military precision" by neo-Nazis, have killed at least nine people in recent years. In the Czech Republic, Roma have been terrorized and injured by Molotov cocktails thrown into their families' homes.

Troubling is the reality that neo-Nazi groups cooperate across borders on recruitment, message crafting and political organizing strategies as is the case with Czech neo-Nazis working with their German counterparts. Just this spring, the international neo-Nazi organization Blood and Honor launched a new website in the Czech Republic.

As Romea.cz reports, the designers of the new website have posted the information that C18, a militant white supremacist group the site is endorsing, "is doing its best to 'destabilize the system and unleash race war' in the Czech Republic. C18 is said to have been behind several actions in recent months 'and will commit many others again soon.'"

Last fall, Ian Traynor of the Guardian wrote about the xenophobic tensions cropping up all over the EU in his article, Economic gloom fuels far-right growth in Europe:

"The backdrop to the backlash is economic gloom, austerity packages, and public spending cuts, with voters worried about their jobs, living standards, and children. Mainstream leaders are desperate to shore up support, and extremist populist mavericks resort to scapegoating immigrants in a time of troubles on everything from lost jobs, soaring welfare bills, social housing, and crime rates. The far-right is benefiting from the failures of mainstream politics."

Although the Roma, whose ancestry is Indian, have called Europe their home for centuries, they are seen as the perpetual foreigners and scapegoated by whites. For further blatant examples of this we need to look no further than my country of birth last month when approximately 500 right-wing extremists marched through the Czech town of Nový Bydžov, intimidating, even physically attacking members of the local Roma community, rendering one victim unconscious.

The Workers' Social Justice Party, which organized the above march, says its mission is to stand up "against rising crime." The group's messages have consistently targeted and intimidated the Roma community, against whom the mayor and residents of Nový Bydžov unleashed what some have called "a war on Gypsies" by collectively libeling this ethnic group following a rape of a 21-year-old woman in November 2010 by a suspect who was allegedly a Roma.

Another neo-Nazi march is expected in the Czech city of Brno on May Day and this Saturday in Krupka, a town with a sizable Roma community. Fears of a pogrom have led activists to call for a non-violent protest to come out against ultra-rightwing The Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS).

The organizers of the counter-demonstration writer in their press release:

On the basis of similar marches held by the same groups..., it is our opinion that there is a risk of violence and that the entire action could culminate in a pogrom against the Roma people living in Krupka. This is unacceptable to us.

Our Initiative will actively and non-violently come out against the DSSS march... We believe in the democratic principles of the Czech Republic, which include respect for dignity and human rights. These values are now in jeopardy. We have an opportunity, and essentially we also have the obligation, to stand up for the defense of these values, as indifference just gradually moves the boundaries of the permissible past the point of no return.

Human rights activists and organizations such as Amnesty International as well as the occasional politician warn that more needs to be done to protect the Roma and to ensure equal access to housing, education, health care and jobs. But to those from the Roma community whom I know, words are not enough.

The pressing question is what needs to happen to ensure safety for the Roma communities in Europe? The European Roma Rights Center lists three demands in its petition urging for the protection of the Roma from racially motivated violence.

They call the European Union and national governments to:

• Swiftly and clearly condemn all acts of anti-Roma violence, recognising and denouncing their racial motivation;
• Ensure prompt State response to protect Romani European citizens against threats to their security and to conduct effective investigations and prosecutions to deliver justice to victims of violent attacks;
•Implement a “zero tolerance policy” for public officials engaged in hate speech or other violations of the rights of Roma.

The deeper question, perfect to pose on International Roma Day, is: what will it take for white Europeans to see the Roma as their fellow citizens; human beings who merit nothing short of a life of equal opportunity, and freedom from fear and discrimination? Part of the answer could be more opportunities for inter-group dialogue and programs (including affirmative action) which purposefully engage majority and minority group members in interactions and collaboration. As many European societies stand now, segregation is a reality for many Roma. This needs to change.

[Photo credit: Romea.cz. Image from protest against neo-Nazi march in the Czech town of Litvinov. The cardboard sign reads: "We must employ all possible strategies against Nazism" or in simpler terms, "Down with Nazism."]

Perpetrators of Racially Motivated Arson Sentenced

2011-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last October I wrote about the trial of four Czech arsonists whose Molotov cocktail attack set fire to a house inhabited by a nine-member Roma family, injuring three and severely burning a two-year-old girl over 80% of her body.

The arsonists appealed the verdict for their April 2009 attack, saying they had not realized the house was occupied and that they had no intention of murdering anyone. The court heard their appeals and doled out the perpetrators' sentences today.

As the news service Romea.cz reports:

Today the High Court in (the Czech city of) Olomouc reduced the sentence handed down to defendant Ivo Müller for the 2009 commission of an arson attack on a Roma home in Vítkov from 22 to 20 years. The extraordinary sentences previously handed down by the Ostrava Regional Court of between 20 and 22 years for the other three extremists involved in the arson were upheld on appeal.

David Vaculík and Jaromír Lukeš byli were sentenced to 22 years in prison, while Václav Cojocaru received a 20-year sentence. All four defendants were sentenced for multiple counts of racially motivated attempted murder and for destruction of property.

Whose Side Were They On?

2011-03-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

On March 12, approximately 500 right-wing extremists and roughly 200 counter-demonstrators gathered in the Czech town of Nový Bydžov. The police forced the counter-demonstrators out of the way of the march using horses, firecrackers and night sticks. According to the news service Romea.cz, one person suffered contusions to his foot during the intervention.

The way Czech Police handled last week's far-right Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) party's march has caused an outrcy from human rights activists and organizations.

As Romea.cz reports, "Amnesty International is alarmed by the Police approach and calls for an investigation of the intervention."

In sum:

The Police of the Czech Republic failed to ensure protection for three Roma people who were attacked by supporters of the extreme right after a demonstration by the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) in Nový Bydžov on 12 March. Police also used disproportionate force against counter-demonstrators gathered under the rubric of the Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative, which did its best to block the DSSS march.

The Romea civic association is outraged and demands that the police Inspectorate investigate the proportionality of the police intervention. The civil society members of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs also demand a proper investigation.

Police say they are reviewing video tapes of the demonstration and still investigating the attack on a Roma man who was allegedly waylaid by 13 right-wing extremists once the rally was over. The victim was rendered unconscious.

(Photo credit: Romea.cz)

Czechs Prepare to Say No to Hate this Saturday

2011-03-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

Czech Roma and human rights activists are gearing up to take a stand against racism and neo-Nazism at a demonstration many fear could turn chaotic, even violent. This coming Saturday, March 12, the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) is scheduled to gather and march through the town of Nový Bydžov, the new epicenter of anti-Roma sentiment in the Czech Republic.

The Workers' Social Justice Party says its mission is to stand up "against rising crime." The group's messages have consistently targeted and intimidated the Roma community, against whom the mayor of Nový Bydžov unleashed what some have called "a war on Gypsies" by collectively libeling this ethnic group following a rape of a 21-year-old woman in November 2010 by a suspect who was allegedly a Roma.

"The worst-case scenario," states a press release issued by Freedom Not Fear, a group which supports the counter-demonstration, "would be another attempt at a pogrom similar to the one that played itself out three years ago at the Janov housing estate in Litvínov," a town in the north of the Czech Republic.

Amnesty International, who plans to monitor the event, has just released a public statement urging "the Czech authorities to ensure protection of Roma in Nový Bydžov during a demonstration by the Workers’ Social Justice Party planned on 12 March."

"Following the Mayor’s statement," explains the Amnesty International public statement, "the Workers’ Social Justice Party welcomed 'open and truthful naming of the problem' and announced its readiness to help, including by providing monitoring patrols to the municipality."

The AI document also provides a bit of history on the Workers’ Social Justice Party (DSSS):

The Worker’s Party, the predecessor to the Workers’ Social Justice Party, was dissolved by the Supreme Administrative Court in February 2010. The Court held that its programme led to incitement to national, racial, ethnic intolerance and amounted to an attempt to infringe the basic rights and freedoms of certain groups, in particular the minorities.

Young Greens (Mladí zelení) civic association is one of the groups actively opposing the Workers’ Social Justice Party's message and upcoming neo-Nazi demonstration. In their statement and invitation to all others to stand up against hate this Saturday, the Young Greens explain:

This DSSS action has been convened under the guise of being "Against Rising Crime“. However, we believe, after this country's experiences with similar demonstrations in Litvínov-Janov and Přerov, that in reality this will be a hate gathering intended to exploit the anti-Roma mood in society in order to score more political points for the DSSS and the totalitarian, undemocratic ideas that party represents.

As you all certainly know, a group of mayors recently met in Nový Bydžov and has started calling for the increased repression of people whom this society has learned to generally call the "inadaptable" (often as a front for racism, xenophobia and other generally asocial worldviews) - even though the sociologist Stöcklová asserts that "'Inadaptability' or resistance is essentially a positive value in society. Rejection of that value made it possible for Nazism to prevail in Germany during the 1930s."

The official municipal web pages of the town of Nový Bydžov are shocking in the their anti-Gypsy content. There it is possible to read the completely open claim that "The Gypsies have committed rape!" The hatred against one group of the town's inhabitants culminated in the publication of a document entitled "The Town's Measures" on that website. This generalization about and condemnation of an entire ethnic group on the basis of legal violations committed by individuals is not only something completely unbelievable in the 21st century, but primarily borders itself on being a crime. We continue to believe in the democratic principles of the Czech Republic and in values such as a right to a fair trial, including the presumption of innocence, in respect for human dignity, and in human rights. The behavior represented by the leadership of Nový Bydžov seriously jeopardizes those values.

The problem of ostracizing a certain section of the population, however, does not end in Nový Bydžov. The ideological prevalence of anti-Gypsyism, together with anti-humanism, Europhobia and Islamophobia, is becoming ever more clear in our republic. In addition to the mayors' conference in Nový Bydžov, another possible piece of evidence for this is the recent attempt by Czech Education Minister Dobeš to appoint Ladislav Bátora, a former candidate for the ultra-right National Party (Národní strana - NS), to the post of first deputy minister, as well as the hysterical defense of Bátora by Czech President Klaus, a defense such has never been seen not only in the history of the Czech Republic, but in the history of the state of Czechoslovakia. Thanks to these political attitudes and the often one-sided stereotyping of societal diversity by the most frequently-consumed Czech media, hatred of the Roma community achieved unbelievable dimensions by the end of last year. This must be prevented. It is not possible to just stand by as the internal societal mood of the Czech Republic comes closer and closer to that of 1930s Germany, where it resulted in something everyone is convinced should never be repeated.

We have decided to call you to action, to call on us all and on all our friends to mobilize for active participation in the demonstration against the DSSS march and to express our emphatic disagreement with the growing right-wing extremism in the Czech Republic.

As the news server Romea reports, "strong tensions can be felt among residents of the town."

Regional police say they will increase their patrols in the town in order to protect people's property and ensure order.

The Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative, a group which is organizing the counter-demonstration, has called on the Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner to actively participate.

The organizers write: "Our gathering is being organized under the rubric of the newly-created Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative, whose members include Roma people living in Nový Bydžov and activists who have long been involved in human rights, often working in NGOs focused on Roma rights or other human rights topics." They emphasize the non-violent nature of the planned counter-protest.

If you are in the region, please join all those of good will and take a stand against hate this coming Saturday. More information on the protest here.

Small Town Mayor's Racist Rhetoric Ignites a Wildfire of Anti-Roma Mobilization in the Czech Republic

2011-03-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

My heart is with the Roma community in the Czech Republic. I say this in light of the recent alarming events I have been following from thousands of miles away. What has been happening in one small town has statewide implications.

In November of last year, the Mayor of Nový Bydžov, a Czech town of approximately 7,000 residents, issued a statement in which he globally libeled all Roma people in the town; an event that was perceived by many as a declaration of a "war on Gypsies."

In his open letter, Mayor Pavel Louda proclaimed the town is divided into one group of decent, working residents and the other, a group of those who "hang out on the benches on the town square" and "shout in the streets, threaten people, including with knives, and commit theft and rape."

Louda's statement was a reaction to several assaults and the rape of a 21-year-old woman committed by perpetrators who were allegedly Roma. As a response to these crimes, the Mayor declared that he "will introduce repressive measures, even if my colleagues and I end up on trial because this absurd state of ours considers us to be discriminating against the poor Gypsies."

A petition demanding better security was circulated by the locals and signed by 3,257 residents. The author of the petition, Petr Suchánek, thanked the signatories in his letter, published on the city hall's webpage, adding that the criminal charges filed against the Mayor, accusing him of being a racist, are nothing but "spit in the face of all decent people."

Louda appealed to the State for help in beefing up the town's security. The Mayor has also hired a private security firm to provide law enforcement in the town. As of January 1, there are now 24 police officers instead of 15 available in the vicinity of the town. As of March 1, the town has increased the number of police officers on patrol by fifty percent from 4 officers to 6. The town has also begun raiding gambling businesses and publicizing the ethnicity of those found there along with information on whether these individuals are on welfare, implying that those caught gambling will be instantly barred from qualifying for social benefits, including unemployment, food and rental assistance.

In late January, representatives of the Roma community met with the Mayor to offer cooperation in dissolving the racial tensions in the town. As the news servers Romea and Denik.cz reported, Josef Čureja, a Roma representative designated to be one of the Mayor's main contact persons in the community, stated: "We are doing everything we can so that everyone in Nový Bydžov can once again live contentedly and without concern - so that coexistence can again become normal. We simply want to put a stop to all of the goings-on that have taken place in town during the past few years."

Čureja also added that it destructive for the majority population to see the Roma as incapable or unwilling to work or as people who only spend their money on video poker. "We are not all the same, and that's why we are glad we met the mayor," Čureja said.

In early February, two human rights organizations, European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and Equality, sent a letter to the Mayor of Nový Bydžov, urging him to discontinue his anti-Romani rhetoric and calling on him to support a peaceful resolution of interethnic conflict.

"The situation between Roma and non-Roma in Nový Bydžov, triggered by a crime of rape that occurred at the end of 2010," states the ERRC letter, "is very tense and puts many individuals at a threat of verbal and physical violence."

"Your recent statements and the measures you are proposing," the letter continues, "may be in violation of a number of national and international law provisions, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which bans racial discrimination by public authorities and the Czech Criminal Code which bans incitement to racial hatred at Article 356."

Since the Mayor's statements have been made and widely publicized by the Czech media, neo-Nazi groups, with The Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) in the lead, have begun to plan and advertise a meeting and march through the town of Nový Bydžov on March 12.

Louda was quoted in the Hradec Králové regional edition of the daily Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) as saying the event looks like it will become an organized war between all the anarchist and violent groups in the country. "Unfortunately they have made us their battleground," the mayor said.

Clearly, there is great fear of the violence this March 12 could spark. A neo-Nazi march through a neighborhood with a large Romani population turned ugly two years ago in the town of Litvinov. To prevent the neo-Nazis from marching and intimidating local residents, two peaceful protests are planned on March 12.

The Nový Bydžov is not alone! Initiative (Iniciativa Nový Bydžov není sám!) who are the organizers of the upcoming non-violent anti-racist rallies told Romeal.cz, "We condemn all criminal acts, but we reject the principle of collective guilt being exploited as part of anti-Roma rhetoric."

The larger implication of what has been happening in Nový Bydžov has to do with a meeting which occurred on February 14. On that day, a group of 51 mayors from around the Czech Republic convened to demand greater powers from the government. A declaration released after the mayors' meeting was signed by a total of 61 representatives of towns and villages which allegedly have "difficulties with Roma people."

As reported by Romea, "the declaration includes demands for the option of canceling people's social welfare benefits should they abuse them."

"The municipal representatives," Romea reports, "are also demanding the government seriously concern itself with the powers available to towns and villages regarding the services they provide to citizens whose permanent residency is registered with a different municipality."

The English version of the declaration can be found here.

Roma and pro-Roma activists reacted to the declaration swiftly, circulating a petition opposing what they consider to be segregationist policies proposed by the mayors. The Czech version of the petition can be found here.

"We, the Roma and citizens living in the Czech Republic are offended by the idea of the decision-making power of the state being transferred to towns and municipalities. The rights of the Constitution must be guaranteed to all citizens of this country regardless of our differences," the petition, which I helped translate into English, says.

As Romea.cz reports:

The initiators of the petition are opposed to "the legislative anchoring of the option to subject the benefit of aid to those in material distress to attachment as if it were income (preserving minimum support). People should not be subjected to further social isolation." The next point stresses that they are against introducing the sanction of banning residency, as freedom of movement has been established as a principle throughout the EU.

In the petition, Iveta Bílková, Ladislav Bílý, Ondřej Giňa and Miroslav Kováč also protest against the anchoring into legislation of the option of canceling welfare benefits. "We, the Roma and citizens, are fundamentally opposed to the government's tolerance of the segregationist proposals made by some heads of cities and municipalities, such as the policy of pushing members of minority groups out of municipalities or to their peripheries. We demand that the laws, rights and freedoms be upheld for all citizens regardless of their gender, race, skin color, language, creed or religion, political or other beliefs, national or social background, ethnic or minority status, wealth, ancestry or any other status. Municipal governments cannot be the guarantors of what the state by its very nature is meant to guarantee," the petition concludes.

In his letter to the Czech Prime Minister Nečas, Čeněk Růžička, Romani activist and chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holokaustu) bids the government to halt any discussion of proposals to cut social welfare benefits and introduce sanctions banning residency.

He writes: "We, the surviving relatives of the Roma victims of Nazism, equipped with the experiences of our parents and of our other Roma relatives who were concentration camp prisoners . . . request . . that you stop any discussion of proposals to introduce these sanctions and anti-social measures."

These policies, he writes, "would provoke tragic changes in the lives of impoverished Roma people and others who are socially deprived" as well as radicalize the Czech society against Roma people.

Kováč, one of the initiators of the petition opposing the mayors' declaration, has called the proposal the "modern-day birth of the 'Final Solution' to the 'Gypsy' question." He calls on others to stand up against the racist policies targeting the Roma urging, "do not make history repeat itself. . . and join us!"

Racially Motivated Arson: The Verdict Is Here

2010-10-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

It was in the spring of 2009 when a group of far-right extremists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Roma family, severely injuring three people, including two-year-old Natálie, who suffered third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. I remember the shock I felt upon hearing the news. I was living in the Czech Republic at the time.

Today, the highly publicized trial of the four Czech extremists responsible for the racially motivated arson attack culminated with extraordinary sentences handed down by the Regional Court in Ostrava.

As the Romani press agency, Romea, reports:

David Vaculík, Ivo Müller and Jaromír Lukeš have been sentenced to 22-year prison sentences, Václav Cojocaru to 20 years. The court found them guilty of complicity in attempted murder and property damage. They will all serve their sentences in a maximum-security prison and will have to pay the victims millions of crowns in compensation.

The report continues:

Today's verdict does not mean the case is over, however. Both the defendants and the state prosecutor may appeal. Attorneys for defendants Cojocaru, Lukeš, and Müller wanted milder punishments for the crimes of either reckless endangerment or grievous bodily harm and property damage. The attorney for Vaculík wanted acquittal.

Three of those convicted (Cojocaru, Lukeš, and Müller) cooperated to a certain extent with both the police and the court. They confessed their participation in the crime, which according to the file was allegedly committed to celebrate the 120th birthday of Adolf Hitler. However, they all rejected the idea that the attack had intentionally targeted a house in which people were living, claiming they believed it was just a warehouse of stolen goods.

In May of last year, my family joined the ranks of about 3,000 protesters coming together all across the Czech Republic to show solidarity with Natálie's family and to take a strong stand against neo-Nazism.

CNN ran a front-page story last June about the arson attack. A video spotlight also aired:

I visited and wrote about a community not too far from Natalka's during my fellowship in human rights journalism with the Advocacy Project last summer.

Last March, another arson attack on a Romani family's home occurred in that area. This time, the perpetrator was a white neighbor from across the street.

In my article, I wrote about meeting the family whose home was attacked:

As we make our way down the road, we cross paths with a family leaving their home. "Four months ago a molotov cocktail was thrown inside this family's house," (activist Kumar) Vishwanathan relates. "Their teenage daughter put out the fire and saved her relatives' lives."

"How is your daughter sleeping these days? Is she able to sleep?" Vishwanathan asks the mother.

The mother looks down and timidly shakes her head from side to side. The truth is clear. The family is still experiencing trauma, months after the incident.

The psychological, not just the physical, toll following such an attack runs deep and the effects are long-lasting. That is why the tough sentence the court doled out to the attackers who nearly murdered Natalka is significant. The message condemning hate crimes must be strong. It is too soon to celebrate, however. The appeal process will determine the true consequences.

Slovakia Urged to End School Segregation for Romani Children

2010-09-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International is urging the Slovak government to "immediately end the segregation of Romani children in the country's education system."

The Amnesty International website states:

This practice leaves thousands of Romani pupils in substandard education in schools and classes for pupils with "mild mental disabilities" or ethnically segregated mainstream schools and classes.

In a briefing to the Slovak government, Steps to end segregation in education, Amnesty International points to serious gaps in the enforcement and monitoring of the ban on discrimination and segregation in the Slovak educational system.

More here.

A powerful video about school segregation for Romani children in Slovakia can be viewed here. The situation is comparable to that in the Czech Republic:

Romea: Countering Stereotypes and Building Bridges through Media and Education

2010-09-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

"Our colleagues in journalism, as much as we, are still looking for a way to write about the Roma and about Roma-related issues in a way that is not too ethnic; in a way that is not colored by various prejudices and stereotypes," says Jarmila Balážová, co-founder and chair of Romea Civic Association, a Romani media and education organization.

"It is not at all easy to do," she elaborates. "It has only been since (the Velvet Revolution in) 1989 that Czech journalists have been writing about the minorities. Even we are guilty of stereotyping sometimes, for instance, when we want to balance out a negative image of the Romani minority that continues to prevail in the Czech media. So sometimes we emphasize the ethnicity of a personality when it should not be done. But we do it to spread the word that Roma exist who are not known, and who, for example, represent this country on a national level in sports."

Jarmila Balážová is a woman in demand; a woman with charisma, vision and an uncanny amount of energy. She is an award-winning journalist and the driving force behind a number of programs and publications, including Czech Radio's Romani radio broadcast, "O Roma vakeren," which she founded and the Romani monthlies Amaro Gendalos and Romano voďi, of which she is editor-in-chief. Balážová is also a producer at Czech Radio 6, the former broadcasters of Radio Free Europe in Czech.

[Jarmila Balážová, photo credit: Romea]

Balážová established Romea in 2002, along with a group of others, following a training of young Romani journalists, offered by the Dženo Association. Zdeněk Ryšavý, who is now the executive director, was also one of the co-founders.

Romea's mission is to "motivate and involve predominantly young Roma in civic life as well as to contribute to better relations between the minorities and the majority population in the Czech Republic."

Romea runs a press service as well as an internet news server, which reports on events from the world of the Roma, and is, according to Romea's annual report, currently the country’s most-visited Romani server. The server regularly broadcasts TV news reports on ROMEA.tv in both, Romani and Czech language. The monthly Romano voďi, which Romea publishes, provides coverage of current events from the world of the Roma as well as articles on Romani literature, music, history, language. A portion of the magazine is directed at young Roma, who can find pages that profile active and successful Roma and a two-page section “Through Our Eyes” focusing on "youth" themes. Romea also produces “10 Minutes”, a talk show which profiles interesting Romani guests.

I had the opportunity in late August to talk with Ryšavý and Balážová at their office about their work and Romea's role in the Czech media landscape.

"I think that the vast majority of the media, in fact nearly all media, continue to reinforce various stereotypes concerning the minorities," maintains Balážová. "I must say that some media do it less, others more. A huge difference can be seen between those who have been dedicated to these issues long-term, using an analytical lens. The result depends on who is writing and who is in the leadership at the particular media outlet."

When asked to discuss the mission of Romea, Balážová explains that providing information, but also monitoring the press for factual accuracy are some of the key roles her organization plays.

"We bring information to the Roma themselves," Balážová says. "Our role rests in that we think that if the Romani community is not well informed, the members will not be very politically engaged; that they will not be able to defend themselves well. That is the reason we provide information. And we write about notable personalities for a more balanced (public image of the Roma)."

"We also try to bring opinions of the Roma on the issues, because white Czech journalists never or seldom ask Roma for their opinions," continues Balážová. "If it weren't for us at Romea, who put in the effort and approach a number of Roma to obtain their commentary so that Czech News Agency and others can use them as sources, the angle would never change."

"I get very upset," chimes in Ryšavý, "when we have to correct journalists when they write nonsense they don't doublecheck. They go somewhere where conflict is occurring and usually ask only those from the side of the white Czechs. That has happened to us many times. And the way the articles are framed because only the whites are asked, makes the Roma instantly into the perpetrators. Then when we collect quotes by the Roma and contact newspapers, asking them to include this information, they usually write us back that their organizations are objective, that they could not interview any Roma because they could not find any. That is absolute nonsense."

When asked what he finds most rewarding about his work in Romani media, Ryšavý says he enjoys introducing successful Roma to the public. "It is interesting," he reflects, "that these types of articles are not of interest to majority media outlets. In general, the media write about what is wrong, not what is positive. We try to correct that by trying to place articles with a positive spin in mainstream media."

Balážová says that occasionally positive coverage does appear, especially on Czech Television, and especially about children. She, however, points out that Roma-related topics are often viewed as their own separate domain.

"Often both, the public and the journalists, understand Romani-themed issues to be separate from the rest," Balážová explains. "When the issue is something that has to do with discrimination, exclusion, stealing or looting, Roma will be written about. But when it is something that is unexpected, for instance help is provided to flooded communities by the Roma and not just along ethnic lines, there is not too much interest."

"I think it is the main weakness of Czech media," Balážová asserts, "that they perceive the Roma divided from Czech society and not part of it. This idea tends to always be emphasized."

Regarding dreams for the future, Balážová jokes: "World peace." But then gets more serious, describing how over the last eight years of its existence, Romea has always struggled with funding and has had to rely on volunteers, in addition to the core paid staff.

Balážová explains that, even at the price of getting funding cut, her organization is critical. Because of that, she says, they have gotten "smacked across the fingers regarding taking on new projects," as she calls it.

"The nonprofit sector is very much affected by this phenomenon," Balážová continues. The Romani organizations which are dependent on state funding, she says, "will not do anything that could go against the government or some politicians, who are offensive or anti-Roma. Our experience is that a whole lot of Romani nonprofit organizations, which are effective, which have lots of money, because they know how to apply for it, because they are well-established, will not ever join any demonstration or protest at all, even in support of Natalka (the two-year-old Romani victim of a molotov cocktail attack carried out by neo-Nazis last year)."

"It would be great if we could work in a more or less stable atmosphere," she says. "It would be great to find partners in the media or other relevant institutions for our educational and media-related projects."

Ryšavý agrees: "I would like Romea to become more financially stable. Another distant and more difficult-to-achieve goal is that of eventually cutting ourselves off from state finances, to obtain funding from other sources and not be dependent on grants, because that is very binding."

[Zdeněk Ryšavý]

As a white woman involved in advocating for equal rights for minorities, I was curious about how Ryšavý wrestles with the fact that he is white in an influential role in a minority organization.

"I have an opinion about that," jumped in Balážová, who is a Roma. "He has been very active working on these issues, so he has already gone through a trial period when some people may have doubted his role here. I have to say that he has never tried to push himself to the foreground, only the last two years he has agreed to appear in the media, but only if I or another Roma from Romea is there."

"It is exactly the same," she continues, "as when a Roma has to prove him- or herself in a non-Romani company. In the same manner, a non-Roma must prove himself in a Romani organization. But from the beginning, we have declared, and quite loudly, that we will have non-Roma working here as well. Our mission is to improve mutual relationships, so we have to build on the fact that we can work well together."

As a white person, closely familiar with issues affecting the Roma, a person like Ryšavý has the unique position of serving as a bridge between the two groups. Ryšavý says he can influence the majority population's perceptions of the Roma by challenging his white friends when they say prejudicial things and engaging them in a conversation.

"It does work," Ryšavý explains. "At most you can influence your circle of friends, which is maybe two hundred people. It is possible. But the media influence people's opinions more." That is why Romea's work of bringing information from the perspective of the Roma to the public is so crucial.

***

[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

Gun Rampage in Slovakia Sends a Shock Wave of Fear through Central Europe

2010-08-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

On August 30, the day after I left the Czech Republic, mass murder, the largest in Czech and Slovak history since World War II, was committed by a machine gun-wielding man on a rampage in the Slovak capital of Bratislava. The armed man killed seven and wounded fifteen, including a small child, before fatally shooting himself. Six of those murdered were members of a Romani family.

As the New York Times reports, "the killings shook the country and resonated with Europe’s growing xenophobia against Roma, or Gypsies."

The motives behind the tragedy will take some time to investigate, but how the events continue unfolding, in particular the public discourse taking place, is as deeply troubling as was the attack itself.

Countless contributors to public forums argue the horrific act was justified and "worthy of repetition." This is in line with the tone I have commonly found present in discussions of Roma-related news coverage on the internet where members of the majority often claim only negative experiences with the Roma and throw around racist stereotypes and slurs, sometimes even violent suggestions for how to deal with the "Romani problem."

Some online discussion contributors have even expressed empathy for the murderer, "diagnosing" him as a man whose "nerves were shot" by too many bad experiences with his Romani neighbors.

On the Slovak website, People Against Racism, Gregory Fabian, a New York-based human rights lawyer, writes:

Everybody in Slovakia should check his or her own reaction to yesterday's incident. Everyone should ask himself: Am I convinced that this attack can be justified? Do I think that it was not a case of a racially motivated attack without weighing all the evidence first? If the majority of non-Roma answer yes to one or both questions, the future for the Romani communities in Slovakia looks very bleak and the chance of reoccurrence of similar situations thus increases.

According to Peter Pollak, chief of staff of the Slovak Commission on Romani Affairs, the danger of violence between the majority and Romani minority looms large. "All responsible people must do everything in their power to make sure the situation does not worsen in the future," he said.

Another blogger on Rasizmus.sk warns about the larger and dangerous societal aftermath of the massacre:

Whether the attack was racially motivated will be decided based on a thorough police investigation. In this moment, racially motivated are namely the discussions taking place at Slovak computers. Ethnicity has become literally the justification for the murder, legitimizing any and all hateful or excessively and senselessly violent attacks against the Romani community. We thereby express our deep sympathy to all the victims regardless of their lifestyle or color of their skin.

Slovakia. I was just there recently, visiting with the residents of a so-called "socially excluded" Romani community. Slovakia, where most of the Roma in the Czech Republic have their roots. Slovakia, which used to be part of Czechoslovakia until 1993. The shock wave, caused by this crime as well as the disturbing reaction of a portion of the public, knows no borders.

***
September 3, 2010 update: Apparently, it has just surfaced that only two of the victims of the massacre were Romani. However, that still does not change the fact that the initial reaction to the mass murder, when most of the victims were assumed to be Romani, on public forums was so often that of empathy for the murderer & justification of violence against the Roma. Such responses should serve as impetus to remain vigilant about future violence and press for more proactive ways to combat poverty, social exclusion, segregation, unemployment, racism and extremism in the region.

***

[Originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Speaking Truth to Power: A Conversation with Karel Holomek, a Vital Voice in the Roma Rights Movement

2010-08-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, following the Roma Holocaust commemoration ceremony at the site of the former "Gypsy" concentration camp near the town of Hodonín u Kunštátu, I had the chance to sit down and talk with Karel Holomek, one of the most esteemed Czech Romani community leaders.

He shared with me his concern about the recent political developments and their impact on his future cooperation with the Czech government as a human rights activist.

"I will speak about politics now, because politics for me is a fundamental thing. Everything stems from there," said Mr. Holomek, sharing a table with me in the breezy, contemporary, urban, yet relaxed setting of the cafe at the Museum of Romani Culture, an institution he co-founded nearly twenty years ago in the Czech city of Brno.

Mr. Holomek is the son of the first Czech Romani university graduate and the father of the historian and Museum of Romani Culture director Dr. Jana Horváthová. He is a celebrated international human rights advocate, chairman of the Society of Roma in Moravia and current Ambassador of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005 - 2015, an initiative that brings together the governments of twelve European countries and NGOs “to accelerate progress toward improving the welfare of Roma.“

[Ing. Karel Holomek, photo by Chad Evans Wyatt]

"I reject the attitude politicians display toward the people who challenge them," Holomek continued, "in the vein of 'don't meddle in our dealings; we are now discussing culture, we are discussing language, we are discussing literature.' Politics doesn't belong in these types of conversations, they say. But, unfortunately, it does belong there, and in a very significant way."

"My big topic at this time is this," said Holomek. "The government, after the (May Parliamentary) elections came out with its new policy outline. The administration announced, to the satisfaction of everyone with common sense, that it is an administration whose priority is a balanced budget."

"We accept that," Mr. Holomek elaborated. "But I always add that government savings measures do not have to mean going broke."

Holomek went on to criticize Prime MInister Petr Nečas' choices of staff: "The new administration took the next step of making changes in staffing. It nominated the ministers. Pavel Drobil, who was named the Minister of Environment, is a man who is dedicated to the industrial lobby. He does not even hide that fact. He says such nonsense as 'nature is there for the people, not people for nature,' which is a completely primitive slogan, almost as if meant for simpletons. The Minister of Environment is only proof of what the government plans to do regarding the environment. They don't have to play the charade that they will work for the people."

"The second concern I have is the new advisor on human rights to the Prime Minister," Holomek went on. "I consider Roman Joch to be on the borderline of acceptability. I would go as far as to say, and many would agree with me, that, opinion-wise, he is a neo-Nazi. His opinions include: the constitution is the only force needed to protect human rights; everyone is equal in the court of law; the courts should decide."

Holomek asserted that Czech courts are often incapable of carrying out just judgements, because they are corrupt, a sentiment I have heard echoed from many activists, even a long-time human rights lawyer in this country.

Regarding the lack of legitimacy of Czech courts, Holomek said: "In reality, we have a judicial mafia here. Some people do not realize this, but most of the nation understands that the highest posts are occupied by a judicial mafia."

"All the people the Prime Minister has selected come from the Václav Klaus administration," observed Holomek. "And that epoch had a very negative effect on the cultivation of the society, morale, but even in economics. Nečas is probably, with these staffing choices, making deals or amends with Klaus's political party. That is his problem. But there is no reason we should tolerate this."

Holomek was referring to the years, specifically the early to mid-90s, following the Velvet Revolution when the regime shifted practically over night from a centrally-planned socialist economy to "free-market" capitalism. The Czech government relatively quickly privatized the majority of state-run business, selling disproportionately large amounts of assets to foreign-owned entities. This transition resulted in significant job losses (in the Czech Republic namely in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors) and wage depression. What followed was a societal reorientation towards rampant consumerism and the general weakening of social safety nets.

"My dilemma is now with this," confided Holomek. "On July 1, the Czech government took over the presidency of the Decade for Roma Inclusion. I was there in a meeting with still the previous Prime Minister and I was selected to be, so to speak, the face of the Decade. They even call me the Ambassador."

Holomek's reaction was mixed. He said that he would be happy to represent the Decade if it had the power to bring about concrete change: "It makes me smile, because it is a highly honorable, but unfortunate function and, of course, without a crown. If I were an ambassador who could do something, who could be the person who receives and allocates the funds dedicated to the initiative, it would be a whole different thing."

"There are two problems here," Holomek explained. "The decade is a completely 'sterile' project, which has so far taken only the form of international conferences. These are completely insignificant events, during which twenty, thirty or forty like-minded people get together and complain about how things are not working and how something should be done, and during which not a single government official ever participates, let alone to say: I acknowledge you and what should we do about it on our part?"

"When I accepted my role as Ambassador," explained Holomek, "I said we have to do something concrete. There needs to be a shift forward. I don't think I will continue being the face of the initiative, if no development happens. I went to the administration and proposed some measures to be taken (toward Romani integration), but I was told immediately by the Office of the Government that there is no money for those efforts."

Holomek said that the combination of a having a person in office with whom it is impossible to cooperate, and the prospect of no expected progress in sight, makes it so that he cannot possibly continue being the face of the Decade: "I would accept it all and continue to risk and move forward if there were at least someone in the administration who would be supportive."

"With my years of experience," Holomek contended, "I am a trusted person and I am willing to do anything (to improve the situation for the Roma), but not with these people in the government."

"Now I just have to wait and see whether the PM will grant me a meeting with him," Holomek concluded, "so I can tell him eye-to-eye, bluntly as is my style, how I see the situation and how angry he has made me."

Karel Holomek is one of the signatories of ProAlt, a grassroots initiative opposing the new Czech government's priorities. I, too, have signed the initiative, which I hope will constitute a vital force that keeps in check the new conservative administration who, so far, seems deaf to the concerns of human rights and minority advocates.

***
[Originally posted on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Museum of Romani Culture: Paving the Way Toward Opportunity and Understanding

2010-08-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

“We are a space where different cultures meet. We preserve examples of Romani cultural history as part of Europe´s heritage. We educate the younger generation to be tolerant and to appreciate other cultures,” proclaims the motto of the Museum of Romani Culture, based in the Czech city of Brno. “We are committed to fighting xenophobia and racism. We are paving the way to a new understanding of the roots of Romani identity. All this we do in the name of mutual understanding. For a dialogue of cultures. For us.”

“A Romani museum of our scope does not exist anywhere else in the world,” explains Museum of Romani Culture director Dr. Jana Horváthová, who co-founded the institution in 1991 along with a group of scholars and community leaders, including the prominent Romani activist, current Ambassador of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, and Horváthová’s father Karel Holomek.

[Museum of Romani Culture. Photo credit: wikipedia]

The permanent exhibition traces Romani culture and history from the time of the Romani migration from India centuries ago up until present-day life in the Czech Republic.

“Our goal is to create the broadest possible collection of original documentation for the presentation of Romani history and culture,” says Horváthová.

Particularly well-documented and moving is the section on the Roma Holocaust, which comprises scores of photographs, testimonies, newspaper articles, official documents and original correspondence.

[Museum of Romani Culture Director. Photo by Tereza Bottman]

Other sections include artwork by Romani artists, cultural artifacts and descriptions of traditional customs and music. The exhibit also shows the history of Romani political activism in the Czech Republic as well as a collage of Roma-related press headlines collected over time and together forming a complex picture of the media coverage of Roma-related issues.

“Our museum is really an exemplar and a first of its kind,” Horváthová continues, “a fact which the Czech Republic perhaps does not value as much as it should.”

“There aren’t many Romani museums, ” Horváthová says, listing all other Roma-themed museums and permanent exhibits around Europe, including the Museum of Romani Culture in Slovakia, part of the Slovakian National Museum, and the Tarnów Ethnographic Museum, which now houses Poland‘s first permanent Roma-themed exhibition. She also mentions The Interpretation Centre and Ethnographic Museum in Granada, Spain, where an original Romani cave dwelling complex can be viewed.

[Museum of Romani Culture. Photo by Tereza Bottman]

In addition to the permanent exhibition, the Czech Museum of Romani Culture periodically presents temporary exhibitions of art and photography. The museum is also a Romani studies research center for all of Central Europe. It houses a Roma-themed library and bookstore as well as organizes lectures, concerts, panel debates and Romani language courses.

“We always say that it is important for people to come the first time and then visitors tend to return,” says Horváthová. “There are many people who hear about us and think that it is terrible here, that we are located in a slum. They are afraid of coming to a Romani neighborhood, so this type of prejudice deters many potential customers.”

“My wish,” Horváthová continues when asked about her vision for the future, “is for us, after so many years of effort, to be able to break the society-wide aversion toward the Roma.”

The museum has worked intently to make this vision a reality. The institution’s scope extends to helping to give Romani children a fair chance at adequate and academically challenging education.

In conjunction with the museum’s extensive afterschool education offerings for the neighborhood children, which include art, sports and performance classes as well as tutoring, a new program centered around integration of the chronically segregated Czech school system is underway.

As part of the program, a number of children have been identified by the museum’s educators for extra academic support and integration into schools with predominantly majority-population children in other areas of the city outside “the ghetto.” During the upcoming school year, the Romani children participating in this program will be accompanied by staff and bussed to new schools in order to improve their chances for a better education and future.

[Dr. Jana Horváthová, Museum of Romani Culture Director.
Photo by Tereza Bottman]

“The segregated schools in this neighborhood,” explains Horváthová, “have a population of 90 to 100 percent Romani children. There the teachers cannot give extra attention to the more gifted students and the curricula are not the same as in mainstream schools. These students, even when gifted, have no chance of getting into secondary schools. We have already confirmed this over the years of running educational programs. And it makes us very sad when children that would do well in secondary school, even college, do not make it because their schools are so behind mainstream programs and the children find it impossible to catch up to the level required for entrance exams and education at the secondary level.”

“These children will be pioneers,” says Horváthová. “The transition will be very difficult. The children are used to going to an all-Roma school, where it is, in a way an easier and more pleasant environment, because there they know the communication style and behavior of their classmates. When they begin in a classroom that is mostly non-Roma, it will be enormously stressful for them. They will need professional assistance. Without that, the transition is impossible to manage.”

When asked whether the teachers in the mostly majority population schools are prepared for the integration efforts, Horváthová explains: “What is needed to make integration successful are smaller class sizes and an educational assistant, preferably a Roma from the community, in the room, together with the teacher.”

She adds: “Very few teachers and classmates are aware of the reality of the child living in a ghetto and all the things the child has to deal with when entering the surrounding world.”

“Teachers from the majority population have gaps in this area. One of the programs we provide are educational seminars for teachers, which acquaint them with Romani history and culture,” she continues. “We often advise teachers who write us and ask us what they should do, how they should work with their Romani students.”

"I like the afterschool programs a lot," says a fifth-grader who attends English language lessons and tutoring sessions at the museum in the afternoons. She says she likes learning languages and would like to also study Latin. In school, her favorite subject is Math. She wants to be a nurse or police officer when she grows up.

When asked whether she would be participating in the school integration program, she said she would very much like to, but that her mother is afraid: "My mom is scared because the other school is too far, that a tram could hit me or that I could get lost."

"Family support is a substantial, if not key ingredient, along with the child's internal motivation, in determining which of the children are chosen for the program. If the parents did not understand or agree with the placement, it would be almost impossible to retain the child at a prestigious school," explains Horváthová.

As far as a systemic change which would ensure all-around success on the school integration front, Horváthová believes much work has yet to be done.

“Ever since the revolution in 1989,” says Horváthová, "our organization has been calling for systemic change in the arena of education, but each time a government is replaced following an election cycle, a new minister is put in place who must familiarize himself with the situation, which makes systemic reform very difficult.”

Horváthová calls the museum’s school integration program daring and adventurous and says that even with all their effort, success is not guaranteed.

[Museum of Romani Culture, photo by Tereza Bottman]

“We have been observing a trend that shows that many Roma who do leave ‘the ghetto’ and do obtain higher education often have an interest in communicating with Roma from different groups inside the community which is very diverse, and in working in the non-profit sector and helping their community toward a common goal of uplifting our ethnic group.”

Horváthová confides that the economic downturn has been difficult for her organization: “Today’s economic situation has been troubling for us and other museums, I am sure. Culture is probably, so to speak, our society’s Cinderella. So, we are afraid of how the future will pan out. I can imagine that currently even mainstream museums are having a difficult time sustaining themselves, but when we approach sponsors, they usually turn us down. The will to support any Roma-related activities is just not there.”

[Dr. Jana Horváthová, photo credit: iDnes]

Horváthová’s vision for the museum is to grow and to continue expanding its collections.

“Next year will mark twenty years of our museum's existence,” she concludes. “We have the spirit of a warrior, and we hope no one breaks that in us.”

***
[Originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Oh, You Black Bird, Carry My Letter: Czech Roma Holocaust Remembered

2010-08-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

"Tensions in society are heightening. Perhaps the time will come again when we are sent away to designated areas. That is why during hardships we all must help one another."

Such was the sentiment that resounded during Catholic Mass, which was part the commemoration of Roma Holocaust on August 22, held at the site of a former concentration camp for Roma near the Czech town of Hodonín u Kunštátu.

Approximately 1300 Roma were imprisoned in the Hodonín camp between the years of 1942 and 1944. More than 200 prisoners, many of them children, died at the camp of disease and malnutrition. The majority were deported to Auschwitz, where more than 90 percent of all Czech Roma died at the hands of the Nazis.

"For the Roma gathered here, we ask for the strength to fight the evil marching along the same old tracks today," Father František Lízna said in his sermon. "We ask for blessings for the new generation."

"For the non-Roma here," the priest continued, "we ask that they are able to accept those different from them, and that they be willing to die for them, thus repaying the debt of the hatred they have harbored against their neighbors."

About 80 people attended the event, which consisted of a mass, commemoration ceremony at the mass gravesite of the Roma victims, and an opening of a Museum of Roma Culture exhibition entitled Roma Genocide, displayed inside the only original building left standing.

"We share the pain, injustice, and arbitrary treatment as well as the feeling of being excluded from society, occurring still today," said Pavel Fried, head of the Jewish Community in the city of Brno during his speech, drawing a parallel between the experience of the Roma in Czech society and that of the Jews.

Fried said he hoped that the presence of the members of the Jewish community would help encourage the Romani community "to continue to find the strength to persevere in fighting discrimination."

"The suffering that occurred seventy years ago is continuing today," said Jan Munk, director of the Terezín concentration camp. "It connects us and creates for us a joint responsibility for things to come."

Activist Karel Holomek of the Society of Roma in Moravia, who is the Ambassador for the Czech Presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, expressed his disapproval and dismay at the political situation today.

"I always speak at this ceremony about the present situation in relation to the past, and I am troubled by what is currently happening," Holomek said, criticizing the Prime Minister's new human rights advisor appointee, calling the choice "a danger to the development of democracy."

Jana Horváthová, director of the Museum of Roma Culture, told the press at the event that very few people are aware of the Roma Holocaust. For that reason, the Czech Ministry of Education plans to build an educational center at the former camp where researchers and schools can study the Roma Holocaust. Šimon Mastný of the ministry said that the project is important for the ministry and that he hoped the ministry will continue its support for the project.

Before the candles, flowers and, in the Jewish tradition, stones were ceremoniously laid on the mass grave memorial, moving many of those present to tears, singer Zlata Pouličková performed a song, In Auschwitz there is a Great House, written by Růžena Danielová, a Czech Romani Holocaust survivor. The first two stanza of the song are as follows:

In Auschwitz there is a great house
And there my husband is imprisoned
He sits and sits and laments
And thinks about me

Oh, you black bird!  
Carry my letter!  
Carry it to my wife  
For I am jailed in Auschwitz

***

[Originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

American Neocon-Christian Right Ideology Makes Inroads into Czech Politics with PM’s Advisor Choice

2010-08-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

He opposes affirmative action because it unfairly privileges those from "special" groups over others, and because, as he says, there is no need to rehash things for which we, alive today, are not responsible. He claims there is no systemic discrimination, and thus no need for corrective measures improving the lives of the marginalized, including the Roma, in the Czech Republic, even though scores of international studies have shown otherwise. He is not happy anti-discrimination legislation was instituted in this country, because it essentially "dictates how people in their private spheres should conduct themselves." He deems homosexuality abnormal, likening gay people to pedophlies, zoophiles and necrophiles. He defends the use of torture, including waterboarding, and is not opposed to the installment of a right-wing, authoritarian regime if Western civilization and liberty are under threat.

Meet Roman Joch, director of the conservative think-tank Civic Institute (Občanský institut), and new advisor selected by Prime Minister Nečas for the area of human rights and foreign relations.

What Joch's post as an advisor to the Prime Minister means is that, come September when he is slated to start, the American Neoconservative-Christian Right alliance, through its long-cultivated mouthpiece in the Czech Republic, will have a direct say in the formation of both, foreign and domestic policy.

This is not a new phenomenon, as other CI personalities have been in advisory positions in the government before. It is nonetheless an alarming turn of events for those concerned with the dire human rights situation of the marginalized groups, especially the Roma who face systemic discrimination in nearly every sector, including housing, labor, and education.

This information is taken from Joch’s 2007 bio for his fellowship at the California-based Claremont Institute, a conservative think-tank whose mission is “to restore the principles of the American founding fathers to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life," and to establish a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong national defense:

Joch lectures and writes on political philosophy, international relations, and national security issues in Czech and Slovak newspapers, magazines and electronic media. From 1994-1998, he was International Secretary of the Civic Democratic Alliance, a conservative political party in the Czech Republic. Joch was a member of the student movement during the Velvet Revolution in 1989, an international visitor to the Republican National Convention in 1996, and a delegate to the First International Conservative Congress in 1997.

He is the author of two books, Why Iraq? Causes and Consequences of the Conflict and The Revolt Against the Revolution of the Twentieth Century, an intellectual biography of American conservative. He holds an M.D. from Charles University in Prague.

Evidently, Joch and his Civic Institute team have taken it upon themselves to, in concert with their ideological allies from abroad, cultivate contemporary Western society, to save it from ignorance, poor taste and vulgarity.

He is a cultural warrior, fighting to bring back traditional family values and “objective“ morality rooted in Christian values. At the same time, his mission is to ensure the Czech Republic aligns itself completely with pro-US interests in the region. After all, his institute and publishing house are being bankrolled largely by American neo-conservative and Christian Right foundations such as Earhart Foundation a William H. Donner Foundation in conjunction with right-wing Czech industrialists. The American defense contractor Lockheed Martin even financed the Civic Institute, where Joch is director, during the time the US was negotiating a sale of F16 fighter jets to the Czech Republic.

The CI Advisory Board boasts such personalities as neoconservative Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute, who served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Reagan Administration. Also on the Board is Michael Novak of the conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute, whose scholars were considered to be some of the leading architects of George W. Bush administration's public policy.

According to the European Conservative:

The roots of the CI can be traced back to the late 1970s and early 1980s when the dissidents met in their homes to discuss politics, philosophy, economics, theology, culture and international relations. After the fall of Communism, they decided to found an institute to carry on those discussions. (...)

The founders of the CI intended it to be an institution dedicated to the advocacy and vindication of the moral conditions and philosophical foundations necessary for a free society. (...)

Its first publication was a Czech translation of Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. (...)

The CI began cooperating and networking with many other pro-family and pro-life institutions around the world, publishing studies and policy papers. (...)

After 11 September 2001, the CI preserved its pro-family orientation, though in less explicitly religious terms and added international relations, foreign affairs, security issues, Islamic terrorism and existential threats to the West to its portfolio of issues.

The CI has published studies and organized dozens of conferences and seminars around issues like U.S. foreign policy, the role of America in the world, the war against Islamic terrorism, missile defense, Islam in Europe and demographic challenges in the West.

Joch and his colleagues have clearly set up a mini training laboratory from which they send out ordained warriors to spread their gospel-flavored cocktail of traditional Christian values and right-wing pro-American political agenda.

The European Conservative continues:

CI fellows serve as commentators in Czech media, contributing op-eds to newspapers and magazines or speaking out on political issues on radio and television.

CI fellows serve as advisors to several Czech statesmen. The director of CI (was) a member of the Academic Council of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as advisor to the former Czech deputy prime minister for European affairs. (...)

Many alumni of CI events have gone on to careers in media as columnists; in politics as aspiring politicians or staffers to senior politicians; or in academia as assistant professors or professors.

(CI members) enjoy their position as a ‘happy warrior,' pushing the public and intellectual discourse – and the whole society – as far to the right as is reasonably possible. Born out of the resistance to Communist totalitarianism and having opposed socialism and moral relativism, the CI now fights against the ideologies of multiculturalism, radical feminism and political correctness. They fight for Western traditions and values and, above all, for ordered liberty.

Approximately a hundred protesters gathered this morning in front of the Office of the Government in Prague to protest the appointment of Joch on the Prime Minister’s advisory team. The appointment has been criticized by leading Czech scholars and human rights activists, including Students Against Racism and the newly formed government opposition initiative, ProAlt.

"We are here to say we reject Mr. Joch, whose concept of human rights is, according to us gathered here, unfortunate,“ said one of the protesters.

During the demonstration, a contest was held for the most ridiculous quote by Joch. The winner was this quote, endorsing the possibility of installing “a right-wing authoritative regime,“ if “Western civilization were threatened with destruction caused by the political and intellectual impotence of the Left,“ or “by the inner disintegration, or abandonment of civilized values and virtues in favor of the freely flourishing venting of lust and passion.“

The intent and the connection between CI’s activities and those of their American counterparts are clear. It is up to the Prime Minister to decide whether he wants to continue to endorse this type of anti-democratic, bigoted, hegemonistic agenda despite the protests from human rights advocates and minority leaders.

***

A petition against Joch's appointment as advisor to the Prime Minister has been initiated and can be found here.

Also, to read about how neoconservatives secretly forged an alliance with the Christian Right during the Bush presidency, go to this 2007 interview with investigative journalist Craig Unger by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

***

[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

When You Write About Us: A Dispatch from a Village on the Margins

2010-08-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

"Me, me! Now it's my turn!" the local kids clamor to try my cell phone camera, taking pictures of each other, of me, of their fingers in front of the lens.

"What's your name? Do you have kids? Is he your husband?" they ask, surrounding me and gesturing toward the man with whom I arrived here.

[children who greeted us upon our arrival in Letanovce]

It's drizzling. The muddy ground throughout the village doesn't bother me. I have traveled more than ten hours to this place from Prague by bus and car, prepared, wearing my reliable pair of enclosed leather shoes. Meanwhile, the mud splatters all over my colleague's feet in sandals, reaching up between his toes. He mutters, admonishing himself for dressing as if this were his first time here.

"To understand the Roma in the Czech Republic, you have to visit a Romani settlement in Slovakia," my fellowship colleague told me when he invited me along on his annual pilgrimage to the settlement of Letanovce to visit a family he befriended ten years ago when he began working in the arena of Roma rights.

Many, if not the majority, of Romani families who live in the Czech Republic now, migrated there from rural Slovakia sometime between World War II and the present day.

According to Czech Radio's article on the history of the Roma minority, after the war, during which more than 90 percent of Czech Roma were killed by the Nazis, "Roma from settlements in Eastern Slovakia started to migrate to the evacuated Czech frontier regions and were dispersed as a light work force throughout the industrial areas of Bohemia and Moravia," the two regions that make up the Czech Republic.

A 1958 law, the Czech Radio article continues, mandated migrating peoples to settle down permanently "where they were assigned as a work force, without regard to the separation of families. In 1965, another law was passed concerning the procedure of dispersing the gypsy population, through which Roma from eastern Slovakian Romani villages had to move to Bohemia to work."

The migration to the Czech Republic continues today, tied to people's search for work, better living conditions, and reunification with families.

[Letanovce panorama]

There are between 700 and 800 socially isolated Romani settlements in Slovakia, which, together with the Czech Republic, made up Czechoslovakia until the peaceful split in 1993. These settlements tend to have disproportionately high unemployment rates of 90 to 100%, and lack basic services such as running water, sewers, electricity, gas or garbage collection. Letanovce, where I am visiting, fits this profile to a tee.

The approximately 700 local residents live in one-room log cabins, burn wood for heat, carry their water in buckets from a well at the bottom of the hill, and use a latrine or the adjacent tall green weeds as bathrooms.

We are invited in to the larger-than-the-local-norm two-room cabin of the family with whom we will be staying. They did not expect us. We had no way of contacting them, although several residents do have cell phones, some even with internet service. The challenge, I learn, is charging electronic items, as there is no electricity in this community. A few residents have small, six-inch televisions, which run on car batteries charged for a fee in town.

We bring in our gifts: food, second-hand clothes, toys and some odd household items like wash basins and dishes. We sit and crack open the pear brandy we had brought, toasting with shot glasses. Then it is quiet.

I feel awkward, my privilege so blatant here, wondering how to bridge the chasm between my life experience and that of the locals'.

The family slowly begins to unravel old stories from my colleague's past visits, updating us on the changes in the community.

[Magda's family and neighbors. We stayed at her sister's and mother's house.]

Many families migrated to the UK for work, then after two or three years returned back, because even there, work was hard to come by.

"After two years in England I honestly did not want to come back," one of the women whose house we are in tells me. True, her husband worked twelve-hour shifts six days a week at a sausage factory for very little pay, but it was work. And they had electricity and plumbing. But the bills kept coming and the work slowly dried up due to the recession.

Before it gets dark, we decide to take a walk around the village.

The residents come out into the rain to take a look at us. We greet everyone, the children forming our entourage.

I ask the children what they do for fun. Some shrug their shoulders, others say they play with toys or go swimming in the nearby river. Some try out the English they learned while living abroad: "Do you speak English?" and "How are you?"

Although Slovak and Czech are mutually intelligible, with some children there is a bit of a language barrier. The children all speak Romani at home, some of the younger ones don't even understand Slovak when they first start school, our host tells me. That is why bilingual Romani educational assistants are key to helping the students transition and be successful in school. However, these children have no such assistants where they go to school.

Our host worked as a teacher's assistant for several months, but got paid very little, and still of her own initiative did extra work outside her working hours. For instance, she gathered the children in the village and personally walked them to school 3 kilometers from the settlement. Unfortunately, her contract was never signed, and, in the end, her social benefits were cut because she'd had an income, no matter how inadequate to sustain the family.

"I would be so happy working as a classroom assistant. That work speaks to me," she said. "But when I have approached the school, which currently does not have any Roma working there, they have always told me they do not have any positions open."

"The walk to town is about a half-hour and most mothers do not have money for the bus or for lunch. We don't have fridges here, so it is hard for us to give our kids snacks early in the morning because over night, the food would spoil," she says, describing the barriers that parents here face when it comes to their children's education.

Most Romani children in the community attend a "practical," formerly special education school. Placement of Romani children, whether special needs or not, in such schools is common practice across Europe. Romani children, based on a psychological evaluation, are many more times likely to be placed in "practical schools" than white children and are overrepresented in such institutions, sometimes comprising the entire population of such schools. The results are segregation, lower-quality education and less opportunity for success in further schooling or employment.

In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that this pattern of segregation violated nondiscrimination protections in the European Convention on Human Rights. However, Roma continue to be assigned to these schools in disproportionate numbers.

"What subjects do you like in school?" I ask. The children shout over each other with excitement: "Reading! Writing! Math! Social Studies!"

As we chat while walking outside, I hear growling and yapping. Out of the corner of my eye I see a small dog charging at me, and before I know it, I feel it sinking its needly claws and teeth into the back of my thigh, ripping a large hole in my pants. The dog retreats as fast as it came.

I'm bleeding, but no one seems concerned. Only my travel partner from my fellowship organization Dženo half-jokes: "Hope the dog wasn't rabid."

The girls tell me the dog bites them too sometimes. Later that night, I sneakily dip my fingers into my shot glass and spread some pear brandy we are drinking onto the bite wound to disinfect it.

"I am ashamed," our host confesses, half-whispering, when she shows me where I will be sleeping. It is the family bed, big enough for four or five people. I tell her she has nothing to be ashamed of, but her sentiment deepens the discomfort I already feel about invading the family's privacy.

The bedroom is beautifully decorated with flowers, tapestries and chachkis lining the shelves. I will be sharing the big bed with the children, the parents unfold a mattress and place it on the floor where they will sleep.

In 2003, construction on a new apartment complex, financed by the town, state and European Union, began several kilometers from the current location of the settlement. The idea was moving the families to another location and leveling the place which many consider an eyesore in such a picturesque area favored by tourists. Families with permanent residency would be able to apply to relocate to the new apartment complex even more distant from the center of the town. No worries, the apartment complex would also have a school and a store on location.

The protests from the neighboring majority community that this project unleashed ranged from petitions to threats to the mayor that if he proceeds with the plan, an anonymous, angry local would poison the pristine rivers in the area with mercury. A skull was even found on the construction site with a letter threatening the mayor would be murdered for going through with this plan.

As of today, new buildings have not yet been completed. When they are ready, the problem is that many of those in the settlement will not qualify to move in, because they lack permanent residency status in Letanovce. Also, the new living conditions will require paying for rent, electricity and water bills, a practice many families are not used to and for which they have very limited means, considering their prohibitively high unemployment rate.

When the village wakes up the next day, we are all more comfortable with each other. I play and joke with the children, who teach me card games and sing, accompanied by a boy on a drum set in the wood shed.

We take a walk in Slovakian Paradise, a mountainous, forested nature reserve nearby. The kids go swimming there. They pick wild raspberries along the way for me.

"Do you ever fish in this river?" I ask the nine-year-old girl who has become my constant companion.

"No, we are rich," she replies. "We have been to England. We buy smoked fish at the store."

When we return, a dozen men from the settlement have their bags packed and are headed for the train. They found work all the way in Prague, ten hours away. Ten days in a row they will work construction, not knowing whether they will get paid. Temporary workers like these men, employed under the table so as not to lose their social benefits, are easy targets for companies that profit from their cheap labor. If the boss doesn't pay them, the laborers have almost no leverage to demand their salary.

"We get visitors once in a while, from Brussels and such places. Whoever comes, always needs to write something about us, it seems," says the host as we gather in her kitchen.

My colleague and I freeze up for a bit. We, too, are those visitors the woman had just described. Here one day, gone the next, and what remains are perhaps a few toys or items of clothing and an article about this community, floating about somewhere in ether.

"When you write about us," our host tells me softly, "say that we want help. We don't want to live like this anymore." So I pass on her words, thankful for the locals' generosity and richer for all that they had taught me, so essential for the work still ahead.

[a picture the kids took during one of our cell phone photo sessions]

***

[Originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Czechs ban together to oppose incoming government's priorities, condemning planned social spending cuts

2010-08-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

"The biggest assault on the rights of the working people in the last twenty years." That is what the Czecho-Moravian Confederation of Labor Unions (ČMKOS) has called the policies the incoming Czech government plans to implement in its continuation of the neo-liberal reforms of the early 90s.

The money saved on the outlined social spending cuts is "blood money, taken from the poorest people," says ČMKOS economist Martin Fassmann.

In addition to labor unions, the newly elected right-wing government's priorities have been criticized by a host of journalists, social critics, academics as well as activists. Many of them are now signatories of the newly formed citizen initiative, ProAlt Initiative for the Critique of Reforms and Support for Alternatives, which opposes the steps the government plans to implement in the areas of education, environmental protections, health care, retirement and social policy. One of the initial 100 signatories is the prominent Roma rights activist Karel Holomek, President of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.

According to the press release, ProAlt strives to "bring citizens together across professional and social groups and inspire the general public to defend their own interests more thoroughly. It will also organize protests against the prepared reforms with the aim of preventing them from taking effect."

The main argument is that it is unacceptable for the state to "abandon responsibility for vital areas of public life, in particular education, health care and retirement insurance."

"We do not consider the privatization of public services and public space to be the solution – on the contrary, we consider privatization to be the source of most of our current environmental and socioeconomic problems,” says ProAlt spokesperson Tereza Stöckelová.

It was in September 1990, only ten months after the fall of communism, that the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly approved the "Scenario of the Economic Reform," the blueprint for trade liberalization and a massive-privatization scheme of state-owned enterprises.

At the time of the vote, 97 percent of businesses were state-owned, the highest percentage of any Warsaw Pact country. Today, twenty years later, 87 percent of all the state-owned enterprises have been privatized. Free trade enthusiasts laud the Czech Republic for making fine progress, though the more radical Friedmanite types would have preferred a more rapid process.

The government, encouraged by its mandate from right-leaning voters who determined the right to be the winners in the May Parliamentary election by a narrow margin, is trying to shake off as many expenditures as it can, as quickly as possible, while playing into the hands of (largely foreign-owned) big business, in the form of outsourcing, tax breaks, etc. The Czech government is now focusing on the last and most guarded and controversial aspects of privatization: health care, education, worker benefits and protections, and social services.

The ProAlt press release continues:

“Under the slogan of ‘fiscal responsibility’, the government is preparing to be environmentally and socially irresponsible. The initiative intends to offer principled alternatives to this government policy,” says movement initiator and one of ProAlt's spokespeople Jana Glivická.

The overemphasis on economic growth and parameters creates the impression that other factors influencing quality of life are inconsequential. This leads to an under-appreciation of those areas of social life that are not easily quantifiable, such as culture, education and the environment. ProAlt considers evaluating any state purely through financial parameters to be unacceptable.

ProAlt stresses that the current position of the Czech Republic with respect to its deficit is one of the best in Europe, propagandistic slogans about the “Greek threat” notwithstanding. Today the percentage of the Czech budget allocated for social expenditure is below the EU average. ProAlt believes the desirable goal of a balanced state budget must be achieved through re-evaluating the tax system in favor of significantly progressive taxation, transparent public administration, and the total elimination of corruption. “The aim of the planned reforms is not to pay off the debt, but to shift it from the public budget to individual households. People will be forced to go into debt for health care and tuition. For many, debt will become a necessary part of paying for their basic needs,” the declaration reads.

My hope is that this movement will become well-organized and powerful. It is about time that the Czechs across the spectrum come together to demand the state shift its priorities, putting people's social welfare and the environment first, well before megaprofits from which only a few can benefit.

***
[Originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

In the face of racial tensions, a community finds strength in unity

2010-08-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

It's dusk. An unknown car pulls in to the neighborhood and slowly approaches our small group talking on a tree-lined street in a neighborhood of modest wooden family homes and neatly kept picket-fenced yards. The atmosphere tenses.

"Why are they coming here?" one of the local men asks under his breath, his eyes never leaving the car coming toward us.

Suddenly I remember a reality I had forgotten while drinking tea and visiting with the locals in one of the resident family's backyards. We are in Bedřiška, a "socially excluded community" in northeastern Czech Republic, not far from a place where last year a molotov cocktail, thrown by neo-Nazis out of a car into an open bedroom window, almost killed a two-year-old Romani girl in her sleep.

The racially motivated attack left three of the house inhabitants injured and caused the little girl severe burns on 80 percent of her body. The attackers are currently on trial for attempted murder.

The car stops not more than five feet from us, the lights stay on, the engine idles for some time, clearly putting some in the group on alert.

"They must be lost," guesses one of the men.

Soon, a woman no one seems to know opens the car door and hurries past us without a greeting into a house a few doors down. The car drives away. Sense of relief.

The evening sky has a pleasant, summer glow, the birds chirp. A small dog accompanies us, playing with a toy. A group of teens walking toward us greets community activist Sri Kumar Vishwanathan, whom I am accompanying on his trip to Bedřiška today, with smiles.

They linger and exchange a few words about how they have been doing. Vishwanathan asks the youth if they would like a soccer field in their neighborhood, pointing at a large, lush green space on the other side of the road that could potentially be used for a field. The boys reply enthusiastically.

Vishwanathan asks the girls if they would play soccer, or what they prefer to do in their free time. The girls are much more shy than the boys and don't provide any answers readily. But in less than a year's time, the neighborhood should have a community center, for which they have pressed the city, completed.

The plans for the center are multifold. It would house afterschool activities for children, tutoring sessions, a meeting and performance space, and more.

[community activists in Bedřiška]

As we continue our way down the street, the locals tell of a recent case when someone in the neighborhood got hurt and the police were phoned, however the phone call from "that notorious location" was dismissed as a prank call and help was not dispatched until multiple calls were placed. The ambulance did arrive on the scene, but was very delayed.

My mind is still buzzing from the neighborhood association meeting I had just attended in Bedřiška. The group had been meeting for some time to advocate for the needs of the community's residents, but because they were not taken seriously by city hall, they decided to form an official association in May. Since then, their influence has grown, one of the members had told me.

"Now that we are official, they can't just brush us aside. They have to listen to us," he said.

"Bedřiška is an example of how a community can come together following a tragedy," Vishwanathan observed. "What happened could have taken on a negative path toward destruction, or gone in a positive direction toward cooperation."

Clearly, the latter is the case.

"We talk things through here," explains one of the association's leaders. "If there is a dispute among the neighbors, we try to sit down, talk and resolve it."

"Not everyone is on board yet. But we're working on it," she adds.

Deescalating conflict through mediation is a key strategy the association uses to build unity and prevent dangerous situations. The efforts are made all the more urgent, considering the wounds of racist violence in this community are still fresh.

Last March, an arson attack on a Romani family's home occurred in this very neighborhood. The perpetrator was a white neighbor from across the street.

As we make our way down the road, we cross paths with a family leaving their home. "Four months ago a molotov cocktail was thrown inside this family's house," Vishwanathan relates. "Their teenage daughter put out the fire and saved her relatives' lives."

"How is your daughter sleeping these days? Is she able to sleep?" Vishwanathan asks the mother.

The mother looks down and timidly shakes her head from side to side. The truth is clear. The family is still experiencing trauma, months after the incident.

"If the fire had spread, it could have burned a big part of the neighborhood down," says one of the local leaders. "People realized that what affects one family, affects us all. So we started working together."

In addition to mediating conflicts and advocating for space, funding, staff and supplies for tutoring and afterschool children's activities, the association organizes weekly clean-ups of the neighborhood. The group plans community-wide events such as movie screenings, games for children and performances that bring the neighborhood together.

The association also acts as a link between the residents and city hall when rental agreements or other legal documents and proceedings must be attended to. Sometimes archives have to be searched, letters written, errors exposed and fair treatment demanded.

In one case, for example, the association helped when a resident, who had paid all his back rent in full, was later unexpectedly alerted that he had an exorbitant outstanding debt to the city with no clear explanation of why these charges had been incurred.

The locals with whom I spent my evening also shared a story about taking a stand against a local drug dealer who ran a methamphetamine (or pervitin in Czech) lab in the neighborhood. As a result of their actions, the police arrested the drug dealer, making the neighborhood safer for the kids.

The community has a vision of creating a historical display explicating and simultaneously commemorating the neighborhood's history, closely tied to the region's steel mill industry. Bedřiška's wooden homes were built in the 1950s for the steel mill workers who had moved to the area for work.

Today, the unemployment rate among the Roma in the region is high, veering between 90 and 100 percent. One of the association's goals is to push for ways to employ the neighborhood's residents, for instance as construction workers or street cleaners, and while we were visiting Bedřiška, an arrangement was made to begin the process with an organization which Vishwanathan recommended.

"I started activism because I have children and grandchildren here, and I want everyone here to have a good future," a white woman, who is one of the leaders in the neighborhood tells me. "I like the Roma. We are different culturally, but as long as we can accept our differences and talk with each other openly, we get along."

Fighting for fair treatment and opportunity, however, does not come without a price, she says.

"I have lost old friends of twenty-five to thirty years over this," the activist tells me, describing how explosive associating across racial lines in the Czech Republic can be.

"When they said things like, 'You are betraying the white race,'" she continues, "that had to be the end of our friendship."

By the time our visit wraps up, it is late and the sun has long gone down. I am full of impressions. Images of resigned, dark-skinned "ghetto" inhabitants in graffiti-covered, bleak city landscapes of half-dilapidated buildings flash through my mind. Mainstream media are the modern-day myth-makers. Over selectively crafted, cliched, mass-produced myths, I prefer true stories, told by the people in the real world and in their own words.

***

[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

For Romani families in poverty, threat of forced removal of children by the state looms large

2010-08-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Members of nineteen families facing eviction file in to a small conference room. The multigenerational group listens intently as LifeTogether director Sri Kumar Vishwanathan describes the situation: his organization, in partnership with several private firms, was, at the last minute, able to secure eighteen apartments on the outskirts of town for families who have defaulted on rent, and are thus being forced to move out of a building in one of the city's "socially excluded Romani locations." The apartments offered to those present contain only bare walls, no appliances and insufficient facilities--a sink, but no shower or tub.

[Sri Kumar Vishwanathan, head of LifeTogether, meets with families facing eviction]

This particular community's unemployment rate stands at a shocking 100 percent, a phenomenon that is common in many of the poor Czech Romani enclaves. In order to survive, families often rely on money lenders who use unethical practices, charging exorbitant amounts of interest, thus forcing families into vicious cycles of poverty which are difficult to break.

As a result of their dire economic situation and deeply entrenched systemic discrimination, several families at the meeting have already had some of their children taken away by the state and at least four others are in danger of having their children placed into state care.

"The mothers were ashamed to say their children are under the threat of being removed from the family," Vishwanathan, who founded LifeTogether in the northeastern Czech town of Ostrava thirteen years ago, related to me in private after the meeting. "They feel they have failed. But it's not their fault."

"Czech Republic is number one in Europe," he continues, "in terms of having the highest rate of forced removal of children from Romani families and placed in state-run institutions."

Indeed, Human Rights Watch has found that the Czech Republic has the highest number of infants under the age of three forced into institutional care of all EU countries.

Vishwanathan's organization works to help prevent such practices, which have been criticized by the European Roma Rights Center and Amnesty International, among other human rights watchdogs. LifeTogether provides many services for the Romani community, including legal aid, counseling as well as help for children who run away from state foster care institutions.

[Sri Kumar Vishwanathan]

To truly remediate the situation, however, a systemic overhaul is long overdue. In its Survey on Children in Alternative Care, Eurochild, a network of organizations and individuals working across Europe to improve the quality of life of children, outlines seven steps by which European governments could prevent forced removal of children from families in poverty. Eurochild states:

EU member states should invest more in moving away from a child care system based on large institutions and move towards the provision of a range of integrated, family-based and community-based services.

Another Eurochild recommendation suggests that "the involvement of children, young people and their families is crucial, both in the decision- making processes affecting them directly and in the development of alternative care policies and services. They should therefore be empowered to participate in all stages of the care process and the EU should encourage the development of peer led groups of children, young people and parents with experience of care."

The European Roma Rights Center identifies the role of the social worker as key in addressing systemic discrimination, as social workers are those who determine whether a family is "definitively incapable of caring for a child." This decision is often driven by preconceived conceptions and a social worker's view of the Romani community. The Bratinka Report, a study discussed in the ERRC document, found this to be the case:

This report found that 38% of social workers felt that the main obstacle to better relationships were the "unsavoury characteristics of the Roma", that the Romani minority should attempt to adapt to the majority, that affirmative action programmes for the Roma were a waste of money and their influence negligible, and that it would be good to strike hard at Romany criminality and disregard for generally accepted norms. Forty-two percent of social workers felt that pro-active programmes for the Roma were an unfair privilege for one group of citizens. The ramifications of these perceptions may indeed correlate with the disproportionate representation of Roma children in institutions and necessarily question whether Romani families are given a just assessment of their rightful capacity to raise their own children.

Because social workers' prejudices can ultimately lead to the break-up of a family, it is crucial that, as the organization Eurochild asserts, "all professionals working with and for children, including those in the education, health care, child protection and social work sectors, need high quality on-going training and supervision."

Furthermore, Eurochild advocates that risks of social exclusion associated with poverty must be reduced:

The fight against child poverty must remain a key political priority of the EU. Social inequality denies children equal access to services and perpetuates the cycle of poverty. A strong political framework is required at EU level to ensure all member states put in place the necessary structural reforms to ensure all families have access to a minimum income and adequate services.

This year happens to be the EU Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, and in that regard, the Czech Republic has far to go. Considering the critical situation of the Romani population living in poverty, it is an abomination that the newly elected Czech government plans to cut social spending rather than invest in uplifting marginalized communities so they can live fearless, dignified lives.

"That's very big of you. You are noble people," Vishwanathan responds to one mother's offer to forgo her chance to move into the apartment offered by LifeTogether before the meeting with the families concludes. The mother wants to give a preference to a family in danger of having its children removed by the state. She says, "There are nineteen families and eighteen apartments. Of course I will give a family that needs it more a chance first. We, who have kids, know how it is."

Fortunately, following the eviction from an already long-neglected building for the poor, she and her children will be able to stay at her aunt's for now.

***
[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project bloge]

Honoring Pain and Loss, Urging Vigilance and Change on International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day

2010-08-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

On August 2nd, representatives and friends of the Romani and Sinti communities from Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic gathered at Auschwitz to commemorate the International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The ceremony took place at the site of the so-called Zigeunerlager, or "Gypsy" Camp, where more than 23,000 Roma were imprisoned. The date marked the 66th anniversary of the liquidation of the "Gypsy Family Camp" at Auschwitz II-Birkenau on the night of August 2, 1944 when the Nazis killed 2,897 men, women, and children in the gas chambers. International Roma Holocaust (or, in Romani, Porajamos) Remembrance Day has been observed since 1994.

[Family at the International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at Auschwitz, photo by Tereza Bottman]

"I was a child when I visited this place for the first time," recalled Roman Kwiatkowski, Chairman of the Association of the Roma in Poland in his speech to the audience, which, aside from activists and Romani as well as majority community members, included religious figures and government officials.

"I came here with my mother," continued Kwiatkowski, "and I can still remember two things: the crumbling monument and my mother sobbing uncontrollably. I understood very little back then, I could not comprehend the symbolism of this place and the magnitude of the tragedy and suffering connected with it. However, I subconsciously felt how important it was, and concluding from its condition, how forgotten it must have been. A sense of mission was born in me then. From the beginning of my activity as a grown-up man and an activist for the Romani community, my aim has been to refill this place with proper meaning and importance."

The Monument of Roma and Sinti at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was built in 1973 and renovated in 1994. The plaque on the granite obelisk reads:

“Memorial place of Roma of the concentration camp in Auschwitz - Birkenau. Thousands of men, women and children imprisoned, tortured victims of German Fascism, died in this concentration camp in Birkenau – cruelly tormented, murdered and gassed. Funded by the Roma Association in Germany 1973 Rose O. Bamberger”

[Monument of Roma and Sinti at Auschwitz-Birkenau, photo credit Czech Radio]

The exact number of Roma who perished in the Holocaust is unknown, but historians estimate it to be between half- and 1.5 million people. More than 90% of Czech Roma died at the hand of the Nazis. Over 62% of Romani prisoners at Auschwitz came from Germany and Austria, 22% were brought from the Czech Republic, and the rest came from Poland.

To this day, Romani activists have been struggling to attain recognition and redress for the crimes committed by the Nazis against their community during WWII.

"Unfortunately our organization has come to understand that the Roma are not honored equally to other victims of the Nazi era in compensation efforts," said Čeněk Růžička, Chairman of the Committee for Compensation of Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic. "It seems unbelievable that up to the present moment, compensations have not been completed, and, in contrast to the redress process regarding the property claims of Jews, compensations for Romani properties have not yet been started."

Růžička's organization is committed to continuing to advocate for Romani Holocaust victims. He says: "We will continue to ask for compensation of Romani assets and for the Roma to be present as equal partners in the dealings. The victims who remain alive have selected us to represent their rightful interests, and we want nothing more than to right this injustice."

The community representatives and Polish government officials who spoke at the event urged everyone present to remain vigilant and to continue to support the plight of the Roma who, as Gejza Adam of the Slovak Roma Coalition Party said, "have been striving to become equal members" of societies across Europe.

"Despite the fact that sixty years have passed since the tragedy," Adam said, "Romani communities in Europe have been suffering from the same negligence as always."

[Auschwitz Gate, photo by Tereza Bottman]

Poverty, alarming environmental and social conditions, as well as low social status are just some of the issues the Roma face, Adam said, taking a moment to criticize the current situation: "Financial aid distributed by the European resources that is aimed at helping the Roma improve their social status hardly ever gets to its addressees, meaning the Romani people themselves."

Drawing parallels between the importance of remembering the victims and the relevance of those memories today was a theme throughout the ceremony.

"Sixty-five years ago the Nazi ideology was conquered," said Růžička. "But, unfortunately, not its ideas. They appear again and again. So let us be watchful and uncompromising so that we do not lose control over them."

"It is our duty not only to inform and to spread the knowledge of these places and about the unimaginable crime committed on the Romani nation, a nation that was so categorically sentenced to death because of its race and ethnicity," said Kwiatkowski. "It would be tragic to belittle and forget the fact that Roma and Sinti were exterminated. We cannot allow such a situation to arise, because it is only one step from the consent for the repetition of the brutal practices that marked the history of Europe and the whole world in such a painful manner."

["Haunted" -- Auschwitz-Birkenau, photo by Tereza Bottman]

Adam concluded his speech with these powerful words:

"I am truly sorry to dare raise your awareness (about the problems today) at this particular place, but I hope the ashes and unmarked graves of the Holocaust victims can become the sacred ground from which human hope, tolerance and moral courage will rise in order to help us--Romani people--become valid members of societies that value human rights and equality above all."

[flowers to honor the victims, photo by Tereza Bottman]

***

A slide show of the August 2, 2010 ceremony can be seen here.

Those who understand Romani or Slovak can watch a short documentary by the Romani Press Agency about the Romani Holocaust here.

[Romani boys at the commemoration, photo by Tereza Bottman]

More photos from the ceremony:

***

[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

Seizing the Opportunity: An Interview with Romani News Anchor Richard Samko

2010-07-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

"My work has become my hobby,” says Richard Samko, the second ever Romani news anchor on Czech Television. “The work is colorful and diverse. It’s also an adrenaline rush, and I like that.”

[Richard Samko, photo credit Czech Radio]

Samko has worked in the field of journalism for eleven years as a reporter, news anchor and more recently host of Events and Commentary, a nightly program featuring news analysis and political commentary.

In the late 1990s, the Dženo Association introduced Samko to the world of journalism in a training designed to bring up a new generation of Romani reporters.

Samko is a pioneer, with only Ondřej Giňa, Jr., the first news anchor of Romani background in the Czech Republic, having blazed the trail before him. Samko’s drive, energy and passion for his work in the news media underscore our conversation.

“I stuck with it for years, working my way up, because I wanted to make it far," says Samko. "The opportunity was something a person gets only once in a lifetime. To get to work in Czech Television is huge; it’s power.”

Samko has covered topics as wide-ranging as immigration, problems inside the police force, right-wing extremism, traffic law, housing issues and unemployment. He has also taken part in producing documentaries, an interest he would like to pursue in greater depth.

One documentary on which Samko collaborated was The Saga of the Roma (Sága Romů), a film examining the changes in the Romani community and its relationship to the majority population during the second half of the 20th century. Samko confesses filmmaking is his dream.

"When I worked on The Saga, filmmaking really grabbed me. I saw that the work was more creative," Samko recalls. "I then made a few short documentaries myself."

"I would like to make a film that is Roma-themed,” Samko continues. “I can see that as the most realistic undertaking for me; a topic which I understand the best and can say the most about."

One of the most powerful aspects of being so visible in the media is Samko’s ability to inspire Romani children, who look up to him as a role model from their own ranks.

Whenever Samko’s hectic schedule allows it, Samko travels to Romani cultural festivals to act as master of ceremonies and to speak to the children.

"I want the children to see a positive example of what is possible to achieve," says Samko.

One of his projects is a program called Fledglings (Ptáčata), in which a television crew follows a group of second-graders, many of them Romani, as they learn to become camera operators, reporters and news anchors while documenting their own lives.

Samko is a visionary. He recognizes the potential in his community and advocates for the skills of those newly trained in his field to be harnessed. Once funding for Dženo’s Romani station Radio Rota is renewed and the broadcast expanded via digital satellite technology, Samko, who would work with the station in advisory capacity, sees an enormous opportunity for a new generation of journalists.

“Radio Rota should be funded,” asserts Samko, “because it would serve as a base for those who have started on a path towards a career in journalism. There is a potential here that should be developed further. In mainstream television, where I work, there is no time for on-the-job training or mentoring. New journalists have to be ready to start working at a professional level. That’s where media organizations such as Dženo and Radio Rota come in.”

Another role that Radio Rota could fulfill is that of enabling journalists from the majority population to access experiences of the members of Romani community whose issues would be of interest because they ‘affect the entire country,’ as Samko says.

“Mainstream media could draw on the work of Romani journalists reporting for Radio Rota,” Samko continues, “because they tend to be the ones with access to the Romani community, something the average Czech reporter doesn’t have.”

In addition to providing information mainstream journalists could draw on as well as hands-on experience to young Romani reporters, Radio Rota, because the Czech Republic is in the center of Europe, could serve as the heart of Romani newscasting, says Samko.

“Radio Rota could broadcast news programming from around the world,” Samko envisions. “We know journalists in Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Poland, etc. We know people everywhere. In all these places there are journalists who would contribute Romani-themed programs. The station could be a pan-European showcase.”

To close, Samko urges: “I want my fellow Roma to persevere in doing what they enjoy despite obstacles they may encounter. The opportunities are there. It may take a few years. There will be a few years of waiting, but then the chance to get to a better place will arrive and they will be able to fulfill their dreams.”

“And as far as the majority community is concerned,” Samko concludes, “more tolerance is necessary. There needs to be more room and less judgement of people based on their looks or minority status. Minorities must be given a chance.”

[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

Matters of the Heart: A conversation with Romani radio personality Iveta Demeterová

2010-07-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

"It was when I started here in 2002 that my big love affair with this work began,” says Iveta Demeterová, Director of Programming at Radio Rota, the first Romani internet station in the Czech Republic, founded and operated by the Dženo Association.

“None of us at the station took the work as a mere job; we considered it our life’s mission and our passion,” recalls Demeterová. “For us, it was a matter of the heart. None of us ever looked at the clock; we worked until we were happy with what we produced.”

“
[Iveta Demeterová, photo by Tereza Bottman]

During Radio Rota’s heyday between 2002 and 2006, the station attracted tens of thousands of listeners from the Czech Republic and around the world each month. Radio Rota aired news, public affairs programming, talk shows, and cultural programs in three languages: Czech, English and Romani. The radio presented organizations to which the community could turn for help.

The hope is that if enough funding is raised, the station will soon resume broadcasting, this time in digital satellite format, reaching listeners in more languages, across as much as three quarters of Europe.

“The station served as a a link, connecting Roma who before the year 2000 immigrated to Canada, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand,” explains Demeterová. “We provided a way for them to communicate together, obtain information from us, and, in return, pass on information to us about how they were doing abroad; how they were faring in areas of housing, education, work; how they were perceived there and whether they had problems based on the color of their skin.”

The audience also included the majority population.

“Our motto was: ‘Radio about and for, but not only for the Roma,’” says Demeterová, who, as of September, will also be the new Director of Romani programming on Czech Radio, a publicly funded station with a weekly listenership of nearly 3 million.

“I was most thrilled by the fact that there was such great cooperation between the station and its listeners," beams Demeterová. "The telephone rang off the hook. We received so many emails, it was a challenge to respond to all of them.“

One of the regular programs was a show called Voicemail. “The messages that people sent to each other through us were incredible,“ remembers Demeterová. “People called in to confess their love for each other, to make birthday wishes, to express regrets that they cannot be there to celebrate their grandparents‘ anniversaries.“

Radio Rota even brought people together; not only couples, but friends or relatives who had not been able to find each other for years.

“I did not live my own life doing this work,“ Demeterová confesses. “I lived the lives of the others; the listeners, because I was their fan. I provided advice and contacts for organizations that could help them.“

During the time of campaigns, politicians were regularly invited to the Radio Rota studio to be interviewed and to discuss their platforms. Informally, many of them expressed their support for the station, but in the end, their words were mostly empty promises, says Demeterová.

“Funding was always an issue,” she explains. “The station was built for money from abroad. We asked the Ministry of Culture for funding, and we received it twice. We were glad we received the support, even though it was less than the amount we had requested.“

“We had to prioritize,“ says Demeterová. “There were times when we were only able to pay the bills and the contractors, still we continued working. We weren’t thinking about ourselves; we were thinking about the listeners who were waiting for the services the station provides.“

The importance of independent, minority-run media such as Radio Rota cannot be overstated. Demeterová says the station played a unique role in Czech society in that it emphasized a positive image of the Romani community.

“If the majority population truly wants to have a multicultural society and to be a lawful member of the European Union,“ Demeterová asserts, “if they want tolerance to preside over this land, one way to achieve this is [for the majority and the Roma] to continue getting to know each other. Radio Rota could be a vehicle to open the way for that process.“

Several years later, fans are still writing in, wondering what is happening with the radio station.

“People are still waiting for something to happen, hoping that the radio will continue,” says Demeterová.

The station provided not only information and entertainment, but also a sense of community as well as pride.

“When the radio was created, the community felt part of the experience,” Demeterová explains. “The people felt that they belonged there: ‘We, too, have our own radio station now.’”

“When the listeners wrote in, they did not call it ‘your radio;’” she concludes.“They called it ‘our radio.’ We gave them something to feel proud of.”

***
[This article originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

The newly-formed Czech government wages a war on welfare while state-run energy giant profits soar

2010-07-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Czech President Václav Klaus swore in the new conservative government, formed following the May Parliamentary elections, in which the left-wing Social Democrats won by a narrow margin, but center-right parties captured more votes overall. The right-wing coalition secured 118 of the Parliament's 200 lower-chamber seats. All fifteen Minister posts will be held by men, a choice which has been criticized by political analysts and women's rights groups alike. However, the Parliament now houses a record number of women, 22% of the MPs, and will be led by women. Ethnic minorities, who make up no more than 3 percent of the total population, on the other hand, have no representation in Parliament.

Those on the margins of Czech society have a reason to worry. One of the right-leaning government's highest priorities is placing limits on government spending, namely by cutting government jobs and salaries as well as slashing social expenditures and overhauling (read eventually privatizing) the pension and health care systems. The trend of reducing government spending, especially child and maternity benefits as well as support for the unemployed, is troubling for those already struggling to survive.

[photo credit: backspace.com's Social Designs]

"The new right-wing government will cause more intense isolation of the Roma on the margins of society," constituted Romani activist Štefan Gorol, one of the respondents to a post-election survey carried out by Romano hangos, a Romani monthly. "We will be denied access to resources which are available to other members of the society. These resources include employment, housing, social protection, health care, and education."

Mr. Gorol is not alone. Ivan Veselý, chairman of the Romani advocacy and media group Dženo Association, is one of many who are concerned.

"The times are getting tough. There are going to be serious ramifications," says Veselý.

Respekt weekly editor-in-chief Erik Tabery in his political commentary on the new government agrees that slashing social benefits is a terrible idea: "It's difficult to understand that the administration is apparently preparing to cut social benefits for poor families with children or support for people with a lighter form of disabilities. However much it may be necessary to prevent the abuse of various benefits, this type of support should not be abolished. A state that is not able to take care of the most vulnerable is worthless."

Something important to remember is that not all people living in poverty in the Czech Republic are Roma, as the mainstream press would have the public believe.

"Only about one-fifth of those on social welfare benefits are Roma," Veselý points out. This is still a disproportionately high number, considering the Roma make up around 2% of the total population (the number of Roma living in the Czech Republic is estimated to be somewhere between 150,000 and 300,000.)

At least half the Romani population do not live below the poverty level in socially excluded locations (sociologist Ivan Gabal estimates the number of Roma in socially excluded locations to be just over 85 thousand of the total of 150,000 to 200,000 Roma in the country) and many are college-educated professionals. Karel Holomek, long-time Romani activist and current president of the international Decade for Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, stresses just that in his latest blog post entitled “Absence of Rationality in Discussions about the Peaceful Co-existence of the Roma in Our Society“:

Such discussions point at a deficiency of the members of the Romani community, which they inaccurately call inadaptibility. What is talked about is careless attitude toward housing (on the part of the Roma), non-payment of rent, aggressive behavior of Romani children, unwillingness to learn or work, abuse of social benefits and other such matters. . . An unfortunate consequence is that the nature of this type of a discussion and, in general, such commonly and almost uniformly held societal views have a negative effect not only on a relatively small group of Roma, but on the entire society. . . The public’s hatred expressed quite clearly in statistical data is aimed against the entire Romani community, even though it is clear that it should only concern the part which is discreditable, if we at all accept such discredibility exists. And this group is much smaller than the entire Romani community.

The government's focus on cutting spending is driven by the Maastricht Treaty, which mandates all EU member states to cut their state spending to a threshold of 3%. Currently the public deficit for the Czech Republic is projected to be 5.6% of GDP for 2010. Of course, the recession is another reason for the cuts, the public is told.

While the media work the public opinion by highlighting random Romani families who find loopholes in the social benefit system to "take advantage of," and airing heated debates with guests who spout racist stereotypes and point fingers at the Roma as the "culprits for all the social ills," the government wheels and deals, bringing in record profits despite the recession, yet warning of drastic cuts to social spending.

Some questions have recently been raised about the Czech government's finance priorities in the form of backroom deals from which the country's largest energy provider, the state-run energy company and highest grossing Czech company ČEZ, stands to profit.

In 2009, ČEZ, the largest Czech corporation, earned a record profit of 196 billion crowns marking a growth in earnings despite the recession. The company, of which 69.4% is owned by the Czech government with the rest in private hands, is being questioned about its role in influencing policy as well as the outcome of the elections by placing its key allies and board members in ministry positions. It is also under pressure to explain its inflated expenditure (paid for by taxpayer money) for the construction of new power plants. The Ecological Law Service puts the excess at 30 billion crowns above market value.

In contrast, the latest estimate is that cuts in social benefit spending could save the Czech government about 11 billion crowns.

Jaroslav Spurný, assistant editor of the weekly Respekt pertinently writes:

“The amount at which the Ecological Law Service arrived showed that the three Czech brown coal power plants are overpriced by 30 billion crowns. We are witnessing either enormous waste or enormous theft. If it is true and the government doesn’t respond, we can forget about the reforms. They will be good for nothing, because what the state shaves off from social benefits, will be easily spent by ČEZ.“

***
[The original version of this post appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Freedom of the Press: How do Czech media fare?

2010-07-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

Journalists throughout Europe have been sounding an alarm about the trends of increasing conglomeration, censorship and diminishing freedom of the press. Where does the Czech Republic stand in terms of media freedom? How do independent vs. corporate media outlets fare? Is there room for human rights journalism in the current media environment? These are some questions I am seeking to answer, seeing them as relevant to my fellowship with the Dženo Association, which is partly a media organization with a history of magazine publishing, broadcasting and training journalists.

In its 2007 report surveying media freedom in the European Union, the Association of European Journalists found that freedom of the press is relatively unrestrained in the Czech Republic:

The Czech media enjoy a comparatively high level of media freedom and independence, reflected in the relatively mature media scene and the lack of high-profile violations of the media's ability to report on events in public life. Reporters Sans Frontieres, in its Press Freedom Index for 2006, ranked the Czech Republic in 5th place out of 168 countries assessed.

However, the Czech Republic's press freedom rating has since plummeted to the 24th place. Also, the report raises several concerns, among them subtle pressure sometimes exerted by business and political interests to influence reporters. Also among the report's criticisms is the problem that "Czech journalists sometimes fail to demonstrate the independence of mind and professional rigour needed to report adequately on sensitive issues," and that they "have shown a lack of independence and determination in questioning politicians and their decisions."

The concerns above are echoed by media expert and Czech journalism professor Jaromír Volek, who writes:

The continuing influence of the state on the public service sector is an. . . issue. This has been de facto "privatized" by the parliamentary parties and used as a megaphone for their own political ambitions; in effect they use the media to shut off individuals not affiliated to a political party from the public debate.

Regarding the rigor needed for reporters to question authority and provide alternative angles, Volek asserts that Czech journalism exhibits "a surprising degree of conformity in approaches, which, in turn, results in the campaign-style promotion of social agendas and collective media interpretations."

This reality is compounded by the fact that three of the four largest-circulation dailies "pursue a center-right political agenda," while the vast majority of journalists themselves subscribe to center-right political views and reject the Left. In fact, a study by the media monitoring group Hermes of the most widely read daily, MF Dnes, showed that left-wing political parties were presented less favorably than the right. Mainstream Czech press is thus clearly slanted ideologically, which has an impact on minority rights and social issue coverage. Pertinent to my fellowship is the fact that although a formal survey of the political preferences of the Roma community has not been carried out, the general assumption in and outside the Roma community is that the Roma are overall a left-leaning voter constituency.

The Association of European Journalists shares Volek's view about the declining journalistic standards, which "tend to encourage passivity and acceptance of the status quo instead of vigilance." The level of political debate and focus in reporting, says the AEJ analysis, is often "characterised by populism and an excessive focus on personality" and dominated by "dumbed-down" content.

But why this substandard quality of journalism in the Czech Republic? Both Volek and the Institute of Democracy for All, a media monitoring group, have argued that this deficiency is caused by the consolidation of ownership and commercialization, even “tabloidization“of the media.

After the fall of communism in 1989, a rush to privatize all state assets ensued. The Czech media were no exception.

“The Czech Republic,“ writes Milan Šmíd in "Media Ownership and Its Impact on Media Independence and Pluralism.", a 2004 Peace Institute report, “was the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to award a nation-wide broadcasting license to a private person, and to allocate a complete network of frequencies formerly used by public television to private television. . . (By 1993), there were no state media in the country. Three former state media outlets, i.e. Czech Television, Czech Radio and the Czech Press Agency (CTK) already operated as independent public service companies. . . All other media companies were in private hands.“

Now with more than eighty percent of all state-run enterprises privatized, the Czech Republic, with a population of just over 10 million, has the highest concentration of foreign-owned press in Central and Eastern Europe after Poland.

Although 87 percent of Czech print media outlets are foreign-owned, with German and Swiss companies owning 80 percent of Czech newspapers and magazines, the media monitoring group Institute of Democracy for All asserts that commercialization, homogenization and a trend toward infotainment have much more of an impact on today’s journalism than the nationality of the media owners.

Volek expresses a similar analysis:

Unable to reconcile their former role with the demands of the new technology and economic pressures, journalists have gradually been "de-intellectualized" and reduced to administering the machinery of communication. The "new type of journalist" as a "media employee", whose existence depends on respecting the dominant logic of infotainment has, for now, won out over the traditional role of the journalist as reporter and interpreter of events.

He continues: "Most of the Czech media have adapted to the economic realities of the market: the media is just one more commodity forced to adapt to market imperatives as it comes ever closer to being little more than infotainment."

If mainstream journalists are so beholden to economic, and sometimes political pressures that content starts to become uncritical and tabloid-like, the role of independent media is even more important in terms of investigative reporting and of presenting of stories which may not have commercial appeal or mainstream political endorsement, but may be crucial to the understanding and reforming of the current political and social landscape in the Czech Republic. Such is the role media organizations like Romea, a Prague-based Roma news service, and my host organization Dženo which plans to launch an international, multilingual satellite broadcast on Roma issues and culture. The question is always that of funding and funding priorities.

"Media publishers and broadcasters support investigative journalism only exceptionally," writes media analyst Milan Šmíd in the Peace Institute media study," not because of its contentious nature, but because it is an expensive, time consuming and costly affair."

The current economic crisis is creating yet another excuse for those with the purse strings to divest from social services and causes. Perhaps there are still those funders who see the value of independent media and are willing to support the voices of the underrepresented for the long haul. Media freedom and diversity as well as independent and probing journalism are signs of a healthy democracy.

***

[The original version appeared on Tereza Bottman's blog.]

Even for Highly Qualified Roma Candidates, Racism Still a Barrier in Czech Job Market

2010-07-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

"I am very upset,” says Milan Kováč, who is visiting the Dženo Association office.

“You need to try harder,” one of my office mates jokes sarcastically and we all laugh, but the laughter is tinged with a sense of letdown.

Mr. Kováč, holds a college business degree, knows five languages and has many years of professional experience in settings ranging from the non-profit and government to the private sector. He has, for instance, worked as Project Manager at both, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the non-profit Athinganoi, an organization specializing in supporting Romani students in obtaining secondary and post-secondary education.

Since losing his job eight months ago, he has been searching for work. He has applied for more than sixty positions and has gone through an average of seven job interviews a week to no avail.

Recently, he applied for the position of Local Coordinator at the governmental Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities, which employs only one Roma of the total of twenty-five staff. As a strongly qualified applicant and a Roma himself, he was convinced his chances were high, especially considering the fact that the role of the agency is to promote the integration of Roma in socially excluded regions in the job market, among its other missions.

Upon successfully completing the first phase of the interview process, Mr. Kováč was verbally invited back. However, soon he learned he was not selected for the second round of interviews.

Mr. Kováč’s experience is not unique. A multi-country study by the European Roma Rights Center, conducted partly in the Czech Republic, found this to be the case:

The most prevalent incidence of employment discrimination against Roma is at the job search stage and in the recruitment practices that companies apply. Raw, direct discrimination prevents applicants from even reaching the phase of the interview. Many companies have a total exclusion policy regarding the employment of Roma and practice across-the-board unmitigated discrimination against Romani applicants. As a result, Romani job-seekers are eliminated and excluded from the application process at the very outset; regardless of education, qualifications and competences for the job.

In his appeal letter, sent to the agency which rejected him after the first round of interviews, Mr. Kováč wonders whether the organizations in charge of eliminating barriers to equal participation in Czech society facing the Roma are truly “pro-Roma.“ He writes:

The Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities was founded to advocate for the social inclusion of Roma . . . One of its roles is to promote the inclusion of Roma from socially excluded communities in the job market. There is also a whole host of non-governmental and non-profit organizations which present themselves as “pro-Roma.“ They champion an open attitude on the part of employers towards the Roma under the generous support of the European Social Fund. Are these organizations themselves actually open to employing the Roma and are they in reality practicing what they preach?

When the fact that not a single Roma advanced to the second round of interviews was criticized, Michael Kocáb, commissioner on human rights, who chairs the Monitoring Committee of the Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Localities, responded that he was not aware that there were any Roma applicants interviewed to begin with. Mr. Kocáb has in the past said he is committed to increasing the number of Roma employees in the governmental agency. Additionally, Mr. Kováč was promised an appointment where he could present his case, but this meeting never took place. Instead, in the hall of the Office of the Government, in passing, he was told by the agency’s director that he was not chosen because he lacked the necessary qualifications, although he was clearly selected as a promising candidate earlier.

Many a study, including a 2008 report prepared jointly by the Government of the Czech Republic and the World Bank, conclude that the barriers for the Roma in the job market are largely due to a lack of skills and qualifications. But what about the Roma who do possess the experience and skills that match the position sought?

The above-mentioned 2006 ERRC study, Systemic Exclusion of Roma from Employment, states:

The mass-unemployment of working age Roma is most often perceived as a labour market supply- side issue and the high level of unemployment is attributed to Roma’s inability to find employment because of their low levels of education; out-of-date work skills and detachment from the labour market. Also because large segments of the Romani community lost out during the economic and industrial restructuring that occurred during the transition from Communism. Undoubtedly, these factors create very real barriers that reduce employability and exclude many Roma from work but there is another dimension – discrimination – which significantly aggravates the situation and causes systemic exclusion from employment for vast numbers of working-age Roma.

Mr. Kováč touches on the very issue of anti-Roma discrimination in his letter:

I want the society to know that the Roma are continuing their education, raising their qualifications, applying for quality work, but that still barriers, factors and influences exist which make it impossible to achieve success.

Unfortunately, both cronyism and racism still play a determining role in key decision-making in this country. Those with whom I have spoken who have been active in Roma rights advocacy for years confirm this reality, which the ERRC study enumerates and Mr. Kováč's story illustrates.

One way to combat discrimination in the job search and recruitment stage, suggests ERRC, is to mandate the collection of data disaggregated by ethnicity and to monitor and respond, in a structural way, to inequities based on this data in order to improve job access for qualified Roma applicants. This is currently not done. The ERRC states:

There is strong evidence, from countries with the most effective measures to combat racial discrimination in employment, that workforce monitoring, including the collection of data on ethnicity, is a key means of obtaining statistical evidence to support positive actions to address under-representation of ethnic groups in the workplaces and more generally in specific occupations and sectors of the labour market. Monitoring, recording, reporting and responding to the ethnic composition of a workplace are key factors that guarantee the effectiveness and efficiency of equal opportunities policies.

***
[This post originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's blog.]

The new Czech government must make human rights a priority

2010-06-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

The Czech government is currently undergoing a major transition. In the May 28-29 parliamentary elections, left-wing Social Democrats narrowly won, but center-right parties captured more votes overall. Of the 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament, 118 new candidates were replaced.

One of the pressing concerns for many activists in the Roma community is that the post of the Minister of Human Rights will cease to exist under the new administration, because it was established by the outgoing coalition. A number of Czech human rights organizations have joined together to lobby for the preservation of the role. The human rights leaders argue that the funds spent on the position are minimal and that if eliminated, the result would be "the weakening of the broad agenda for protection of human rights."

Currently the post closest to that of Minister of Human Rights is carried out by the Human Rights Commissioner, Michael Kocáb, who was assigned this role by the Prime Minster after resigning from the post of Minister of Human Rights and Minorities under pressure last March. Even in this capacity, the commissioner serves an essential, government-level function in advocating for the marginalized communities in the Czech Republic. The Agency for Social Inclusion in Roma Communities, in existence since 2008, for instance, is a governmental agency in charge of coordinating integration activities in socially excluded regions, in cooperation with the commission on Human Rights and Minorities and under the leadership of the Office of Government.

Regarding the recent elections, the most significant development was that the voters, for the first time outright rejected the country's two largest parties, which formed every government since the early 1990s, in favor of smaller parties. The campaign was the longest in Czech history, launched in the fall. The campaign was expensive as well, costing over 20 million dollars, with the top two parties spending nearly ninety percent of the total budget.

Of the 5,050 candidates running, only one was Roma. Lucie Horváthová ran on the Green Party ticket. The Greens did not make the minimum 5 percent margin of votes to qualify for a Parliamentary seat, however.

The three conservative parties which received the most votes have formed a right-wing coalition. These parties are: The Civic Democrats, TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV). The newly elected lower house of the Parliament convened for its first session last week. The internim Prime Minister resigned and a new, conservative Prime Minister, Petr Nečas, was just named by President Václav Klaus yesterday.

The new government coalition stresses reducing the state budget deficit as one of its primary goals. However, the measures and concrete steps which will emerge from the current coalition talks must not sideline the human rights agenda. The battle for eliminating poverty and structural barriers to equitable education, health care, employment and affordable housing, must continue with the government taking a strong stance of support. The marginalized communities need a government-level representative to continue lobbying for their cause.

***

[This piece originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015: Words and more words, but where is the action?

2010-06-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

This week, the Czech Republic is officially taking over the rotating presidency of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, an international initiative whose goal is to improve the living conditions of the Roma across Europe.

The initiative brings together the governments of twelve European countries along with intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations “to accelerate progress toward improving the welfare of Roma.“ The parnter organizations include the World Bank, the Open Society Institute, the United Nations Development Program, the the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Council of Europe, European Roma Information Office, and the European Roma Rights Centre.

According to the Decade of Roma Inclusion website, “the Decade focuses on the priority areas of education, employment, health, and housing, and commits governments to take into account the other core issues of poverty, discrimination, and gender mainstreaming.“

Now midway through the project, the reactions among Roma activists and community members vary, but veer on the side of skepticism.

Today I spoke to Ivan Veselý, head of the Dženo Association and member of the Decade of Roma Inclusion steering committee. Mr. Veselý has been with the intiative since its planning phase and has been so invested in the Decade that he calls the initiative “his child.“

“The initial aim of the Decade was two-fold,“ says Mr. Veselý. “One goal was to demand that member governments change their policies toward the Roma minority. The second major goal was to jumpstart a Roma rights movement across Europe.“

When asked about the effectiveness of the the Decade, he curses, expressing deep disappointment. He feels that the intiative was implemented without the necessary preliminary capacity building and that the efforts towards Roma inclusion are mostly conferences, declarations, reports, and more words; not enough action.

The goals for each country that is part of the Decade have been outlined, measurable indicators set, but, so far, there are few results.

“The main problem,“ says Mr. Veselý, “ is that no money has been allocated by the Czech government to achieve the Decade’s aims.“

During Czech Republic’s presidency, the priorities are: inclusive education (contrary to the current practice of unjustly segragating large numbers of Romany children in schools for the mentally handicapped); children’s living situations and their rights; the empowerment of Romany women; the implementation of local-level integration policies; and improving the image of Roma in the media.

The action plan for the Czech Republic comprises objectives such as providing Romany students equal access to pre-school as well as higher education; training educators in multicultural teaching methods; preventing residential segregation; increasing access of low-income Roma families to affordable housing; and boosting the employability and employment rates of the Roma through training, incentives and investment aimed at the creation of Roma-run small business enterprises.

What many, including Mr. Veselý, would like to see and have been advocating is a systemic change which begins with a firm, sustained, long-term committment on the part of the government. Such committment must take the form of allocation of a sufficient amount of money, so that the carefully crafted action plan can be implemented in all key sectors and throughout all regions.

***
[Originally posted on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Interview with Dženo Association's chairman Ivan Veselý

2010-06-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

This video, featuring the Dženo Association's founder and chairman Ivan Veselý, provides a very good overview of some of the issues facing the Roma community in the Czech Republic and in Europe at large. The video was created by Christina Hooson, 2009 Advocacy Project Peace Fellow with Dženo.

Czechs' Response to Rising Extremism: Prevention through education?

2010-06-22T01:56:00.000-07:00

With right-wing extremism on the rise, increased risk of racially motivated harassment and violence against minorities has become a reality in the Czech Republic. The economic downturn in Europe, as in the United States, is plunging people into poverty and fueling xenophobia, racism, insecurity and hightening tensions between disadvantaged groups. Extremist ideology is also becoming increasingly used in political rhetoric, and many worry about the possibility of hate becoming a mainstream political vehicle as has happened in Hungary, for instance, where the far-right party Jobbik currently holds 47 of 386 parliamentary seats.

The annual report of the human rights group, Czech Helsinki Commitee, cites as one of the primary issues facing the Czech Republic, "the increasing radicalization of neo-Nazis and violent attacks against the Roma population." An example of this is an April 2009 arson attack on a Roma family, which resulted in a two-year-old girl suffering severe burns to 80 percent of her body. The perpetrators of the attack are associated with a far-right group and are currently on trial.

In light of this alarming trend, what kinds of efforts are Czech institutions undertaking, specifically in the field of education (a later post will focus on violence prevention via the criminal justice system), to curb the appeal of hate group ideology to economically struggling whites?

In response to the growth of the neo-Nazi movement, and with the intention of steering young people away from the dangers of the ideology of hate, Varianty, an educational program of the human rights organization People in Need, created a booklet for teachers to use in the classroom. The booklet is available online and in CD-form to be ordered for free by schools. The organization is, according to the news service iDnes, currently out of funds to provide printed copies of the text.

The approximately two-hundred-page long booklet, "The Threat of Neo-Nazism, Democratic Opportunities", describes the history of homegrown right-wing extremism. The text, developed in cooperation with the police unit specializing in monitoring extremist activity, also contains pictures of neo-Nazis and their insignia as well as topics for facilitated discussions. The most controversial aspect of the booklet is the inclusion of passages from hate group literature. The authors, however, argue that such information is widely available to those students who choose to seek it out and that examining it critically is crucial.

In the booklet, teachers are provided with guidelines on how to present and analyze the materials with their students. However, the reality is that many educators are still unsure about how to approach the subjects of extremism and racism, and as a result steer away from providing their students with the opportunity to examine hate group ideology critically. Clearly, instructors need more tools and support on how to implement such ambitious programs in their classrooms. Additionally, there needs to be a system-wide effort to infuse public school curriculum with anti-bias education.

According to the press agency iDnes, the Czech Ministry of Education is currently preparing "a directive concerning education against racism, xenophobia, and intolerance." It is unclear how this directive will differ from the 1995 version, which simply asks of schools and educators to teach about tolerance without any accountability. Let us hope the initiative goes beyond a directive in outlining a strategy for teacher training and support and in setting some specific, measurable goals. Education countering the power of hate ideology is of crucial importance now.

Of course, one key way of preventing extremism, aside from discussing and taking a strong stance against it outright with students, is through dismantling divisions and prejudice between groups from an early age. In the Czech Republic, where segregation in education is a serious problem affecting the Roma, more of an effort must be made to make schools inclusive and to retain Romani students and teaching assistants in mainstream classrooms.

"Exclusion of Romani students from mainstream classrooms and their education in segregated schools in Romani communities," states the Czech Government Approach toward Roma Integration for the Years 2010-2013, "make experiencing contact impossible for other students, thereby endangering their readiness for peaceful coexistence in the future. Segregation elevates the risk of mistrust, spread of prejudice and xenophobia between the two groups."

***
[This post originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

Resilience in the Face of Segregation: Slovak Roma settlements

2010-06-06T01:58:00.000-07:00

About four hundred miles east of Prague, in the neighboring country of Slovakia, which separated peacefully from the Czech Republic not so long ago, lie the two communities profiled in the documentary "In a Cage" by the Roma Press Agency.

According to the Czech press agency Mlada Fronta, Slovakia has more than 800 Romani settlements, set apart from the majority community. The count is approximately 700, according to the Slovak daily Sme.sk.

[Chmiňanské Jakubovany, Eastern Slovakia. Photo credit: Lukáš Houdek]

These settlements usually have very high unemployment rates (some even close to 100%) and lack basic services such as running water, sewers, electricity, gas or garbage collection.

The settlements featured in the 2006 documentary "In a Cage" are the village of Rankovce, near the city of Kosice, and the community of Podskalka.

[Chmiňanské Jakubovany, Eastern Slovakia. Photo credit: Lukáš Houdek]

What impressed me was that despite the isolation, lack of opportunities and the deep poverty which the residents experience, they have found ways to preserve their dignity, to establish self-governance and daily routines, and to focus on hope for the future, especially when it comes to education for the young generation.

The documentary's director-producer is Kristína Magdolenová, a human rights journalist and editor-in-chief at the Roma Press Agency. Her aim is to open doors and to break down barriers of prejudice between the majority population and the Roma, but to also sound an alarm about the dire situation of the Roma living in segregation. Magdolenová says:

"Our aim was to open the door to the world of the Roma. To show them such as the majority doesn't know them, through their daily problems, joys and cares. To show their real face without prejudice, without fear from their otherness, without misgivings. To show that Slovak society plays with the Roma community, always pushes them further to the edge in this overly hazardous game. A game with human potential, a game which can also be turned against themselves. The film wants to point out that we're nearing the midnight hour and that we need to stop playing this hazardous game."

The Czech Republic, where I will be on assignment for my fellowship, also has serious issues with housing segregation in its approximately three hundred "excluded locations," as Czech ghettos are also termed. But more about that in another post.

The excellent short documentary "In a Cage" about isolated Roma communities can be seen here: In a Cage.

***
[This post was originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog]

History of the Czech Roma

2010-06-03T02:04:00.000-07:00

Czech Radio has a very informative article on the history of the Roma in the Czech Republic.

The article speculates that the arrival of the Roma to what is now Czech Republic may have been as early as the 13th century. However, "solid proof of the Roma's residence on Czech territory is actually (a letter) of protection, which was issued on April 17th, 1423 . . . by the Holy Roman Emperor and Czech King, Zikmund."

Many historians refer to the 15th century as the "Golden Age of the Roma in Europe," because the Roma were at that time often "received by aristocrats and. . . given letters of protection and other privileges." In the 15th century, however, the persecution of the Roma began when they were observed by the Catholic Church to not be "servants of God." The Roma were also suspected of being spies for the Turks.

The article details the types of persecution experienced by the Roma in Medieval and Renaissance Europe:

Rulers of individual countries began to issue decrees by which the Roma were ordered out of their territory. With the persecution, the Roma were exposed to torture, bodily mutilation, and then execution. The greatest persecution in the Czech Lands came after 1697, when the Roma were placed by Imperial decree outside the law. Anyone could shoot, hang or drown them, and killing Roma wasn't considered a crime. . . The Roma's life was never easy, they were always among the poorest population groups

In Central and Eastern Europe, if they could find work, the Roma were most commonly employed as builders and blacksmiths.

In mid-18th century, Austrian Empress Maria Theresa issued a decree which forbade nomadic life and the use of the Romani language. The Roma were also "forced to wear different clothes, and children were taken away and placed witn non-Roma families for re-education." At that time, a sizable population of Roma settled in Czech territory. As Czech Radio reports, "the settlers were mostly bricklayers, tinkers, blacksmiths, trough-makers, road-menders, musicians."

Further restrictions and assimilation efforts continued in early 20th century. Then during WWII, the Nazis rounded up, deported and killed approximately ninety percent of the Czech Roma. After the war, most of the Roma coming to the Czech Republic were Slovak. In 1965, a law was passed "concerning the procedure of dispersing the gypsy population, through which Roma from eastern Slovakian Romani villages had to move to Bohemia to work."

Not covered in the Czech Radio piece is the fact that during communism, and continuing through at least 2003, Romani women were coercively sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. The Roma experience systemic discrimination in housing, health care, the justice system, and education as a result of past and current state and social practices.

The Czech Radio article concludes with a very important point in understanding today's dynamics between majority and minority population, the former of which often blames the Roma for being too dependent on the state:

In state social policy, the Roma were dealt with as a socially backward group of the population, and the state's remedies were confined to various forms of social support, which helped the Roma survive, but also taught them to rely completely on the state.

As a final note, I do want to point out that it is important to be critical of the view that the Roma have been completely reliant on the state, because there are multiple, innovative ways in which communities, including the Roma, find to survive despite the discrimination and poverty they experience. These ways may be invisible or unrecognized by the majority community. However, as a documentary I recently watched points out, the old adage "necessity breeds invention" is quite pertinent in the Romani community. My next post and future articles will show just what I mean.

***

[This post was originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

The Romani Flag

2010-05-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the story of the official Romani flag, as explained by the National Romani Anti-Discrimination Organization, a group which monitors discrimination against the Romani people socially and in the media, and provides accurate information and resources to raise awareness about the Roma internationally.

It was adopted at the First World Romani Congress in London in 1971. The Romani chakra wheel at the center is actually a link to the Roma's Indian origins (the 24-spoked Ashok Chakra is in the center of the national flag of India, the *Tiranga*) and represents movement and the original Creation but the wheel on our flag is the 16 spoke wheel which in India represented the 16 spokes of Gandhi's economic liberation and independence movement. The blue and green are the traditional colors with the red wheel in the center. Blue is the blue sky represents the heavens. Green is the land, organic and growing. The blue symbolizes eternal spiritual values; the green earthly values. The wheel in the center for (the Roma), symbolizes movement and progress and it is red is to honor the blood of those of us who have fallen.

The flag was carried to the United Nations in New York in 1978. Yul Brynner, Professor Ian Hancock, Ronald Lee and John Tene were in attendance and were active in the International Romani Union. . .

(The flag) was voted as our official flag by Romani representatives in Britain, France, Spain, West Germany, the Netherlands, and other non-communist countries of western Europe in the 1960s. It was at the 1971 conference that Romani leaders in Europe decided to create the Petition to the UN requesting some kind of status in the UN for Roma. This was granted in 1979 after (the Romani representatives) carried the flag and the petition to New York in 1978.

Since the collapse of communism. The flag is used by Romani organizations in central-eastern Europe and now in Australia.

***

[This post originally appeared on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Human Rights Journalists Needed Desperately in Central Europe

2010-05-28T02:07:00.000-07:00

I just came across a fascinating blog post by award-winning reporter and journalism professor Michael J. Jordan, currently based in Slovakia. His lengthy list of accomplishments includes developing trainings for European Roma journalists.

From his long-term experience in journalism and his discussions with reporters in Central and Eastern Europe, Jordan concludes that the need for human rights journalism is pressing. In his recent meeting with the representatives from Slovak media, Jordan observed:

The assembled reporters... described how tough it can be to make the case to editors for why to approach stories with greater sensitivity, or also pursue positive Roma stories, or report more critically about far-right demonstrations. Or even why the majority should care about the state of its Roma minority – as a “litmus test” for Slovak democracy, values and respect for human rights.

Jordan wonders "out loud" what "fair and balanced" reporting on the Roma issues should look like. The local human rights journalists present explain:

The hatred has been planted so deep, there’s no space for high-minded, Western-liberal, even-handedness in broadcasting. The Roma are so beaten down by society’s perception of them, many have themselves developed low esteem for their own identity and peoplehood.

The information that follows is golden for me and others working with community-based Roma media advocacy groups. Jordan explains that human rights journalism is needed primarily for "the Roma themselves: to remind them of their humanity."

Additionally, he explains, "the second target audience was equally striking: the ordinary (majority citizens) genuinely curious about Roma culture, and those who in fact have some warm feelings for the Roma – or, at least for their Roma neighbor or colleague, past or present."

My AP fellowship's goals match just that. In my work I aim to deliver positive portrayals of the Roma to correct the deeply entrenched, damaging stereotypes so prevalent in European societies. Jordan's piece helps shed more light on yet another aspect of why this type of reporting is needed. This work is needed to boost the Roma community's self-image and morale, which will in turn strengthen the Roma emancipation movement. Pro-Roma press coverage may also help attract more allies from the majority community to advocate for social change. Profound stuff.

***
[Originally posted on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog].

In the News Today

2010-05-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International UK published a report today condemning the human rights situation of the Roma throughout the EU. Note the recent ruling in Italy, potentially enabling vigilantism against Roma.

As the EU Observer states:

Segregation of Roma continues to be a serious problem in central and eastern Europe, but also in Italy, where "unlawful forced evictions" drive them further into poverty. Italy also passed new legislation enabling local authorities to authorise associations of unarmed civilians not belonging to state or local police forces to patrol the territory of a municipality, a measure which "may result in discrimination and vigilantism", especially against Roma. Slovakia stands out particularly for Romani children segregation, with the Roma Education Fund reporting that almost 60 percent of them are put in special classes for mentally disabled, although they were not diagnosed as such. Local authorities are criticised for engaging in forced evictions and even erecting walls to separate Roma settlements from the rest of the community. Bratislava is also suspected of turning a blind eye to sterlisation of Romani women.

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[Originally published on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

Who Are the Roma?

2010-05-27T02:12:00.000-07:00

From the Roma Rights Network, an organization whose mission is to "bring attention to plight of the Roma" and "raise awareness of the Roma and the issues affecting them. . . through providing a crucial supplement to the mainstream commercial media representations of the Roma:"

["Seeking: Future. Every day the Roma are victims of racism. That's not the solution. Think about it and stop racism."]

Roma and Sinti, who make up the largest minority in Europe today with some 10 to 12 million members, share with the Jews the terrible experience of disfranchisement, persecution and systematic extermination in Nazi-occupied Europe. Half a million members fell victim to the Holocaust, an experience that is burned deep in the collective memory of the Roma and Sinti minorities, but which is still barely acknowledged by the majority in their countries of nationality. As a consequence of the Holocaust, the international political system is extremely sensitive to the various forms of anti-Semitism, whose rise we have observed with great concern in recent years. In contrast to this, there is neither an awareness of the historical dimension of the crimes of genocide committed against our minority nor of the present-day racism that Roma and Sinti are subjected to in many countries.

In the minds of many people, Roma and Sinti are still associated with homeless “nomads”. This contrasts with the historical fact that members of this minority group have been integrated in and are citizens of their respective countries of nationality for many centuries, particularly in Europe. Therefore, most of the European Governments have recognized Roma and Sinti as national minorities who, in addition to the national culture of the majority, also cultivate their own cultural identity, including their traditional language, Romany.

. . . Since the end of the cold war and the opening up of central and eastern European countries in 1990, the living conditions of the Roma and Sinti minority have drastically deteriorated as a result of nascent racism. However, racist-motivated violence and discrimination against Roma and Sinti have significantly increased in a large number of countries in western Europe. As The New York Times correctly observed in a commentary in March 1996, members of the minority are today subjected to marginalization and racism to an extent that corresponds to the situation of African-Americans in the United States up until the mid-1950s.

More here.

***
[Originally posted on Tereza Bottman's Advocacy Project blog.]

April 8: International Day of the Roma

2010-04-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the International Day of the Roma. The Roma are the largest ethnic minority in the Czech Republic, and across Europe, there are an estimated 10 million Roma people.

The Roma face intense discrimination and continue their struggle for human rights all across the continent.

As the European Roma Rights Center states, "across Europe, the fundamental rights of Roma are still being violated on a regular basis. Repetitious cases of racist violence and hate speech targeting Roma are reported frequently. Roma are also subject to discrimination in accessing employment, education, health care, and public and social services."

The Czech Roma press agency Romea.cz explains that the International Day of the Roma was established in 1971 when the first-ever World Roma Congress took place near London. The nearly thirty delegates who attended the congress "also officially established the first international Romani organization, initially called the World Romani Union. They also officially approved the use of the term 'Rom' instead of 'Gypsy'. Two more IRU congresses followed, and during the fourth congress in Warsaw in 1990, the 8th of April was recognized as an international holiday."

Again from Romea.cz:

The day was selected because it was the day on which international Roma cooperation was given the official seal of approval and the Romani movement achieved an international, sociopolitical dimension. On this day, celebrants are meant to remember their common cooperation, culture, language, origin, unity, and primarily, their Romipen.

Here is a beautiful and moving rendition of the international Romani anthem "Gelem, gelem":

The lyrics are as follows:

Gelem, gelem, lungone dromensa/I went, I went on long roads
Maladilem bakhtale Romensa/I met happy Roma
A Romale katar tumen aven,/O Roma where do you come from,
E tsarensa bahktale dromensa?/With tents on happy roads?

A Romale, A Chavale/O Roma, O brothers

Vi man sas ek bari familiya,/I once had a great family,
Murdadas la e kali legiya/The Black Legions murdered them
Aven mansa sa lumniake Roma,/Come with me Roma from all the world
Kai putaile e romane droma/For the Roma roads have opened
Ake vriama, usti Rom akana,/Now is the time, rise up Roma now,
Men khutasa misto kai kerasa/We will rise high if we act

A Romale, A Chavale/O Roma, O brothers

Even Hillary Clinton recorded today, on the occasion of The International Day of the Roma a video message advocating for Roma rights, in which she said:

"Despite important progress that has been made in the past decade, many Roma still live on the margins of society. They continue to experience racial profiling, violence, discrimination and other human rights abuses. Too often they lack identity documents or citizenship papers, which excludes them from voting, social services, education, and employment opportunities that would enable them to participate more fully in the countries in which they live. . . The United States is committed to protecting and promoting the human rights of Roma . . . I urge governments throughout Europe to continue their efforts to address the plight of Roma, end discrimination and ensure equality of opportunity in education and employment so that Roma can fulfill their greater promise of success and achievement."

US Holocaust Memorial Museum's podcast episode on human rights abuses against the Roma

2010-03-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

Rob Kushen, the Managing Director of the European Roma Rights Center, discusses human rights abuses against Roma in Europe today. Recorded in September, 2009.

Listen to this episode of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Voices on Genocide Prevention podcast episode here.

A Czech Roma activist speaks about the imperative to show the Roma as actors for change, not victims in the media

2010-03-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Lucie Horváthová is a Roma activist from the Czech city of Pardubice. Horváthová is a masters student specializing in Social Anthropology. She currently works for the Cabinet of the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities in the Czech Republic. In this video, she discusses the need for the media to show a more balanced view of the Roma, which should include success stories and positive images instead of the stereotypical portrayals of "Gypsies" as victims or perpetrators of crime.

Horváthová highlights the fact that much Roma activism within the Czech Republic is unknown to the majority population, and even to many Romanies themselves. She proposes a two-prong approach to equality and integration: social programs aimed at inclusion, and the dissemination of information about activism and the community itself. These two strategies, she says, have the potential of bridging the divide between the Czech majority and the Roma minority population.

The far-right gains in EU Parliament elections

2009-06-08T12:03:00.001-07:00

Centre-right parties have dominated over their left-wing opponents in the 2009 European Parliament elections June 4-7. Of major concern in the biggest transnational vote in history last week, are the gains for the far-right and anti-immigrant parties.

Of the approximately 375 million eligible voters in the 27 EU member states, only 43% turned out to vote for representatives to fill the 736 parliament seats. In the Czech Republic, turnout was much lower, only 28%, though approximately 75% of the laws affecting Czech citizens are decided in the EU Parliament.

Thankfully, the Czech ultra-right-wing parties did not make the cut to represent the Czech Republic in the EU governing body, the alarming news is that the far-right Workers Party (DS) got 1.07 percent in the vote. The party thus fulfilled its election goal, becoming eligible to receive money from the EU earmarked for parties that raise support topping one percent. To my dismay, the far-right also came out strong in the UK, Netherlands, Austria and Hungary.

Here is the breakdown, taken from BBC online:

UK - the far-right British National Party, which gained two seats (of 72) in Brussels - its first wins in national elections.

Austria - 2 seats of 17 for the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe)

Hungary - The far-right Jobbik ("For a Better Hungary") party also performed stronger than expected, beating the Socialists into third place. Jobbik, which blames the Roma, or Gypsies, for a perceived breakdown of law and order in the countryside, took nearly 15%, giving it three seats.

The Netherlands - The far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) of the controversial politician, Geert Wilders, stormed to second place with 17%, winning four seats (out of 25) in the European Parliament in its first attempt. Mr Wilders is facing prosecution for making anti-Islamic statements, following a Dutch court ruling in January.

As political analyst for the Times Online David Charter writes, the danger lies here:

"The gateway to . . . funding and, crucially, influence, will be opened if Europe’s far-right parties can club together to form an official parliamentary group. This will require at least 25 MEPs (up from 20 in the last session) from a minimum of seven countries . . . An official group would not only receive guaranteed speaking rights in the parliament chamber at every debate and formal occasion but also a share of the annual €26.3 million allowance for parliamentary groups. . . If the European far Right bands together, it will have the power to claim deputy chairmanships of some committees."

And by the way, the votes were pen on paper and all one needed to show was photo ID, verifying one's permanent address already in the voter database.

"Enough is Enough:" 3,000 demonstrate against neo-Nazism

2009-05-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

In 14 cities across the Czech Republic, about 3,000 people took to the streets to protest neo-Nazism and racism today in an event entitled "Enough is Enough."

The demonstrators gathered to say no to the rising wave of extremism and to show solidarity with the Roma community, which has recently been shaken by a near-fatal racially motivated attack that left a whole family -- including a two-year old girl -- severely burned and struggling for their lives.

My whole family went to the demonstration in Prague, where about 350 people participated. The speakers included representatives from Roma and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. Also present was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Shwarzenberg, and Prague's Chief Rabbi Karol Sidon, who said he was dismayed to see a lack of politicians attending and supporting the cause, especially as the government has been under heavy criticism for not responding effectively to the rising extremism.

A petition condemning the rise of neo-Nazism was circulated and donations to go to the family hurt in the recent arson attack were collected.

Milan Horvath, member of the Roma musical group Bengas, expressed in a nutshell the gravity which underlined the gathering: "This is not fun and games anymore. This situation is a matter of life and death."

Martina Horváthová of the Slovo 21 Civic Association, a Roma organization, emphasized that the Czech Republic is home to the Czech Romanies (an important point to make as racists -- and white Czechs in general -- often see the Roma as outsiders or foreigners). Horváthová said that it is everyone's right to feel safe at home and then asked the crowd whether they felt safe in their country. A unanimous "no" rocked the square.

One Roma demonstrator could be heard exclaiming: "They kill our children!" and "We're afraid for our children!" A group of demonstrators briefly joined in a chant: "Away with neo-Nazism!"

Radoslav "Gipsy" Banga, a Roma rapper from the internationally known group Gipsy.cz, in his speech urged everyone to stand up with a loud "no" to neo-Nazism and violence. He said: "Remaining silent means you tacitly agree."

[a photo of my son with our sign: "Lhostejnost? Už dost!" which rhymes and means: "Indifference? No more!"]

Rising extremism a danger to Czech minorities

2009-04-30T15:42:00.001-07:00

The Czech government, prompted by a recent racially motivated attack, which left a Roma family, including a two-year-old girl, struggling for their lives, promises to come up with a plan to fight extremism. The details regarding the plan, however, remain to be seen. The government has been promising to put such a plan into place for months.

A comprehensive survey of ethnic minorities living in Europe, conducted by The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and published earlier this month, shows that the Roma in the Czech Republic report discrimination in the largest numbers in all of Europe. The Roma (sometimes also called Romanies) experience discrimination at work, in access to education, housing and healthcare.

With extremism and racially motivated violence on the rise (more also here), the survey results only add to the pressure on policy makers in the Czech Republic, who have not shown much strength in dealing with the dangerous trend.

Roma rights organizations and activists favor a comprehensive approach, including development, education and tough-on-hate-crime legislation. Minority group advocates have been lobbying for change not only on the local and state government level, but on the level of the European Union as well. Recently, Roma activists have even asked the Pope to help by organizing a debate on the social position of Gypsies in the Czech Republic and in other European countries. Last February, a Romani activist association wrote an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama about the position of Romanies and "the expansion of nationalists" in Czech society.

A much publicized trial to dissolve the far-right Workers' Party (Dělnická strana, or DS), which has been organizing extremist rallies and provoking the Jewish and Romani communities around the country, took place in March this year. In the end, the result was that The Supreme Administrative Court rejected the government's proposal to disband the party. Many minority rights activists were dismayed about the court's decision, however, others (myself included) feel that the banning of extremist parties isn't necessarily an effective solution, as the party can -- and promised -- to reform, and also because banning parties hinges on undemocratic in a country which lauds freedom of speech as one of its credos. Furthermore, such a ban can strengthen the far-right movement under the guise of victimhood in light of persecution of the group by the state.

The outgoing Minister of Human Rights and Minorities wants to establish a committee of experts on extremism, which a number of Romani activists support as but one of the possible solutions, especially when it comes to helping shape public opinion regarding extremism and racially motivated violence, which is such a threat that Czech Roma are applying for asylum in Canada in droves. InterPress Service reports today:

Roma organisations have called on those Roma who feel unsafe in the country to leave. There are up to 300,000 Roma living in the Czech Republic, that has a population of 10 million. (. . . ) At least 853 mostly ethnic Roma Czech citizens have applied for refugee status in Canada over the last year, and 84 have obtained it. But in only the first two months of 2009, there are already new 570 Czechs, mostly Roma, seeking asylum there.

Earlier this week, the Czech press reported that the Czech police and military employ neo-Nazism and extremist movement supporters, who provide the far-right groups with sensitive information and smuggle weapons to them, thus strengthening their movement.

Additionally, according to the Roma rights activist Gwendolyn Albert, it has been revealed that skinheads serving time for violent offenses in Czech prisons are well-served by organizations that send them racist literature and pay their legal fees.

Strategies among international experts on how to curb extremism vary widely. The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the most respected and successful organizations at fighting extremist groups in the US, takes the legislative as well as educational approach. The organization tracks hate groups, providing comprehensive updates to law enforcement, and has a strong track record of fighting white supremacist legislatively. To combat the underlying causes of hate, the center runs an educational program for school children called Teaching Tolerance.

The organization People in Need (Člověk v tísni), for instance, runs educational campaigns and helps monitor hate groups in the Czech Republic in concert with similar organizations across Europe. Step by Step, Czech Republic is an example of an organization which conducts anti-bias education projects in Czech schools. There are several such organizations in the Czech Republic. However, legislative-based activism against extremist groups is quite weak here.

In its latest Hate Crime Report Card for the Czech Republic in 2007, The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, reported:

The implementation of criminal law provisions devoted to racially-motivated crimes remains inadequate, and (. . .) reports of racially-motivated violence continue unabated. This conclusion is shared by the League for Human Rights, a Czech human rights organization in its report in February 2007 to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for the Czech Republic. This observes that cases of racially motivated violence persist. Unfortunately, the cases are not always vigorously pursued by the relevant authorities. Sometimes the police play down the gravity of the violence.

Throughout Europe, members of the most vulnerable populations, when questioned about the solvency of hate crime legislation for the FRA survey, across the board stated that they are not aware of any legislative recourse:

When asked whether there is a law prohibiting discrimination against people on the basis of their ethnicity when looking for work, the majority of respondents, with the exception of the Czech Republic, either indicated that there was no such law or that they didn’t know. (. . . ) Given that EC legislation against discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin in employment is now in place throughout the EU, this lack of rights awareness suggests that the message about anti-discrimination rights is not reaching some of the most vulnerable minorities in Europe.

The survey also asked respondents to identify any organisation in their country that can offer advice or support to people who have been discriminated against for whatever reason. Between 71 and 94% of respondents could not name a single organisation. In sum, the results indicate that although roma respondents in the seven countries experience very high levels of discrimination, they are generally unaware that discrimination against them might be illegal, and they also are unable to name organisations in their country – either State bodies or NGos - that might be able to assist them.

Clearly, there is an opening for action here. A crucial step the Czech Republic can take is to pass anti-bias legislation. The country is currently -- and embarrassingly -- the only EU country without such legislation, though the EU governing body has reprimanded the country and threatened it with a fine if the Czech government doesn't pass such legislation, required by the EU charter. The existing penal code can be strengthen, as was done earlier this week in the neighboring Slovakia, where the Parliament approved tougher legislation to combat extremism. Focus must be put on law enforcement and better screening of police recruits.

Long-term solutions include training and job opportunities as well as access to sound, affordable housing, especially in smaller towns and more isolated regions, as unemployment and poverty-rates among the Roma are disproportionately high, reinforcing the stereotype of the welfare-dependent person who doesn't contribute to the society. Such sentiment is shared by countless Czechs. Recently one Czech town decided to take action against the "unadaptable people" (a euphemism racist Czechs often use to mean the Roma) who owe the city back rent. The mayor of Chomutov decided to "cleanse" the town of these "undesirables" and to send collectors to the welfare office to confiscate the residents' welfare money, which is actually unlawful. This situation drew staunch criticism from local humanitarian groups as well as the Human Rights and Minorities minister. Unfortunately, the move also gained a tremendous amount of support (including praise from the Minister of Interior), which is still gaining momentum. On the internet networking website Facebook, a petition in support of the drastic and racist measures proposed by the city has been signed by nearly 165,000 people, the largest number of Czechs that has ever signed an online petition of any kind.

On a positive note, last week a new European platform for Roma inclusion met for the first time in Prague, to improve coordination of national actions to tackle the exclusion of Europe's biggest ethnic minority. As the European Commission website reports:

The meeting brought together national governments, the EU, other international organisations and civil society and stimulated cooperation and exchange of experience on successful Roma inclusion policies. (. . . ) The meeting identified a set of basic principles to effectively address the inclusion of Roma. In addition, the European Commission will outline how it plans to target the needs of Roma people with EU-level instruments and policies in 2009 and 2010. It will report too on the implementation of a new EUR 5 million pilot project which the European Parliament has added to the 2009 Budget.

Still, the threat of violence looms for the Roma and other people of color living in the Czech Republic. May 3 is a day of solidarity with the Roma and the victims of the latest brutal racist attack. Demonstrations entitled "Enough is Enough" against extremism will take place across the country. I will be there.

Wall Street Journal: The Czech Republic Pays for Immigrants to Go Home

2009-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I wrote about the Czech government's scheme to encourage foreign workers to leave the country. The Wall Street Journal ran a story about this incentive program today:

In 2007, foreigners scooped up nearly 40% of the new jobs created in the Czech Republic. In the last five years alone, the number of immigrant workers doubled to nearly 362,000 by the end of 2008.

With demand for exports down, unemployment has soared to a two-year high of 7.7%. Economists say the rate could hit 10% by year's end, and there are signs rising joblessness is pushing some Czechs to apply for the low-wage work they once left to foreign laborers. The Czech economy is set to contract by 2% this year -- a sharp fall from a growth peak around 7% in 2006.

In February, the government, fearing crime, homelessness and immigrants overstaying visas, launched a $3 million program to pay newly jobless migrants to go home. The pitch: €500 per legal immigrant, €250 for children under 15, and the cost of the tickets home.

Since February, 1,345 immigrants have signed on for the Czech program.

Though The Wall Street Journal mentions the high debt many of the foreign workers accrue just signing up to work in the Czech Republic via the "pay-to-go programs," no word is uttered about the mafia-like nature of the pay-to-go agencies, which immigrant rights experts say need to be scrutinized much more than individual workers on whom the police have stepped up their raids. The journal doesn't speak about the dangerous myths perpetuated by politicians and the press alike, flying the flag that falsely links crime to the foreign worker communities, and thus helps fuel the xenophobic sentiment already so prevalent among the Czechs.

For the rest of the article, go here.

Racism, discrimination of minorities widespread in Europe, especially the Czech Republic

2009-04-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last week, a report based on yet the most comprehensive survey of ethnic minorities living in Europe conducted concluded that "the majority experience racism and discrimination on a day-to-day basis," with the Roma and Africans at the highest risk. In fact, "around 90 percent of North Africans in Italy and France reported discrimination, while around 85 percent of Roma living in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Greece said they had been treated with prejudice because of their ethnicity." As a group, the Roma reported the highest overall levels of being discriminated against of all groups surveyed.

The Czech Republic "leads" the pack with the highest percentage in all of Europe of Roma reporting discrimination. About 83 percent of Czech Romanies, of whom there are estimated to be 250,000 in the country of just over 10 million, believe that discrimination is rife in the Czech Republic.

The report by the EU’s agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found that "minorities reported racially-motivated obstacles when looking for work or a home to rent or buy, when trying to open a bank account or get a loan, when dealing with healthcare, social services or school officials. They also experienced discrimination when entering cafes, restaurants and shops."

One of the key findings was that racist crime, harassment and discrimination are grossly underreported. As a matter of fact, 80 percent of the minority respondents stated that they did not go to the authorities about the racist crimes they or ethnically inspired bias they witnessed or experienced, reflecting the belief that little could be done to tackle the problem.

FRA concludes that "the results suggest a sense of resignation among ethnic minorities and immigrants who lack confidence in the mechanisms designed to protect victims of discrimination or racist crime. The main reason given for not reporting incidents was that respondents felt that nothing would happen following their complaint."

Additionally, "80% of the respondents did not know of any organisation that could offer support or advice to victims of discrimination." The survey thus "demonstrates an urgent need for better information, but could also reflect a real absence of effective support services in many Member States," states the FRA report.

The main purpose of the report was to provide statistical evidence in order to support anti-discriminatory policy-making across the EU.

Incidentally, the Czech Republic, which got the worst grade regarding racism and discrimination experienced by the Roma of all of Europe, is the only EU27 Bloc member state without anti-discriminatory legislation in place, for which the EU court has reprimanded the country. Shame on Czech politicians!

study: women and the Roma face discrimination in the Czech job market

2009-04-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

This week, it was reported in the Czech press that, according to Social Watch, an international human rights watchdog, Czech women and the largest racial minority, the Roma, are discriminated against in the job market.

As I also wrote on this blog last month, Czech women’s salaries are, on the average, 25% lower than men’s. Furthermore, Social Watch has found this:

Women are also overrepresented in the secondary market, where labour positions are characterized by lower prestige, worse working conditions and higher insecurity. Those with children up to six years of age and women-breadwinners are particularly threatened by long-term unemployment and poverty. In a recent survey, 13.2% of Czech women reported that they had suffered sexual harassment at work.

The study examined women’s representation in places of power. It found that "in 2007 women’s representation was 11% in the Government, 15.5% in the Chamber of Deputies, 13.6% in the Senate, 15% in regional councils and 25% in municipal councils." Worldwide, the average percentage of women in government positions is 17%, though the minimum benchmark of at least 30 percent was established in 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Peking.

Though 97 countries around the world have mandated quota for numbers of women in government, no quota systems or other forms of affirmative action have yet been proposed in the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek was, in fact, quoted by Social Watch as declaring at the inauguration of the European Year of Equal Opportunities in April 2007:

As to women – who in my opinion do not represent a disadvantaged group, even though they are usually designated as such – we cannot talk about equal opportunities (…). A woman has the freedom to decide not to have children and by making that choice, I am convinced, she can have the same professional opportunities a man has.

In addition to women, the Roma (a self-identifying term used instead of the derogative term Gypsies), are severely discriminated against in the market place. Social Watch states that the Roma, who represent 3% of the population, have "a dog’s chance for equal rights."

The report continues:

Although they became a recognized ethnic minority after 1989, growing inequality caught a significant part of the Roma population in the trap of social exclusion and ghettos started to spring up. The Roma suffer discrimination in the labour market and in education. Restaurants frequently refuse to serve them. Racist-based aggression, sometimes ending in the death of the victim, has increased (...) Housing discrimination exacerbates spatial exclusion. More than 300 slums and slum-like housing estates are inhabited largely by some 80,000 Roma.

On the whole, the report states, public services in the Czech Republic have been gradually shrinking. The Government is implementing a far-reaching privatization of public services, including health services, and the the gap between rich and poor is growing.

***

Tento týden byla v tisku zveřejněna zpráva mezinárodní organizace Social Watch, že český trh diskriminuje ženy a Romy. Podle této organizace, která monituruje pokroky a nedostatky v boji proti chudobě a za rovnost mužů a žen, ženy v České republice vydělávají o 25 procent méně než muži a častěji zastávají pracovní pozice s nízkou prestiží. Ženy jsou také více ohroženy nezaměstnaností. Matkám dětí do šesti let a ženám, které jsou hlavami rodiny, obzvláště hrozí dlouhodobá nezaměstnanost a chudoba.

Zpráva také informuje o tom, že 13.2% žen v Česku v nedávném průzkumu uvedlo, že se v práci setkává se sexuálním obtěžováním.

Šetření se zabývalo i podílem žen na moci. Podle SW "v roce 2007 bylo ve vládě 11%, v Parlamentu 15.5%, v Senátu 13.6% a 15% v regionalních radách a 25% v městských radách." Celosvětový průměrný podíl žen v zákonodárných orgánech je 17%, i když na Mezinárodní konferenci žen v Pekingu v roce 1995 byla stanovena minimální 30 procentní reprezentace.

I když v součastnosti existuje 97 zemí s kvótami na poměr žen v politice, v České republice se zatím návrhy na podobná opatření nevyskytla. Předseda vlády Mirek Topolanek, ocitován organizací Social Watch, se naopak vyjádřil proti podpoře rovnoprávnosti při slavnostním zahájení Evropského roku rovných příležitostí v dubnu 2007:

V případě žen – což není znevýhodněná menšina, ale obvykle se tak o ní mluví – rovněž nelze mluvit o rovnosti příležitostí. Těhotenství a mateřství je výsadou žen a tato výsada činí ženy apriorně odlišnými od mužů. Například na trhu práce (...) Žena se může svobodně rozhodnout děti nemít a pak jsem přesvědčen, že má stejné příležitosti uplatnění jako muž.

Český pracovní trh dále diskriminuje Romy, kteří tvoří 3% populace a podle zprávy SW mají "mizernou příležitost (doslova pod psa) dosáhnout rovnoprávnosti" s majoritou.

Zpráva pokračuje:

Ačkoliv jsou Romové oficiálně uznáváni za etnickou menšinu od roku 1989, zvětšující se nerovnoprávnost je svrhla do pasti sociálního vyloučení a díky jí se začala objevovat ghetta. Romové jsou diskriminováni na trhu práce a ve vzdělání. Restaurace je často odmítají obsluhovat. Množství zločinu podloženým rasovou agresí, někdy končící až i smrtí oběti, se zvyšuje (...) Diskriminace v bydlení stav vyloučení zhoršuje. Ve více než 300 chudinských čtvrtích a slumům podobných osadách žije přibližně 80.000 Romů.

Dále zpráva zahrnovala informace o tom, že veřejné programy se v České republice postupně ruší. Vláda provádí rozsáhlou privatizaci veřejných služeb, včetně zdravotnictví a rozdíl mezi chudými a bohatými roste.

Fascism rears its ugly head again

2008-11-25T02:19:00.000-08:00

In the heart of Europe, the beast of fascism rears
its ugly head, the Roma fear for their lives

With the horrors of Kristallnacht fresh on the minds of many, only days after the seventieth anniversary of the violent night that ushered in the Holocaust, it is evident that in the heart of Europe the beast of fascism is awake, rearing its ugly head again, causing some to be afraid for their lives.

Last year on the day of the Kristallnacht pogrom anniversary, some 400 Neo-Nazis were blocked from marching in Prague's Jewish Quarter by police and three thousand [1] anti-fascist activists who gathered in front of a Prague synagogue dedicated to the memory of some 77,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust from the former Czechoslovakia.

This November, the commemoration on the anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass in Prague took place without any calamities. But the epicenter of recent neo-Nazi activity has shifted 70 miles northwest of Prague to the town of Litvinov where on October 18 and November 17 of this year, right-wing extremists staged large-scale, violent demonstrations, targeting the Roma minority. The Roma, like the Jews, had been targeted, deported and nearly exterminated in a genocide perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II. [2]

Today, all across Europe [3] and the U.S. [4] right-wing extremism and hate crime is on the rise.

On November 17, stones, firecrackers, bottle rockets, gas bombs, pepper spray and people's screams filled the air of Litvinov. A battle ensued between a thousand police in riot gear and seven hundred to fifteen hundred (depends on the source) right-wing extremists, waving Nazi flags and wearing Nazi arm-bands and colors. They shouted racist slogans and tried to incite the Roma to violence. The locals joined in, clapping, cheering and cursing the Roma. [5]. This was named the "toughest clash of police and far-rightists since 2000" in the Czech Republic. [6]

Where were the anti-facist and human activists last Monday? Only a handful of allies showed up to peacefully protest with the Litvinov Roma, though Green Peace [7] and Amnesty International [8] issued statements condemning the recent wave of extremist actions targeting the Roma.

In the Czech society [9], and in Europe as a whole [10], racism runs deep. So deep that Czech Roma community members and leaders have voiced fear that the demonstrations, which have so far been reigned in by the police who bore the brunt of the violence carried out by the extremists, could spill over and cause "mass killings of innocent people" in the minority communities. [11]

And the instigator, the Workers' Party, which the Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek agrees should be dismantled [12], has promised to return to Litvinov with a vengeance, very possibly before the end of November. [13]

Though last year, the European Union's Parliament adopted a new resolution on combating the rise of extremism in Europe, [14], Roma rights activists have criticized the Czech government as well as the European Union [15] for not condemning extremists' actions [16] and for not doing enough to address the needs of the Roma communities across the continent.

Study after study has shown that the approximately 9 million Roma living in the 27 countries of the European Union suffer widespread poverty, social exclusion, poor health, low educational levels and high unemployment. [17] The Czech Republic, it must be noted, is the only one of all the EU states that has yet to implement an anti-discrimination law. Such law is required by an EU directive. However, last May, President Václav Klaus vetoed the government-proposed anti-discrimination bill, with the words: "I consider the proposed bill useless, counterproductive and low-quality." [18]. There has been no follow-up on the bill since other than the European Commission threatening to file a lawsuit or impose a high fine on the Czech government for failing to adopt anti-discrimination legislation. [19]

Numbers of watchdogs and prominent political figures warn that the situation is only bound to get worse as the recession deepens and unemployment skyrockets. [20, 21] Some have even speculated that "Eastern Europe's slavish appropriation of neoliberalism is leading to a big increase in extreme rightwing crime." [22].

What is needed, says Cyril Koky, member of the government council for Romany affairs, is "for the Roma to be able to work." [23]

"The government should, for instance, institute tax incentives for businesses willing to hire so-called problematic citizens (as the Roma are often referred to)." Koky went on to say that he believes affirmative action laws would be effective in combatting inequality. Though the "regional governments are the ones who bare the main responsibility for improving the situations in the ghettos," Koky said, "the state government body should work on changing the laws to make it more difficult for extremists to assemble." [24]

The Council of the Regional Roma Representatives (GRRP), however, urges that the situation is so dire that lofty ideas about what the Czech Republic should do to better the situation of the Roma regarding education, housing, and employment have become secondary. "It is of utmost importance now," they say in their statement regarding the November 17 extremist provocation, "that the Czech state prevent the massacring of Roma children, women and men."[25]

"For the Roma population, the 17th of November marked the collapse of all human rights and civil liberties that are possible in a civilized society and guaranteed to all human beings. In the Czech Republic, anti-Roma sentiment has turned into a life threat." [26]

FOOTNOTES:

1. http://romove.radio.cz/en/article/21674 - "Neo-Nazis fail to march through Prague's Jewish Quarter,: Czech Radio, November 12, 2007

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust - "Holocaust," Wikipedia

3. http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/disc/2007/alert/268/index.htm - "New Report Finds Hate Crimes on the Rise in Many Parts of Europe," Human Rights First, June 6, 2007

4. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=762 - "The Year in Hate," Southern Poverty Law Center, Spring 2007

5. http://www.romea.cz/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_5217 - "Lidé neonacistům tleskali. A bude hůř, soudí odborník na extremismus," iDNES.cz, November 18, 2008

6. http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1100 - "CzechRep sees toughest clash of police, far-rightists since 2000," Romea.cz, November 17, 2008

7. http://www.romarights.net/content/czechs-greens-want-govt-discuss-extremists-actions - "Czechs Greens want govt to discuss extremists' actions," Roma
Rights Network, October 30, 2008

8. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/czech-anti-roma-demonstrators-clash-with-police20081119 - "CZECH ANTI-ROMA DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH POLICE," Amnesty
International, November 19, 2008

9. http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1096 - "Czech Romanies' position on society margins not changing much," Romea.cz, November 10, 2008

10. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=518&langId=en - "The
European Union and Roma," European Commission.

11. http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1097 - "Czech Republic faces great civic disturbances-Romany activist ," Romea.cz, November 19, 2008

12. http://aktualne.centrum.cz/czechnews/clanek.phtml?id=622501 - "PM Topolánek to back up ban of Workers' Party," Aktualne.cz, November 19, 2008

13. "Neonaciste hrozi dalsimi akcemi," Pravo newspaper, Zpravodajstvi section, page 5, November 20, 2008

14. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?Type=TA&Reference=P6-TA-2007-0623&language=EN - "European Parliament resolution of 13 December 2007 on combating the
rise of extremism in Europe," European Parliament, December 13, 2007

15. http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1060 - "EU criticized at first European Roma summit," Romea.cz, September 17, 2008

16. http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1097 - "Czech Republic faces great civic disturbances-Romany activist," Romea.cz, November 19, 2008

17. http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/fundamental_rights/policy/aneval/stureps_en.htm
- "Studies and reports on discrimination-related issues," European Commission, July 2008

18. http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/05/28/klaus-vetoes-crucial-anti-discrimination-bill.php - "Klaus vetoes crucial anti-discrimination bill," The Prague Post Online, May 28, 2008

19. http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=339920 - "Debate on Czech anti-discrimination law put off," Ceske noviny, October 21, 2008

20. http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL128784320080901 - "Recession could spark rise in crime and extremism," Reuters UK, September 1, 2008

21. "Clen vladni rady Koky: Hrozi obcanske nepokoje," Pravo newspaper, Zpravodajstvi section, page 5, November 20, 2008

22. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/may/07/graveerrors - "Grave errors," Guardian UK, May 7, 2007

23. "Utoku na Romy bude pribyvat," iDnes newspaper, page A5, November 20, 2008

24. ibid

25. http://www.romea.cz/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_5223 - "GRRP: Český stát musí zabránil masakrování romských dětí, žen a mužů," Romea.cz, November 19, 2008

26. ibid

BBC podcast on the relationship between Czech Roma and the majority Czech population

2007-06-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Listen here.

The twenty-minute-long special, which aired on the BBC on June 1, 2007, covers the politics of the construction of Roma ghettos, forced sterilization of Roma women, segregation and inequity in schooling, and more.

The global nature of racism - Part I: Healthcare

2007-05-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

crossposted on the White Anti-Racist Parent blog.

As I do my daily dose of self-education about racism, I find so many similarities between institutional racism across the world. For example, just in the last two weeks, a number of news stories have come out about reports on inequities in health care for various groups of color in several countries.

For example, the Colorlines Magazine article I mentioned in an earlier post, discusses racial disparities in healthcare and the conscequences of "colorblind" policies on the health of people of color. The article includes such alarming statistics as:

- Blacks are dying at a 40 percent higher rate than whites &

- The infant mortality gap between Blacks and whites doubled between 1950 and 2002.

Though heavily edited by the Bush administration, the National Healthcare Disparities Report, cited in the Colorlines article, and released in 2002, reveals that "racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities are national problems that affect health care at all points in the process, at all sites of care, and for all medical conditions—in fact, disparities are pervasive in our health care system."

This according to Kai Wright, writing for Colorlines:

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report "rocked the healthcare world. Conventional wisdom had thus far been that racial health disparities were primarily due to access to care, that people of color got sick and died more often because they were more likely to be uninsured or underinsured.

But the IOM study asserted that much more was at play. It declared that even given the same insurance, the same income and the same type of treatment facility, people of color were less likely to receive quality care. The disturbing gap existed across a wide range of treatments-breast cancer screenings, angioplasties, hip fracture repairs, and on and on. Whites were even more likely to get an eye exam than nonwhites.

The IOM cited a host of complex and dynamic causes for this inequality. There were structural factors, such as financial incentives to limit services given to poor patients; communication factors like missing translators or English-only signage and literature; even factors driven by the patients themselves, whose own beliefs and preferences led them to refuse certain types of care or fail to follow doctors' instructions. But what grabbed everyone's attention was the IOM's charge that at least part of the disparity results from care providers making racist and stereotyped decisions about when and what treatment to offer." (emphasis mine)

Now compare this to a study that was just released last week, on May 8th in Australia, which found that "Aboriginal health in Australia was 100 years behind the rest of the population in quality."

"Leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis haven't been experienced in white populations for decades, but they are still problems for some indigenous communities," WHO researcher Lisa Jackson Pulver, quoted in a Reuters article, said.

(If you read the article, notice the unethical insertion of the journalist's/editor's bigoted opinion in the sentence describing the issue of governmental budget allocations needed to: "drag Aborigines off welfare.")

The Australian study found that "Australia's Aborigines live 17 years less on average than other Australians."

The article continutes:

"Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up two percent of the 20 million population. They have consistently been the nation's most disadvantaged group, with far higher rates of unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence.

The report said Australia ranked last among first world countries New Zealand, Canada and the United States for life expectancy among indigenous people.

While Australia's Aborigines died nearly 20 years younger than other citizens, in other countries the figure was seven years. For infants, the mortality figure was three times the rate of non-indigenous Australians."

And, finally, compare this to yet another study, released last month regarding the access to health care for the Eastern and Southern European Roma ("Gypsy") population. The study states:

"For the millions of Roma living in Central and Eastern Europe and South Eastern Europe, persistent discrimination and marginalization are a daily reality that results in poorer health for individuals and communities. Roma make up the largest ethnic minority in these countries with an overall population estimated at 5 to 6 million people. Available data consistently shows higher rates of illness and mortality among Roma than in majority populations."

These are some of the findings:

- Life expectancy for Roma populations in Eastern Europe is about 10 years less than the overall population.

- Infant mortality rates are twice as high among the Roma than the non-Roma in the Czech Republic (my country of birth!!!), Slovakia, and Hungary.

- It is widely agreed that TB, HIV/AIDS, and viral hepatitis disproportionately affect minority populations in Eastern and Central Europe. In a Serbian Roma community, the TB prevalence rate was found to be more than 2.5 times the national average.

And here is the pinnacle, for me, of the last study:

The disparities in healthcare are due to "direct discrimination by government policies" and health care providers. Sound familiar? The study states that "an overwhelming majority (95 percent) of the Roma women who had experienced gender discrimination also believed that health care professionals discriminate against Roma."

I have shared here the results of three different studies from three different continents. The U.S. study incorporated the health care disparities for a number of minority groups, though my quotes illustrated the impact of the disparities on African Americans. The other studies each focused on a single group - the Aborigines, or Native people of Australia, and the Roma, the largest ethnic minority in Europe, perceived as a "race" and racially discriminated against by many white Europeans.

What all these studies bring home is that institutional racism is real worldwide and that what ties these discriminatory practices together is institutionalized White Supremacy. That so much suffering happens worldwide at the hand of White Supremacy, is all ll the more reason to work on dismantling it.

these, too, are my people

2007-05-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is cross-posted on the White Anti-Racist Parent blog.

When I think about who "my people" are, you know, the communities I identify with, the first group I'll usually list is Czechs. I am a Czech by birth and nationality. (My son is also Czech; he actually has dual citizenship.) I lived in the Czech Republic until I was fourteen. I still have close family and friends there, I'm fluent in the language, and go back frequently. So I feel close affinity with Czech people. But it troubles me deeply to know how racist my people are.

In March of this year in Geneva, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reviewed the Czech Republic's compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The findings are devastating, yet no surprise to those of us who've been following the developments in the country's minority/majority race relations.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, in the Czech Republic, whites make up about 97% of the population. The Roma (also known by the derogatory term Gypsies) are the largest group of color, who make up somewhere between 1 and 2% of the total population. The Roma people have suffered persecution for centuries. During World War II, more than 90% of Czech Roma died in Nazi concentration camps.

Today the discrimination continues. According to CERD, these are the manifestations of (institutionalized) racism against the Roma in the Czech Republic today:

- Racial segregation in education. Approximately 70% of Roma children are being categorized as mentally handicapped, and therefore receiving a substandard level of education.

- Vulnerability to evictions and segregation in housing.

- Coercive sterilizations of Romani women. Under communism, the Czech Government sterilised Romani women programmatically, as part of policies aimed at reducing the "high, unhealthy" birth rate of Romani women. These practices are still being perpetrated today.

- Racial prejudice against the Roma people. According to a recent opinion poll, 76% of the white Czech population describe persons of Romani origin as "very unlikable."

- Police brutality. Roma are common targets of violence by the police.

These are findings reported in 2007! The report inevitably concludes that "the measures taken on behalf of the Czech Government to combat racial prejudices and discrimination against Roma people currently remain insufficient."

Based on the above findings, Prague Daily Monitor reports, CERD made the demand that:

The government [must] report back to the Committee within one year – instead of the usual five - on four key areas: adoption of the Anti-Discrimination Act, reparations to victims of coercive sterilization, ending segregated education, and establishing an “institution…to receive complaints of racial discrimination.”

The full text of CERD's recommendations can be viewed here

When I think about all this discrimination taking place in my country of birth, I feel sad, angry, sick to my stomach, and sometimes very alone. Racism is so ingrained in most white Czechs that embedding in their consciousness even the idea that the Roma are people too seems farfetched.

I remember an incident that shook me to the core once. I was back in the Czech Rebublic during one summer while in college. A university professor that I had assumed was quite progressive and open-minded, told a racist joke in a group of white Czechs and my American boyfriend. I challenged the professor. He looked me square in the eyes, and in everyone's presence proclaimed: "Yeah, I am a racist. So what?"

All I could do was stare at him wide-eyed with nothing left to say for a moment. I walked away and cried, realizing people like him, too, are my people. Aware of their own racism, but indifferent to it and to the people their attitudes hurt.

What heartens me is the work of young Roma journalists and activists who are fighting to educate, organize, and reverse the discriminatory history of the country. I have met a couple of them. Jarmila Balážová, for example. You can read her bio as well as an interview about her perception of the relationship between the whites and the Roma here.

Unfortunately, I don't know many whites fighting the fight. They are out there, but I haven't met them yet. I only know of one white Czech woman, Milena Hübschmannová, who fought for and with the Roma. According to The Guardian, "She was a professor of Romany studies at Prague's Charles University, and one of the leading experts of her generation, if not of all time, on Roma culture and language." Dzeno Association, an organization serving to promote Roma human rights and an end to discrimination and racism, said of Hübschmannová: "She was well loved for her modesty and her willingness to help among Roma both in the Czech Republic and abroad. We knew her as a loving, good-hearted woman and we will remember her as such." She is one of my heroes. She died in 2005.

If I ever move back, which my family may very likely do for some time, I want to work alongside the Roma activists as a white ally. I hope I am not one of these "pseudo-humaniarian people" that Jarmila in her interview says "feel something for the Roma - even if it's compassion, admiration, or even love - as if a single mass." She says these people "love the Roma, just as foolishly as [those who] hate them." I constantly question my motives with all this anti-racist work that I want to do. I don't want to do it for the wrong reasons. But this wasn't supposed to be about me. Back to Jarmila, whom I admire because though she sometimes feels that "certain powerlessness, when you can't budge that boulder that slightest bit you'd like to," she keeps on plugging away. Bold and unstoppable, against the current of hatred spouted by people who are white and Czech like me.