Archive: Society | Minorities Minorities
‘Neo-Nazi‘ fighter pulled from martial arts show as media, sponsors protest
The organisers of a martial arts show in Prague have bowed to pressure from
the media and sponsors and cancelled an appearance by a Hungarian fighter
who’s covered from head to toe in Nazi tattoos. Attila Petrovszki, a
Mixed Martial Arts fighter from Hungary, had been due to appear at the
event - his tattoos covered in a T-shirt - on Friday; now organisers are
looking for a replacement. More
Report claims number of anti-Semitic internet posts is on the rise
According to a report annually compiled by the Jewish community in Prague,
the number of anti-Semitic statements made on Czech internet in 2012
increased three-fold compared to the previous year. More direct actions
targeting Jews, however, did not see a significant rise around the Czech
Republic. More
Is the Czech media helping give Romanies a bad name?
A survey out this week has put Romanies at the bottom of the ladder as the
least popular minority in the Czech Republic. It is not for the first time
that they hold this unenviable position, nor is it likely to be the last.
So what makes the Romany minority so unacceptable in the eyes of the
majority white population? According to the Czech government agency for
social inclusion the media is partly to blame. More
AI launches Europe-wide campaign to end discrimination against Roma
Marking International Roma Day on Monday, Amnesty International has just
launched a Europe-wide campaign entitled Human Rights Here, Roma Rights
Now. It aims to end persisting discrimination and segregation that an
estimated six million Roma face in many European countries, including the
Czech Republic. Mark Martin, the head of Amnesty International’s Czech
branch, explains what the campaign hopes to achieve. More
Plight of gay Palestinians hiding out in Israel subject of OW film The Invisible Men
At the start of The Invisible Men, which is being shown at the One World
festival of human rights documentaries in Prague, a gay Palestinian named
Louie describes how his father – on discovering his sexual orientation
– brutally attacked him, slashing his face open with a knife. Louie has
moved to Israel where he is relatively safe (and even wears a Star of David
to blend in), but he faces great uncertainty every day. Prior to a
screening, the film’s Israeli director Yariv Mozer outlined the
predicament of such “invisible men”. More
Rap video exhorts Roma parents not to send children to special school
A new rap video exhorting Roma parents not to allow their kids to be sent
to special schools for the mentally handicapped is currently doing the
rounds on YouTube. So far it’s been seen over 25,000 times, a respectable
number for the Czech Republic, and has several hundred ‘likes’. It’s
the work of a Czech NGO involved in the decade-long struggle to get Roma
kids into regular primary schools. More
Education ministry planning effective action against discrimination of Romanies in the education system
The Czech Education Ministry has unveiled a new series of comprehensive
measures aimed at removing widespread discrimination of Romany children in
the Czech education system. Although the European Commission has long urged
the Czech Republic to address the problem little corrective action has been
taken since the matter was first raised in 1998. More
Students highlight segregation in education during Roma Week
This week, a group of university students is organizing a series of events
in Prague focused on the segregation of Roma children in Czech schools and
the media image of the country’s Romani minority. Held in cooperation
with the human rights group AI, the Roma week reiterates concerns about the
continued education inequality that the international community has been
voicing for some time, and which is a growing issue for young Czechs as
well. More
The black experience in the Czech Republic
In the past 20 years, the number of foreigners living in the Czech Republic
has increased dramatically as a consequence of the opening of the Iron
Curtain. Still, the country is far from being as diverse as most other
European nations, for example France or Germany, and the vast majority of
the Czech population remains Caucasian. During communism, the few black
people who lived here stuck out like a sore thumb. Nowadays, their number
has of course increased, but the size of the black community is still quite
small. More
Jakub Polák, doyen of the Czech anarchist scene, dies aged 60
The death has been announced of the veteran anarchist Jakub Polák,
regarded as the leading light of the Czechoslovak and later Czech anarchist
movement. The founder of numerous anarchist initiatives and long-time
editor of the anarchist paper A-kontra, Polák was perhaps best known for
his public – and at times unpopular – defence of the Roma community. More
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