Czech attitudes towards the Roma: 'Expecting more of Havel's country'?

Europe - Asia Studies

Volumn 53, Issue 8, 2001, Pages 1193-1219

  Fawn, Rick ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL RELATIONS; ETHNICITY; NATIONAL IDENTITY; PUBLIC ATTITUDE;

ARTICLE; CIVIL RIGHTS; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; CULTURAL FACTOR; CZECH REPUBLIC; ECONOMICS; EDUCATION; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNOLOGY; GIPSY; GOVERNMENT; HISTORY; HUMAN; HUMAN RIGHTS; LEGAL ASPECT; MINORITY GROUP; MINORITY HEALTH; POLICY; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PUBLIC RELATIONS; SOCIAL PROBLEM; SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY;

CIVIL RIGHTS; CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS; CULTURAL DIVERSITY; CZECH REPUBLIC; ETHNIC GROUPS; GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS; GYPSIES; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANS; MINORITY GROUPS; MINORITY HEALTH; PREJUDICE; PUBLIC POLICY; PUBLIC RELATIONS; RACE RELATIONS; SOCIAL PROBLEMS;

CZECH REPUBLIC;

EID: 0035194063     PISSN: 09668136     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09668130120093192     Document Type: Article

References (128)

1. Different spellings and terminology are used in English for the Romani people. The article employs 'Rom' when referring to a single person, 'Roma' for the group, and 'Romani' as an adjective.
2. Some Czech commentators insist that such Western thinking about Czech 'liberalism and tolerance' is misguided, including one of the specialist reviewers of this article. Features of recent Czech politics have come under increasing criticism, such as the 'Velvet Corruption' depicted in the penultimate chapter of Aviezer Tucker, The Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patočka to Havel (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000). Societies and polities differ from ideals and this is considered in Rick Fawn, The Czech Republic: A Nation of Velvet (Amsterdam and Reading, Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000). A senior Czech official said that the views of the book were much more optimistic than his.
3. Some Czech commentators insist that such Western thinking about Czech 'liberalism and tolerance' is misguided, including one of the specialist reviewers of this article. Features of recent Czech politics have come under increasing criticism, such as the 'Velvet Corruption' depicted in the penultimate chapter of Aviezer Tucker, The Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patočka to Havel (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000). Societies and polities differ from ideals and this is considered in Rick Fawn, The Czech Republic: A Nation of Velvet (Amsterdam and Reading, Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000). A senior Czech official said that the views of the book were much more optimistic than his.
4. Czech Prime Minister Miloš Zeman admitted this, for example, during a state visit to Latvia. ČTK, 1 November 1999.
5. Rob McRae, Resistance and Revolution: Václav Havel's Czechoslovakia (Ottawa, Carleton University Press, 1997), p. 321.
6. Sharon L. Wolchik, 'The Czech Republic and Slovakia', in Zoltan Barany & Ivan Volgyes (eds), The Legacies of Communism in Eastern Europe (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), p. 169.
7. For the comparative public opinion she cites 'Attitudes toward Jews in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia: A Comparative Survey', American Jewish Committee and Freedom House, January 1991.
8. Lidové noviny, 3 February 1995.
9. Zemedelské noviny, 10 July 1995; see also Fedor Gál, O jinakosti (Prague, G plus G, 1998).
10. Zemedelské noviny, 10 July 1995; see also Fedor Gál, O jinakosti (Prague, G plus G, 1998).
11. Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence (New York, W.W. Norton, 2000), p. 73, also citing the then forthcoming book by John K. Glenn now published as Framing Democracy: Civil Society and Civic Movements in Eastern Europe (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2001).
12. Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence (New York, W.W. Norton, 2000), p. 73, also citing the then forthcoming book by John K. Glenn now published as Framing Democracy: Civil Society and Civic Movements in Eastern Europe (Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2001).
13. Estimating the number of Roma has always been difficult for social and political reasons; in the post-communist era governments potentially have an interest in underestimating numbers and Romani organisations the opposite.
14. The Economist, 11 September 1999, p. 59. For an assessment of the difficulties of establishing exact numbers for the Roma, especially in the early period of post-communism, see André Liebich, 'Minorities in Eastern Europe: Obstacles to Reliable Count', RFE/RL Research Report, 1, 20, 15 May 1992, pp. 32-39.
15. The Economist, 11 September 1999, p. 59. For an assessment of the difficulties of establishing exact numbers for the Roma, especially in the early period of post-communism, see André Liebich, 'Minorities in Eastern Europe: Obstacles to Reliable Count', RFE/RL Research Report, 1, 20, 15 May 1992, pp. 32-39.
16. Cited in Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey (London, Chatto & Windus, 1995), p. 293. On p. 14 she gives the full phrase as 'the Gypsies are a litmus test not of democracy but of a civil society'.
17. Linda Grant, 'In the Ghetto', The Guardian Weekend, 25 July 1998, p. 17.
18. As is discussed elsewhere, figures from various sources place unemployment among Czech Roma at as high as 80 or 90%.
19. This is not to suggest that every member of a nation can be said to hold the same view, although these opinions were frequently and clearly articulated, and none wished to have a name recorded. These extreme views, including reference to biological criminality, have been made by the far-right Republicans. This is discussed below.
20. Mladá fronta Dnes, 7 February 1998.
21. Report on the Situation of the Romani Community in the Czech Republic and Government Measures Assisting its Integration in Society, 1997b, Section I, p. 17, amended quotation from Will Guy, 'Another False Dawn? The Roma of the Czech Republic and Slovakia', in Will Guy (ed.), Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe (Hatfield, University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001).
22. Report on the Situation of the Romani Community in the Czech Republic and Government Measures Assisting its Integration in Society, 1997b, Section I, p. 17, amended quotation from Will Guy, 'Another False Dawn? The Roma of the Czech Republic and Slovakia', in Will Guy (ed.), Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe (Hatfield, University of Hertfordshire Press, 2001).
23. See České Slovo, 12 April 2000.
24. Petr Janyška, 'Menšina a většina', Respekt, 1, 6 January 1992.
25. Czech Helsinki Committee, Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic in 1995, January 1996, p. 37.
26. A pub owner convicted of refusing to serve Roma was subsequently acquitted for lack of evidence establishing a pattern of discrimination. Human Rights Watch, World Report 1999: Czech Republic, http:hrw.org/hrw/worldreport99/europe/czech.html.
27. Czech Helsinki Committee, Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic in 1995, January 1996, p. 37.
28. Fonseca, Bury Me Standing, p. 145.
29. ČTK, 18 October 1999, and RFE/RL Newsline, 19 October 1999.
30. Statement from the British Embassy entitled 'Pre-Clearance Checks at Prague Airport', 17 July 2001.
31. See Mladá fronta Dnes, 20 July 2001, and Petra Breyerová, 'Czech Republic: Don't Get on That Plane', Transitions-on-Line, 17-23 July 2001, http://www.tol.cz/week.html.
32. See Mladá fronta Dnes, 20 July 2001, and Petra Breyerová, 'Czech Republic: Don't Get on That Plane', Transitions-on-Line, 17-23 July 2001, http://www.tol.cz/week.html.
33. Kate Swoger, 'Britain Screens Travelers', The Prague Post, 25 July 2001.
34. Lidové noviny, 8 March 1996, citing Czech non-governmental organisations.
35. United States Department of State, Human Rights Report, The Czech Republic, 1999, p. 21.
36. Reported in Mladá fronta Dnes, 24 May 1997.
37. This thinking is routinely expressed by Czechs of all ages, educations and professions. The quotation is cited in Jaroslav Spurný, 'Hádka u výstaviště', Respekt, 42, 21 October 1991.
38. Some Roma have assimilated, including taking on routine work and in these cases seem to be accepted by workmates.
39. Mladá fronta Dnes, 23 March 1996.
40. Nova Television, 4 May 2000; see also BBC Monitoring, http://www.centraleurope.com/ features.php3?id=157200.
41. Political Extremism and the Threat to Democracy in Europe (London, Institute of Jewish Affairs for CERA, 1994), p. 19.
42. Lidové noviny, 12 June 1995.
43. Fedor Gál, in Zemědělské noviny, 10 July 1995.
44. Randall Lyman, 'Mixed Reviews: A Human Rights Report on the Czech Republic', Prognosis, 7 December 1994.
45. See Czech media commentary in ČTK, 13 October 1999.
46. Grant, 'In the Ghetto', p. 19.
47. Stanislav Penc & Jan Urban, 'Extremist Acts Galvanize Roma Population', Transitions, 5,7, July 1998, p. 39.
48. Mladá fronta Dnes, 23 March 1996.
49. See the summary in Human Rights Watch Report, Czech Republic: Human Rights Developments (1999), http://www.hrw.org/hrw/wr2kEca-08.htm.
50. Kathleen Knox, 'Government Steps Up Fight Against Hate Crime', The Prague Post, 11 July 1995.
51. Reflex, 25 August 1995.
52. Stated on Romani affairs programme 'O Roma Vakeren', 21 April 2000, Czech Radio, BBC Monitoring transcription.
53. Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Developments: Czech Republic, http:www.hrw. organization/hrw/wr2k/Eca-08.htm.
54. ČTK, 14 March 2001. This is not to say that Romani activists felt the sentences were sufficient. Said one: 'I cannot blame the judge. But given the great social threat which the behaviour of the accused skinheads represents, the sentences could have been tougher'.
55. See the overview and categorisation of Romani educational provision in Jaroslav Balvín, 'Výchova a vzdělávání Romů', Listy, 1996, 3, pp. 68-73.
56. Fonseca, Bury Me Standing, p. 163.
57. Human Rights Watch World Report, http://www.hrw.org/wr2kl/europe/czech.html.
58. ČTK, 20 May 1997.
59. Bella Edginton, 'For the Czech Republic's Gypsies, discrimination starts at school. Now that might be about to change', http://www.vso.organization.uk/pubs/orbit/67/closeup.htm.
60. Balvín, 'Výchova a vzdělávání Romů', p. 72.
61. Van der Stoel's senior assistant Walter Kemp said of the 2000 report: 'I think it's fair to say that the problem is most pronounced in the Czech Republic and this is something that's brought out in the high commissioner's report. He actually was scathing in his criticism of the so-called "special schools" and strongly suggested that they be phased out as soon as possible'. Cited in Roland Eggleston, 'OSCE: Report Details Discrimination Against Roma', RFE/RL special report, 18 April 2000.
62. Mladá fronta Dnes, 11 May 1999.
63. http://www.romove.cz/romove/jan98.html.
64. Randall Lyman, 'Mixed Reviews: A Human Rights Report on the Czech Republic', Prognosis, 7 December 1994.
65. Ibid.
66. For the view of Czech sociologists on the citizenship law see Jiřina Šiklová & Marta Milusaková, 'Denying Citizenship to the Czech Roma', East European Constitutional Review, 7, 2, Spring 1998.
67. Emma McClune, 'Government Moves to Change "Racist" Law', The Prague Post, 20 February 1996.
68. Guy, 'Another False Dawn? The Roma of the Czech Republic and Slovakia'.
69. Cited in 'Czech Republican Party Chairman Miroslav Sladek spews anti-Roma racism' (report of Parliamentary session of 25 July), Carolina (electronic newsletter of Charles University students), 212, 2, August 1996, in ibid.
70. ČTK, 9 January 1996.
71. ČTK, 1 May 2000.
72. Právo, 18 August 1997, and RFE/RL Newsline, No. 98, 19 August 1997.
73. Právo, 18 August 1997, and RFE/RL Newsline, No. 98, 19 August 1997.
74. Statement cited on ČTK, 13 October 1999.
75. For an article discussing the banning of 'blacks', the Czech slang for Roma, see Martin Kontra & Jindřich Šídlo, 'Cikánům vstup zakázán!', Respekt, 33, 15 August 1994.
76. See František Roček's important and useful Zed': Matiční - dokument o nejslavnější uličce světa (Ustí nad Labem, Muzeum města Ústí nad Labem, 1999).
77. See also the press release of the European Roma Rights Centre, 14 October 1999.
78. See the comments in Kate Connolly, 'Concrete and steel to wall in Gypsies', The Guardian, 16 October 1999.
79. ČTK, 1825 GMT, 14 October 1999.
80. Pavel Tošovský, cited in The Times, 20 October 1999.
81. See the summary in RFE/RL Newsline, 4, 74, Part II, 13 April 2000.
82. ČTK, 10 October 1999.
83. Zemské noviny, 14 October 1999.
84. ČTK, 11 April 2000.
85. ČTK, 10 April 2000.
86. ČTK, 19 May 2000.
87. Cited in Michael Thurston, 'Unblushing Locals Want Czech "Wall of Shame" Strengthened', Agence Press France, 18 October 1999.
88. See Zoltan Barany, 'Living on the Edge: The East European Roma in Postcommunist Politics and Societies', Slavic Review, 53, 2, Summer 1994, p. 336.
89. Lidové noviny, 8 March 1996.
90. Kontra & Šídlo, 'Cikánům vstup zakázán!'.
91. RFE/RL, 4 December 1998.
92. The Economist, 11 September 1999, p. 59.
93. ČTK, 24 March 2000, 19:03 GMT.
94. The ROI statement was given to ČTK and its contents broadcast at 19:39 GMT on 7 October 1999. Government Human Rights Commissioner Petr Uhl called the claims unfounded.
95. ČTK, 21 March 2000, 19:47 GMT.
96. See Gál, O jinakosti, pp. 79 and 81.
97. Kathleen Knox, 'Klaus Terms Brutal Murder of Romany the "Last Straw"', The Prague Post, 30 May 1995.
98. This was part of the 'opposition agreement' struck between Zeman and Klaus after the June 1998 elections whereby the latter agreed that his party would not vote against, and thus defeat, the minority Social Democrat government, in return for which Klaus became Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, the equivalent of Speaker.
99. Connolly, 'Concrete and steel to wall in Gypsies'.
100. The Guardian, 19 October 1999.
101. ČTK, 24 September 1999.
102. Cited on ČTK, 16 May 2000, 12:10 GMT.
103. See Martin Komárek in Mladá fronta Dnes, 14 October 1999.
104. Reflex, 25 August 1995. See, however, note 37 above, which cites van der Stoel's report of 2000 calling the Czech Republic's special schools the worst of the region.
105. Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia, 1918-1987 (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1988), p. 93
106. See Jiří Pehe, 'Slovaks in the Czech Republic: A New Minority', RFE/RL Research Report, 4 June 1993, pp. 59-62.
107. It may be argued, as Leff does, that the expulsion of Sudeten Germans was 'a spasm of postwar Czech nationalism'; see Carol Skalnik Leff, 'Czech and Slovak Nationalism in the Twentieth Century', in Peter F. Sugar (ed.), Eastern European Nationalism in the Twentieth Century (Washington, The American University Press, 1995), p. 142. This might therefore be construed as one example of nation-state building within the Czech lands.
108. Ladislav Holy, The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 64.
109. See Josef Vohryzek, 'Anatomie rasismu', Respekt, 11, 15 March 1993.
110. Recounted privately by two foreign diplomats.
111. Comment by Petr Horvath, head of the Moravian Romani Community, at the time of the construction of the Matiční street divider, ČTK, 14 October 1999, 11:39 GMT.
112. Quoted in Tibor Papp, Who is In, Who is Out? Citizenship, Nationhood, Democracy, and European Integration in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Florence, EUI Working Paper No. 99/13), p. 14.
113. See the commentary by Marek Švehla on an IVVM poll, 'Mezi námi občany', Respekt, 25 March 1996, although he writes that it is not simple to make such statements and that conducting a public opinion poll provides the venue for so doing.
114. Penc & Urban, 'Extremist Acts Galvanize Roma Population', p. 39.
115. Reference to the film is given as a further suggestion as to how Czechs might have perceived a tremendous contrast between communist treatment of them and the Roma. Bohumil Hrabal, author of the novel on which the film was based, also wrote the novella Príliš hlučná samota (Too Loud a Solitude) whose hero's love, a Romani woman, dies in a concentration camp.
116. For an account of non-consensual sterilisation of Romani women see Paul Hockenos, Free to Hate: The Rise of the Right in Post-Communist Eastern Europe (London and New York, Routledge, 1993), p. 220.
117. Renatá Weinerová, Romanies - In Search of Lost Security? (An Ethnological Probe in Prague 5) (Prague, Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, No. 3, 1994), p. 5.
118. Fonseca, Bury Me Standing, p. 113.
119. See the comparative analysis made in Zoltan Barany, 'Politics and the Roma in State-Socialist Eastern Europe', Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 33, 4, 2000, pp. 421-437, esp. at pp. 428-429.
120. Petr Mareš, Libor Musil & Ladislav Rabušic, 'Values and the Welfare State in Czechoslovakia', in Christopher Bryant & Edmund Mokrzycki (eds), The New Great Transformation (London and New York, Routledge, 1995), p. 91.
121. See the commentary by Fedor Gál in Zemedelské noviny, 10 July 1995.
122. For a commentary on the documentary see Jan Čulík, 'If you prick us, do we not bleed?', Central Europe Review, 2, 4, 31 January 2000, http//www.ce-review.org/00/4/culik4_document.html.
123. Edgington, 'For the Czech Republic's Gypsies'.
124. Political Extremism and the Threat to Democracy in Europe (London, Institute of Jewish Affairs for CERA, 1994), p. 19.
125. Cited in Josef Kalvoda, 'The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia', Nationalities Papers, 19, 3, 1991, p. 269.
126. Projev prezidenta republiky Václava Havla k obema komoram Parlamentu České republiky, 9 prosince 1997, Prague, 9 December 1997.
127. 'Abychom se museli stydět', Respket, 11, 23 May 1990.
128. Eva Kantůrková, Památník (Prague, Český spisovatel, 1994). Kantůrková was herself an MP in the post-communist Czechoslovak parliament from 1990 to 1992.