Miroslav Brož on the situation of the Roma in the Czech Republic: The Emperor Is Naked! Roma face discrimination in all areas of life
Miroslav Brož of the Konexe organization criticized the situation of Romani people in the Czech Republic in his speech at the commemorative event in Lety u Písku. He compared it to the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes", where everyone knew the truth but no one had the courage to speak it. "At this sacred place, where so many people died, we must not paint a rosy picture of reality, we must be sincere and call things by their correct names," Brož said in his speech.
“In the Czech Republic, the Romani situation is bad, these people face discrimination and segregation in all areas of life – in education, housing, the labor market, on the street, on mass transit, in shops and anywhere else. The Act on Antidiscrimination, which is a valid part of Czech legislation, is neither being enforced nor upheld and essentially doesn’t apply in practice. Neither the authorities nor the police take any interest in that law being broken. The Emperor has no clothes!” Miroslav Brož said in his speech, which news server Romea.cz is publishing in full.
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Speech by Miroslav Broz in Lety u Písku
My Dear Romani Friends, Dear Guests,
Today we are gathering in this place for the first time ever without our dear friend Čeněk. He was victorious in his lifelong struggle, may the earth lie lightly upon him. We will never forget him.
The demolition of the pig farm and the building of a dignified memorial to the Holocaust and its Romani victims is a success about which we can be glad today.
The question we have to ask ourselves, though, is whether this success is just symbolic, or whether the removal of the pig farm will actually change and improve the lives of Romani people in our country. I am thinking of the thousands and thousands of impoverished Romani men and women who are not here today and who are barely surviving in the terrible conditions of the impoverished Romani ghettos here.
At this sacred place, where so many people died, we must not paint a rosy picture of reality, we must be sincere and call things by their correct names. We all know the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, which tells the story of charlatans who come to the realm of a proud Emperor and sell him an non-existent miraculous fabric that only the well-born and the wise can see. When the Emperor then walks naked through the city wearing his “new clothes” made of this non-existent fabric, everybody pretends to see them and praises them to him. Suddenly a child shouts out “The Emperor has no clothes!” That fairytale is similar to the story of the integration of Romani people in the Czech Republic. We all know it’s failing, but there is a lack of courage to acknowledge the truth.
In the Czech Republic, the Romani situation is bad, these people face discrimination and segregation in all areas of life – in education, housing, the labor market, on the street, on mass transit, in shops and anywhere else. The Act on Antidiscrimination, which is a valid part of Czech legislation, is neither being enforced nor upheld and essentially doesn’t apply in practice. Neither the authorities nor the police take any interest in that law being broken. The Emperor has no clothes!
During the last two decades, several thousand projects have been realized in the Czech Republic to aid Romani people, each of which has published a final report on its glowing successes in assisting the Roma. This is not true, though, some projects are dysfunctional, they have not yielded any benefit or change in the communities for whom they were implemented. Projects intended to help the Roma are usually written in the far-away offices of project teams and their content is not consulted with the people for whom they are designed, to say nothing of their having an opportunity to assess the benefit of the projects. The Emperor has no clothes!
Czech authorities and institutions are impacted by a racism that is strong and structural. This was clearly seen during the crisis with the Ukrainians seeking temporary protection here. Our state took an absolutely different approach toward the Romani Ukrainians, most of whom were children and women, than it took toward light-skinned Ukrainians. While we took care of non-Romani Ukrainians in a dignified, exemplary way, the children of Romani Ukrainians were left to sleep on the floors of our train stations, or under the bushes in our parks, and later ended up in our tent cities or fled to Western Europe, where there is less antigypsyism and where they found dignified, safe shelter. Maybe they even resigned themselves to returning to Ukraine, sometimes even ending up near the front lines. The Czech judiciary system prematurely released the Nazi terrorists who attacked Natálka and her family from prison recently. Shame! The Emperor has no clothes!
For 16 long years after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg handed down its binding judgment in the matter of children of Romani origin being segregated in the Czech Republic’s education system, we still have not managed to implement measures to eliminate discrimination against children of Romani origin or their segregation in education, which continues, and another generation of Romani children is losing a chance at a better future. The Emperor has no clothes!
As all of the relevant sociological research shows us, and as we see today and every day, antigypsyism permeates Czech society. Historically this has long been the case. There is a total lack of measures to address this burning issue. Integration is not a one-way process, it cuts both ways, the majority has to want to accept the minority and integrate them. Without this, the greatest possible efforts to include this excluded minority will be useless. Who here wants neighbors who are Romani? The Emperor has no clothes!
The consequence of all this (and I could actually continue the examples for a very long time) is that in the Czech Republic, the integration of Romani people is failing despite all the invested resources.
The number of impoverished ghettos is increasing, as is the number of those living there. The poverty in these places is intensifying. The situation of impoverished Romani communities in the Czech Republic is deteriorating and has dramatically worsened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emperor has no clothes! In order to change all of this, we must truthfully acknowledge the gravity of the situation, stop praising the Emperor’s non-existent clothing, and speak clearly, with beating around the bush. We have to stop the dysfunctional approaches and attempts at a solution, even if it might be painful for some. We must begin speaking with Romani people in the communities that we want to aid. We have to involve them in the planning, realization, and assessment of everything we design for them. We aren’t used to this, we don’t know how to do it, we don’t know how to communicate with them as equals. There is no other way to move forward, though.
