Romani community representative Jan Balog resigns from the Czech Govt Council for National Minorities, tired of the coarseness and hate on social media

Balog expresses disappointment over the current situation within the Romani community, especially the coarseness and mutual recriminations he sees people engaging in on social media. The atmosphere has exhausted him so much he has decided to resign from this voluntary role as a civil society representative.

In his commentary, Balog criticizes the current system for consultation with the Romani minority at the national level, calling for change and for every individual member of the Romani community to take an active approach to participation.

Why have I decided to resign from the Czech Government Council for National Minorities?

This decision of mine was not made overnight, but was arrived at after long consideration. What is happening these days among the Romani national minority has started to exhaust me so much that I have finally reached that last straw that convinced me to resign – what I mean above all is coarseness, incitement to hatred, and mutual recriminations, and not just on social media.

I am concerned that instead of starting to take advantage of the opportunities society offers, we Roma are harming ourselves through such behavior and creating a public image that harms us. Those who have been putting themselves in the role of Romani spokespeople, first and foremost on social media, are not going to move us forward and are not doing their best to bring us together to find consensus. Rather, they want to gain a dubious popularity that maximally flatters their own egos. It seems to me that we Roma are waiting for somebody who will come and solve everything for us, but no SAVIOR is going to arrive. It is necessary to realize that each of us has to start with our own selves in the communities where we live and do our best to set a good example for our own children.

We are missing the voices of people such as Emil Ščuka, the late Karel Holomek or the late Čeněk Růžička as well as other active, educated individuals who used to convey natural authority and positive values here. It is a great pity that Romani people who have studied and who are still young are not exactly rushing to become involved in politics and in public affairs, which means we Roma lack competent representatives to defend us and express opposition to the system. This is also understandable because most advisory functions are not paid today, which is a mistake and the time has come to change that. Romani men and women of high caliber who are capable of working as experts should be paid, enthusiasm for this work alone is not enough.

The system that we are using today is, in my opinion, exhausted and needs reconstruction. The only advance in this regard has been the newly-created position of the Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, but she herself has to follow and get along with a system that started running after the 1989 Velvet Revolution and is therefore already more than 30 years old.

This is also related to a certain indifference toward the nonprofit sector involving Romani people, which is the only pillar currently capable of initiating transformation in the system and working on the problems arising in our community.

The combination of factors I have described here has ultimately led me to resign from my position as a member of the Czech Government Council for National Minorities and I will concentrate instead on the local activity I am performing in collaboration with Prague City Hall.