Romani people in the Czech Republic aren't angered by Ukrainians, but by the everyday, omnipresent antigypsyism!

We feel a need to express our perspective on some of the commentaries in the media and on social media about the recent murder of a Romani youth in Brno. The content we have read so far lacks any deeper description of the reasons our Romani community is displeased and dissatisfied today.

While the Brno case is still in the investigation phase, what we do know is that a tragic event happened that cost the life of young Nikolas D. for absolutely no reason. The allegations that he was loud or was smoking on the tram are absolutely meaningless in such a case. Even if he did such things, a person should not be killed for inappropriate behavior!

To begin with, we would like to express our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. The pain you are now experiencing is deep, and no good words will ameliorate it. We hope it can be of some small consolation to you that we are all deeply affected and feel this pain with you.

Te o gadžo mardo, o Rom duvar. (If the non-Roma are beaten, the Roma are beaten twice as much.)

We would hereby like to respond to the following statement made by Petr Máčal, director of the Brno-based nonprofit organization IQ Roma Servis, which news server Romea.cz published on 14 June: “The community is terribly angry and sliding into blaming all Ukrainians. Romani people now feel even more threatened and an essential role is played by the suspect being from Ukraine. If he had been a Czech, a Hungarian, a Romanian, anybody else, this would have been less exacerbated.”

We believe the reactions on social media to date are describing the anger and the lack of trust felt by Romani people in a quite superficial way. We believe this conflict would have escalated similarly even if the perpetrator had been a man of a different nationality, whether Czech, Hungarian or Romanian. Our people also demonstrated or marched when Roma were murdered in the 1990s. Back then, Romani and Ukrainian people were also closely cooperating with each other, for example, in work on construction sites, providing accommodation to manual laborers, etc. An anti-Ukrainian attitude didn’t develop among the Roma then and we believe it is not occurring now.

In the cases where this is happening, it is among that part of the population of Romani people who have fallen victim to pro-Russian propaganda, just like the majority-society members of the population here.

Labor market competition?

It might appear to some that Romani people are afraid of some sort of competition, especially on the labor market. On the other hand, we believe that if such a concern existed, it would have arrived much earlier, in the days when we had 10 % unemployment in the Czech Republic. Today, when unemployment is around 3 %, when job offers exceed demand (especially for less-qualified jobs), this reason is unlikely.

The growing tensions have much deeper roots

This frustration comes from the lax approach taken by the state towards Romani people and from the antigypsyism that is structural and encountered by us in most institutions, beginning with local ones, state ones, and even up to the international level. Structural antigypsyism is one and the same enormous problem at all those levels!

These Romani people – and the two of us as well – have difficulty believing the state will do anything to make us feel safe here. Since November 1989, more than 30 Romani people have been murdered, either with or without racial motivation as a factor. Frequently, the perpetrators of murder against Romani victims have gotten away with lower sentencing. The last bit of our faith in the justice system was destroyed by the recent early release from prison of the arsonists responsible for burning the Romani infant Natálka Kudriková (they were released for “good behavior”).

Let’s recall what the “successful management of the reception of all refugees from Ukraine”, in the words of the current Government, was like

The Czech state failed in the eyes of Romani people once again when the non-Romani children and their mothers fleeing Ukraine were choosing apartments and hotels to stay in while the Romani children and their mothers fleeing Ukraine were sleeping outdoors when temperatures were below zero. The Czech Police vetted Romani refugees from Ukraine for being potentially of Hungarian origin [holding dual citizenship] so they could get rid of them. It is absolutely natural that after this recent, sad incident in Brno, the question is being raised (and not just among Romani people) as to why all of the arriving refugees [from Ukraine] were not properly checked in order to guarantee the safety of Czech citizens? Just the darker-skinned people from Ukraine were treated differently when it came to awarding temporary protection. The authorities denied the Romani children and their mothers, numbering approximately 3000 persons, a dignified place to wait out the war, unlike the 400,000 ethnic [non-Romani] Ukrainians! Instead, members of this vulnerable group of refugees were defamed in public by politicians making anti-Romani remarks. The only aid and solution for them was to leave the Czech Republic for Germany, Ireland, Norway and Belgium with the assistance of pro-Romani and Romani-led nonprofits.

In difficult times, sources of extremism can be found in any society

Actually, what is happening in our Romani community is not especially surprising. The desperation and the deep lethargy we are experiencing during this conflict is demonstrating to us that there is no way out, the attempt to acquire or to win some kind of position in this society, not to always be the very last ones in line, is even leading to compromises such as, for example, taking to the streets shoulder to shoulder with representatives of the Czech populist, ultra-right parties which themselves were recently assaulting the Roma.

On the other hand, this confirms that we Roma actually are not a homogenous group. There is a plurality of opinions, positions or proposals among us for how to solve any particular problem. We don’t have to write this, but in the case of us Roma we will do so just to be clear: This is the same as it is among the members of any other nation. It is necessary to remember, though, that Romani people as an ethnic minority living across the entirety of Europe remain dehumanized, marginalized, the most stigmatized group, and they have been for several centuries, to say nothing of the collective trauma we have experienced across more than one generation.

Antigypsyist society is immutable

Romani people are bothered by their persistently inferior status in this society. They were born here, they are citizens of this country which is their home. However, they still are not accepted here by the majority society in the requisite way, exactly like the Romani refugees from the war on Ukraine were not. The larger society’s approach of superiority awakens justified fear among the Roma and a lack of faith in justice, safety and equal treatment.

Another reason many Romani people are not sitting still for what is happening right now is the media’s use of language and ethnic attributions. While the perpetrator who killed somebody was identified as a “foreigner” or “foreigner from Eastern Europe”, Romani people were immediately specifically mentioned as assailants in the reporting on the incidents in response, e.g.: “Mass street fighting has happened in the center of Brno. Romani people were avenging the death of their friend.”

Despite the above-mentioned barriers, including the ongoing segregation of Romani children in Czech education, many of our people are working hard on themselves. Their levels of education are rising, as is the number of successful Romani people who have broken through and still are breaking through that glass ceiling. We are leaving our comfort zone, we are frequently among the rest of you on our own, and we are doing our best, which is an enormous change in our lives. Try going someplace where different cultural rules apply and you will be perceived as “the Other” even in the best-case scenario. The average Czech has nowhere to experience that unless some exceptional situation arises.

The climate in the society of which we are a part, on the other hand, remains immutable. It is an environment in which the dividing line is not between decency and bad behavior, but between the majority society and the “gypsies”.

Civil society plays an irreplaceable role. Politicians are silent.

It is sad that in the case of Romani people we never hear any moral (or any other) words of support from the Public Defender of Rights, the Czech Prime Minister, or any other high representatives of the state.

Žaneta Plachetková, a Romani activist from Brno, convened a demonstration for Saturday, 17 June to honor the memory of the Romani man murdered last weekend. The situation is so tense that she decided to cancel it and announce the cancellation through news server Romea.cz in order to prevent further conflicts and prevent extremist politicians from scoring points by attending. We believe it is positive that the Ukrainian Initiative of South Moravia has publicly condemned this tragic occurrence.

Antigypsyism must be eliminated

To conclude, we have to mention that in the Czech Republic there actually is no legal definition of antigypsyism that would sanction this specific form of racism, discrimination, and anti-Romani sentiment. Hatred against Romani people, after all, should never be tolerated in a democracy with the rule of law. This is an historical, societal debt owed to Romani people that has long been ignored. Without such systemic transformation, the implementation of the Government’s [Roma] Strategy can be the very best possible, but it will end up just as unsuccessfully as all the previous ones when it comes to benefiting Romani people. For Roma here to actually feel safe, for the situations we are witnessing today not to happen, they must have faith in an entire state system where every antigypsyist crime will be adequately punished by the Czech judiciary. Only then will Romani people be able to feel we are full-fledged citizens of this country and that we belong here.

It would be in the public interest and for the improvement of interpersonal relationships if representatives of Romani people, politicians, the academic community and the general public were to work on the legal anchoring of antigypsyism and make sure it does not end up like the current Act on Antidiscrimination, which is basically defunct.