CZECH REPUBLIC



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 COMMENTARY :
FROM EUROPE-ROMA CZ -

DECLARATION OF EUROPE-ROMA CZ ON T HE MEETING OF MAYORS IN NOVY BYDZOVE ON 2/14/2011
TRANSLATED BY GWENDOLYN ALBERT
ROMEA

Czech mayoral meeting will support anti-Roma hatred


Ostrava, 6.2.2011 17:18, (ROMEA)

The Mayor of Nový Bydžov, Pavel Louda, recently invited his counterparts from other towns to a meeting on "problems with Roma" and options for various repressive measures against them, such as halting welfare benefits. The meeting is to take place on 14 February 2011 in Louda's town, where the aversion to the Roma minority has been steadily rising. According to the mayor, the Roma gamble and steal and therefore have no place in his town.

The hidden purpose of this invitation is to create a whip with which to threaten Roma throughout the country. Ivana Řapková, the former mayor of Chomutov, today a Czech MP, will certainly offer her experience there on how to intervene and proceed. In our view, the mayors who have fallen in with this meeting are just supporting more incitement to hatred against the Roma minority.

These people are promoting hatred and racism among those who know nothing about the real situation in Nový Bydžov. In their view it is better to tar all Roma with the same brush and move them somewhere out of sight to live as they like - they aren't interested as long as their own places are secure.

The main problem today, however, is the failure of the welfare state. This is why so many people are seeking a scapegoat - but assault, rape and shoplifting are not the domain of one minority. All you have to do is read the newspapers to see that.

As the EU and UN recognize, many Roma - and not only in the Czech Republic - are being assaulted by racists, discriminated against, and rejected as members of the workforce. The socially excluded must be helped to stand on their own feet. No one ever wants to be poor.

Whom do the Roma as a whole bother? Just some mayors and people who have long hidden this evil inside them and now sense that others will support them in it. These people do not represent the country as a whole, however - their statements are not the same as a parliamentary decision.

We recommend that these people learn the new style of the 21st century instead. That is "DIALOGUE", not "ABOUT US WITHOUT US“. Such old-fashioned practices are a thing of the past already!

If the Mayor of Nový Bydžov does not know how to address the situation through dialogue, he should invite those who are more experienced with Roma people to do so. Such people do exist. Our organization, o.s. EUROPE-ROMA CZ, helps everyone in the Czech Republic, without distinctions! Distinctions are only made by those refusinge to help both the non-Roma and the Roma find their way on the labor market.

Roma people were born in this state and we have the same rights as all other citizens of the Czech Republic irrespective of our ethnicity, our religion, or our skin color. This is why we must join together against racism.

ROMEA