Czech Roma, as well as other democratically-oriented citizens, eagerly awaited the outcome of the Czech government’s effort to outlaw and dissolve the extremist Workers’ Party or Dělnická strana (DS). The Party had tried to gain political power through parliamentary elections. It gained notoriety through violent marches and attacks in 2008 and 2009.

According to the long awaited verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court from the 17th of February this year, the Workers’ Party professed xenophobia, chauvinism, racism and national socialist ideology modelled on that of Adolf Hitler’s ideology. Workers’ Party thus used violence and wanted to knock over the present constitutional order of the country. The court agreed with the government that the party should be banned and dissolved.

This is the first ban of a political party’s activity because of its ideology in the modern Czech state.

The verdict brought a relief to the Roma people of in the Czech Republic. But not only to them as the Czech Republic is home to many foreigners of different nationalities and skin colours who experienced racist attacks.

However, a struggle for democracy in the Czech Republic has not yet ended. Voices have not quieted down even after the Workers’ Party was banned. The government hopes to win this battle despite the fact that the DS plans to file an appeal to the Constitutional Court. If the Constitutional Court does not come up with a final decision until the parliamentary elections (schedule for May this year), the DS will be able to continue its activity even though the Supreme Administrative Court’s verdict about banning the party already came into effect.

But the appeal brings risks to the DS as well. If the Constitutional Court manages to answer before the parliamentary elections, then to endorse or promote the party becomes a criminal offence. Yet, there still is a chance that the Constitutional Court’s reply will come late and in this case the Supreme Administrative Court’s verdict will be frozen. That would mean that the Worker’s Party could still become part of the election process and a threat to the democratic order of the state once again. Then many people would rightly fear to go out in the streets. They certainly did not expect this from EU accession. On the contrary, what they expected was protection and safety. Nevertheless, they believe that the Constitutional Court will proceed promptly to rule on this issue, taking into consideration how little time is left before elections.

In any case, this is the first great victory in a battle against extremism. As Josef Baxa, the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court stated for the media, it is important to abolish activity of extremist groups but it is also necessary to solve causes of these problems. Otherwise these groups will spread through the society like a mould.

It is no secret that the DS will continue its activity through other organizations of similar nature. The DS proudly announced to the media that its membership opted for a mass transfer to Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti or Workers’ Party of Social Justice and take part in upcoming elections under its lead. They announced this with a smile on their faces. Still, they have a right to gather as other citizens of the democratic society. This party could be banned too, but legally that could be a more difficult matter. Unfortunately, it looks like extremists are protected more by the law than a decent citizen.

I think we are not prepared to solve these kinds of issues yet, even though so many years have passed since the Second World War. Are we sleeping on the success of our predecessors? Should the democratic society handle extremists like a fragile glass? When will we stop tolerating their offences?

Still, the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision is a little light in the darkness for the Roma. They believe this is the beginning of an end to extremism in the Czech Republic. Will the Roma in Slovakia celebrate the same victory?

For more information, visit:

http://www.rozhlas.cz/zpravy/spolecnost/_zprava/696552

http://domaci.ihned.cz/c1-40600010-soudce-o-zruseni-delnicke-strany-resme-priciny-jinak-to-tu-vyroste-jako-plisen 

http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/192375-nejvyssi-spravni-soud-rozpustil-delnickou-stranu.html

– Mária Hušová

This was disturbing to see (care of the BBC):

The Czech government has expressed outrage over the broadcast of an anti-Roma (Gypsy) campaign advert by a far-right group on national television.

The head of Czech Television, Jiri Janecek, said the National Party (NS) video would not be broadcast again.

Interior Minister Martin Pecina has said he is now seeking to ban the NS.

The NS advert spoke of “a final solution to the Gypsy issue” and carried the slogan “Stop Favouring Gypsies” over images of Roma.

It’s pretty unbelievable that this ad was even allowed to air on Czech Television. The article mentioned a feeble excuse from a CT spokesman that the station had no legal right to edit the contents of a party’s announcement. But any mention of a “final solution” must contradict Czech legislation preventing speech and actions that threaten a particular group of citizens. I haven’t read the Czech media’s coverage of the incident yet, but I hope they look into that issue.

By the way, good to hear Pecina’s talking about banning the party, but the last similar attempt–to ban the more powerful Workers’ Party–ended in embarrassment earlier this year. According to the weekly Respekt (see the TOL translation to be published this week), the Interior Ministry completely botched its preparation of the case against the Workers’ party, leaving the Supreme Administrative Court little choice but to reject the ban. (A party has evidently never been banned in the Czech Republic, so the courts are likely to be especially careful in such a move).

On the plus side, it’s inspiring to see new Prime Minister Fischer out in front with his comments about the incident (see the BBC article). In an interview with Respekt, he seemed to get the importance of taking a stand against anti-Roma sentiment, something rarely understood by his predecessors…

With another Eurovision Song Contest in the books (congratulations, Norway! Hope you do a classier job hosting than Russia!), I want to take a minute to give just due to one of this year’s least-loved entrants, Gipsy.cz.

Hand-picked by Czech Television to represent the country in Moscow, the Romani hip-hop/pop/traditional band carried on the burgeoning Czech tradition of Eurovision fiascos, finishing a dispiriting last in their semi-final. True, the song they did, “Aven Romale,” is far from their best, and frontman Radoslav “Gipsy” Banga’s unfortunate decision to perform it in a superhero outfit complete with orange tights and a red cape may have been a tactical error. (As my wife noted, you can’t out-kitsch Eurovision.) Well before last week’s telecast the band was being routinely in slagged in blogs and comment threads based on their pre-show video, and they were held up by both The New York Times and The Guardian as prime slabs as typical Eurovision silliness.

Nothing new in the international press not bothering to look a little deeper before passing a snarky snap judgment (although I might have expected a little better from savvy Guardian pop critic Paul MacInnes). But as the smoke – or rather, the dry-ice fog – clears from this year’s contest, it’s worth pausing to note that the Gipsy who flopped in Moscow is also the one I’ve seen blow away multiracial crowds in Prague clubs; who’s written great party jams and rapped biting commentaries about racism and Romani life; who has played Britain’s mammoth Glastonbury festival, made the world music top-10 and counts “gypsy punk” icon Eugene Hutz (of Gogol Bordello) among his fans; whose status as a pop star in his own country has not kept him from speaking openly about prejudice among the Czech majority and his own community’s failings; and who charmingly told TOL on the eve of Eurovision that he dreamed of winning so that country’s increasingly assertive neo-Nazis would “shut the fuck up.”

I don’t think the international music scene has heard the last of that guy. In the meantime, worth pausing, too, to give credit to Czech TV for selecting Gipsy and his bandmates to represent the Czech Republic on Europe’s biggest musical stage - an implied if not explicit rebuke to those voices of extremism, and to the less strident but more pervasive forces that casually keep segregation intact. And to note, in passing, that while Gipsy’s performance was certainly underwhelming, Eurovision voters and judges didn’t seem quite as put off by bad songs and goofy production numbers when they came in the form of, say, blond hair metallists and Nordic rappers. I’m just sayin’.