Czech Republic: UIA conference supports Roma
in Ostrava
A spontaneous
demonstration of solidarity with Romani residents in Ostrava took place on 28
October 2013, organized by those attending the United for Intercultural Action
conference in Prague (Photo: Mikuláš Vymětal)
United for
Intercultural Action (UIA) is a European network against fascism, nationalism
and racism that supports migrants and refugees and brings together more than
560 organizations in 46 European countries. The organization is currently
holding its international conference in the Czech Republic, which is scheduled
to end on 30 October.
When conference
participants learned on Sunday evening about the anti-Romani march planned for
the next day in Ostrava, they decided they wanted to travel there to show their
solidarity directly to the Romani community. However, for technical reasons
(sold-out trains) that was not possible.
Instead, about 60
participants in the conference from all over Europe assembled in Prague at the
same time that the Ostrava demonstrations were happening for a spontaneous
display of solidarity on the Old Town Square in front of the memorial bust of
the 15th-century religious reformer Jan Želivský. Those demonstrating expressed their position
through a brief march with banners and slogans being chanted in several
languages: Černí bílí spojme síly (Black, white, together we fight), ¡No
pasarán! (They shall not pass), Siamo tutti antifascisti (We are all
anti-fascists), Ostrava – Stop the Nazi march now, Hoch die internationale
Solidarität jetzt (Long live international solidarity now) and Vmeste protiv
fašismu (Together against Fascism).
The demonstrators also
carried a large poster with a long list of the Czech towns in which anti-Romani
hate marches were held this year. "We want to express our solidarity with
the Romani people in Ostrava and to all other Romani people in the Czech
Republic," declared Eric Simon, a
French anti-fascist activist.
"We gathered in
front of the memorial bust of the leader of the Prague poor, Jan Želivský, to
remind people that those who are marginalized and powerless have the right to
human dignity and that it is worth courageously defending," said
evangelical clergyman Mikuláš Vymětal, one of the Czech organizers. "This
is an expression of solidarity not only with the Romani community in Ostrava
against whom regular marches by right-wing extremists and populists are being
organized, but also with all of the similarly endangered, marginalized groups
around Europe, whether they be Jewish people, migrants, Muslims or Roma,"
organizer Miroslav Prokeš told the Czech News Agency and Czech Television.
The assembly ended
with a minute of silence for the victims of hatred and racism in the Czech
Republic and worldwide.
brf, Mikuláš Vymětal,
translated by Gwendolyn Albert
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