Community Cohesion in the Czech Republic

I am about to spend a couple of months in the Czech Republic. I find it really interesting to compare experiences there and in the UK. It helps put things into perspective.

The biggest shock to me was after multicultural East Oxford and Lambeth was the overt and pretty universal racism against the minority Roma (gypsy/romany population) . Recent news has been very depressing. There was a march by the 500 far-right demonstrators through the predominantly Roma (gypsy) area of Prirov early this month, followed by others in other towns. Then a Roma family had their house firebombed, both mother and father were badly burnt but the worst injuries were incurred by their daughter of 22 months who has 80% wounds.

These incidents reveal a dark side to the country that I love. The racism against the Roma minority (they make up less than 3% of the population) is widespread. It came as a great shock to hear middle-class educated Czechs talk about the Roma in a way that would be unacceptable among similar people in multi-cultural Britain. Indeed the comments and anti-Roma jokes were similar to those that I heard in my youth in the 1970s Britain and even then were considered dodgy in the circles I moved in. Then there is the presence of the far-right, something I realised when a local proudly showed me a fascist tattoo on his arm. It is the acceptance of racism at all levels of society that allows such attitudes to thrive.

Amnesty International has just released a report on the plight of European Roma and highlighted the educational discrimination against Roma children, who despite it being unconstitutional are sometimes sent to special schools for children with mental difficulties. This really goes to the heart of the problem. While Roma children are segregated and educationally deprived, then there is little hope of improving the situation .

A Czech Social Enterprise?

Just before Christmas I had coffee with a young Czech friend of mine, who after several years working in a social enterprise in East Oxford, was returning to his homeland to take on the management of his father's company, which manufactures equipment for the baking industry. I think I might have commented about him becoming a capitalist, but he laughed and said that the business was not really for-profit, indeed he said it's a social enterprise that really only existed to keep its workers in employment rather than make money.

I was rather taken aback by this definition of a social enterprise. But this type of approach is not so uncommon in the Czech Republic, a legacy of communist times, there are plenty of other unprofitable businesses out there. What will become of them when the recession bites? If they could not make money in times of boom, what will happen in times of bust? I wished my young friend good luck, I fear he will need it.