Do Czechs Hate Foreigners? Part 2

Finding an objective measure of xenophobia levels in different nations on which to base a discussion is tough. However, such evidence does exist – and may surprise some. According to a 2001 study by Masaryk University, levels of xenophobia in the Czech Republic are average when compared to other European countries. While foreigner phobia is typically high in post-Communist states – Romania, Slovakia and Lithuania top the report’s xenophobia index – Czechs are more tolerant than most of the former Soviet bloc.

I found the intensity of negative feeling directed towards the Roma disturbing; when I had my phone stolen, however, I began to understand how these feelings might have been reinforced in the eyes of some. I’m not making a lazy assumption about who committed the theft: I know the perpetrator’s ethnic background, because after calling my number I met up with the guy responsible. He gave me back my SIM card but would only return my mobile in exchange for hard cash. I understood then how the Czech anti-Roma prejudice might be better thought of as ‘postjudice’ – an antipathy based not just on stereotypes but having those stereotypes, whipped up by the media and extremist groups, confirmed by first-hand experience.***

It can be argued though that the Roma who resort to petty crime do so because they are socially excluded. “They are at the bottom of our society and live in the worst conditions you can imagine,” says Jitka Králová, an anti-racist activist. “Yes, the lifestyle of Romas isn’t same as ours and is full of criminal activity, but that is because they don’t have any stable background or family who would encourage them not to do such things.”
When it comes to ripping off the Czech nation, the powerful white men in suits who receive mysterious wine boxes stuffed with millions of crowns are guilty of thefts far greater than those committed by any Roma pickpocket, as Miroslav Hudec argues in the provocatively titled “How to learn hatred for poor Romani people”.

According to the academic study I kicked off with, Czechs tend to divide foreigners into three categories. There’s the ‘relations’ – Slovaks and Czech émigrés – who are broadly accepted. Then there are “the most foreign foreigners”: “Arabs, Vietnamese, Chinese, people from the former Yugoslavia, Russians, Ukrainians, Blacks and particularly the Roma” who despite often having resided here for years and possessing Czech citizenship are still regarded with suspicion. The third group? So-called ‘capital’ foreigners who are seen as acceptable: “e.g Americans, French, Germans.”