Syndicate: time to protest

["Jennifer de Felice" <jennifer@ffa.vutbr.cz>]

This weekend Hassan Elamin Abdelradi, a 23 year old student from Sudan was
stabbed and killed outside a college dorm in Prague by an 18 year old youth
dressed in skinhead attire. Evidently a racial related crime, the public and
the political sector responded by organizing a demonstration against racism in
Prague. Approximately 10.000 people were present for what was termed political
"exhibitionism" due to the evident representation of particular parties and
their promises of outlawing fascist groups.

This Thursday a similar protest was organized by students of Massaryk
University in Brno to which another few thousand people attended. The crowd,
made up for the most part of students, stood more or less calmly as the various
addresses were presented, the majority of which contained reproaches of
individuals that base there opinions on the color of one's skin, few of which
addressed solutions. Alot of reference was made to problems that foreign
students have encountered and the fact that at least ten individuals needed to
die in order for a protest to be called.

The majority of the racially related crimes were committed against the Romany
community, including several examples of people being mistaken for members of
the "gypsy" community due to the tone of their skin color. But it took a young
black student to cause a commotion. At the rally I noticed few members of the
romany community, those who suffer from the tolerence of the general racist
manner of the average Czech citizen. In fact, the problem the Romany community
faces wasn't even addressed. The fact that a wave of mass immigration sparked
by television journalism and assisted by a government endorsed program to aid
members of the Romany community in there immigration if they gave up there
apartments and their citizenship was not mentioned. The fact that at least 100
individuals are sleeping in Dover waiting to be admitted as refugees to England
wasn t mentioned, because these are "opportunists", not fugitives of a
segregated society.

Today I read an article published in The Invisible Dog, a Czech on line
periodical where two speeches were reprinted in their entirety including
excerpts from the "various others" that got up to voice their opinions.

Interestingly enough the young Rom, that I watched standing in the front row
with his poster "Even I have a right to a job, to an education", who after
slight mention of three murdered Romanies, rolled up his poster and promptly
moved to the podium where he asked to be heard, who explained in excited tones
what he wanted to say, who was then escourted to the podium, whose words were
the last and most stoic of the day, didn t make it to print.

"I want to ask that all of you help the Romany community, help them feel like
part of the community, help them feel that they don t have to be afraid to go
to work, to go to school..."

How does this realte to the Syndicate? you may ask...

I was inspired.





-- 
Jennifer de Felice