Romafuturismo
A Prague Spring for Roma, with Roma, or against Roma?
Tuesday, 19 June, 2018, 6:30 PM

Kampus Hybernská, Hybernská 4, Prague-Nové město
Lecture hall behind the café

Guests: Ladislav Goral (chairman of the RomPraha Society), Yevheniya Navrotska (romist), Aladar Adam (chairman of the Transcarpathian society Romani Jag), Matěj Spurný (historian), Pavel Barša (political scientist).

Moderated by: Václav Drozd

Even though the Prague Spring plays a determining role in how Czechs and Slovaks understand themselves and their history, only rarely discussed is how that moment in history played out for the Roma, and how it affected their lives and political and economic conditions. It is known that in the 60s and 70s there was a flowering of Roma culture (especially in literature) and the appearance of a key organization in Svazu Cikánů-Romů (Roma-Gypsy Union). There also exists a series of unanswered questions: How did a Roma elite and ordinary Roma rise up during the political crisis in Czechoslovakia during the invasion by soldiers of the Warsaw Pact? How did the Prague Spring and the Soviet invasion transform the official and unofficial attitudes of the Czechoslovak state and society toward the Roma? We will try to find answers, and perhaps look at this key historic event in a different light from that to which we are accustomed.

Free admittance

The debate will take place in Czech and partly in Russian with translation.

Ostrava
Informational signboard and map of remarkable graves
195-year-old Slezskoostravský cemetery awaits beautification

The beautification society “Za krásnou Ostravu” and the Fiducia club and bookstore commemorate the 195th anniversary of the founding of the oldest cemetery in Ostrava, with the christening on 21 June, 6 PM, of a new informational signboard about remarkable people buried in the cemetery.

“To mark this anniversary, which at the same time marks the 100th year of the Czechoslovak republic, we will fix up the tomb of the well-known First Republic Ostravan sculptor Augustin Handzel, which we adopted last year in March. In 2019, we will put up on the two a new sculpture resulting from a public competition, with the current temporary modification of the tube coming from the studio of the sculptor Petr Szyroký,” explained Ilona Rozehnalová, a member of the beautification society.

There will follow a commentated walk around the tombs of famous people, led by Jakub Ivánen and Petr Kašing with a special map of valuable objects and remarkable tombs. The map will be freely available to the public from special outdoor boxes.

That evening, a christening of the summer issue of Krásna Ostrava will take place.