FOR THE ROMA minority capitalist restoration has
meant a social disaster. They were the first to be
sacked from the factories and pits and Roma unemployment
is now around 80%. They are forced to survive in bad
housing, on meagre social benefits, occasional
work and petty theft.
Ostrava, for example, the Czech Republic's third
city with a large Roma population, is the industrial
heartland of the country, based on heavy industry.
Jobs there have been decimated. The OKD coal mine
had 80,000 workers in 1990 and now has 23,000. The
Nova Hut steel works has contracted from 23,000 workers
in 1990 to 15,000, while the Vitkovice steel workforce
has fallen from 39,000 in 1990 to 19,000 today. Ostrava
is where many of the Roma who have come to Britain are
from.
The Roma suffer racist attacks from fascist skinheads
and police harassment. There have been more than
30 racially-motivated murders of Roma since 1989.
A 21-year-old Roma arrested for stealing bicycles
was reported as having 'used a police gun against
himself' in a police station. This case was not mentioned
in the Czech media.
Children have to take an IQ test to determine which
school they will attend. But Roma children often
have little or no knowledge of Czech and the Romany
culture stresses oral rather than written skills.
Although Roma make up 5% of the school population,
they out number non-Roma in 'special schools' by
27 to 1. Once in these schools it is virtually impossible
to move into mainstream education.