Still a Thorn in the Eye: The Vietnamese-Czech dialog

Still a Thorn in the Eye: The Vietnamese-Czech dialog

on 04-04-2007 03:24

Published in : , Politics

by Martina Čermáková

Riding down the highway within the cortex of Czech masses, see milestones flash past you. The 1970s-constructed road signs—“Vietnamese = stall vendor”, “Vietnamese = useful fraud”, and “Vietnamese = law infringer”—cluster. The layers of paint that have accumulated on these boards throughout the years in hope to prevent corrosion peel off in chunks. Stop underneath that solidly planted construction and wait long enough, and a man carrying a bucket of paint will splash on another layer.

Regardless of the changes taking place concerning the two generations of Vietnamese in the Czech Republic, most Czechs maintain the ageless look of their minds’ signs. It’s clear that not every Vietnamese is a stall vendor, nor does each flout the law, but how out of line is it to not have knocked the boards down after more than 30 years of Vietnamese presence here?

courtesy of Radio Praha

In the more recent stories of “Vietnamese—the Next Czech Elite,” “New Vietnamese Lymph,” and “Our Children Will Be Just Like Yours,” Czech media outline noteworthy developments in the local Vietnamese community: the Vietnamese are moving away from stall selling, and Vietnamese children outperform Czech classmates, assimilate to a large extent, and are heading for a hopeful future.

“In the recent years, the stall-keeping business is ceasing to be the sole occupation of the Asian communities as they more often rent actual shops,” writes Petr Třešnák in his article published in Respekt.

Although leaving the shady economics of flea markets, Vietnamese entrepreneurs, earning on average 25,000 Kč a month, are likely to stay within the small-business sector. “In Vietnam, small-scale entrepreneurship was never dissolved,” explains Marcel Winter, chairman of the Czech-Vietnamese society. “In contrast to [Czechs], they have a hundred-year-long experience and are able to pinpoint gaps in the market, knowing that, only with everyday effort, willingness, and diligence, they can outdo their competition.”

After 1989 Vietnamese immigration to the Czech Republic changed in its nature as workers and entrepreneurs, rather than the barter-traded students and industrial laborers of the ’70s and ’80s, started bringing families over. At present there’s a substantial second generation of Vietnamese children—of all immigrant groups, the Vietnamese have had the most children in the past two years—who often master the Czech language better than Vietnamese, and are fully assimilated into society. “Their average grade at Czech elementary schools is 1.3 [on a 1–5 scale, 1 being the best], and 1.7 at the secondary level,” Winter states. “Two hundred and ninety Vietnamese are reaching good results at universities,” he adds. This generation has the potential to shatter long-held prejudices.

Czech-Vietnamese Society Chairman Winter, right - courtesy Radio Praha

Nonetheless, statistics showing 35,000 Vietnamese illegally residing in the Czech Republic, according to Milan Mraček's blog hosted by Respekt, or those published by the Czech Retail Inspection that note deviations from law found at 70–82 percent of examined Vietnamese-run stalls, could overshadow positive developments. “Foreigners, particularly those coming from non-EU countries, have restrictions when it comes to doing business in the Czech Republic,” a source who requested his name to be withheld tells Provokátor. With some business licenses, it is indispensable to master the Czech language. “In effect, [foreign entrepreneurs] will hire somebody to do the necessary signing of papers.”

In response, Michal Lakosil, of Prague’s Trade Licensing Office, says no data suggests such activity is taking place in Prague.

The current system is often criticized for making it too easy for foreigners to gain business licenses. In his blog, Mraček, a lawyer of the municipal council of Prague, notes 26,000 of the 35,000 Vietnamese residing legally in the Czech Republic own business licenses. “The Trade Licensing Office doesn’t have the right to recheck the real purpose of the license granting, the qualification or the ability of the foreigner to master the Czech language,” Lakosil says.

While access to business licenses (and, with them, residency) remains simple, access to work permits is difficult, according to the 2004 study on foreigners residing in the Czech Republic for the long term carried out by Ivan Gabal Analysis & Consulting. “Foreigners are discouraged to legally participate in the work market due to high social insurance fees and minimal benefits offered to the payer,” the study states. Such a system attracts those who can “balance on the borderline of lawfulness and legality.”

“For every nationality, you will find honest people and those who break laws, such as in doing business,” Winter says.

For our previously mentioned anonymous source, misuse of business licenses concerns the majority of Vietnamese stall vendors. “The punishment is minimal, and the trial long running,” he states.

Not every Vietnamese is a stall vendor or seller of counterfeits, but extracting road signs that have over the years sunk deep into the ground is a tough job in a country where, according to the Ivan Gabal study, “the conscious breaking of law and illegal employing is so widespread that the feeling of impunity rules among Czech employers and foreigners alike.”