by Martina Čermáková

The joining of the European Union, the ongoing Schengen system talks among the Visegrad Four, the intensified demand for English literates, and the numerous projects tackling intolerance, racism, discrimination, and xenophobia on both local (Multicultural Center Prague) and international levels (European Union Migration Centre) signal Europeanization for the Czech Republic. In a country accommodating 296,000 immigrants with a nonexistent multiculturalism as a systematic government policy, where more than half of the population is in the dark about how the European Union functions, are ideals of tolerance and cultural integration realistic and really at work? It seems this system of thought evoking cross-cultural tolerance and its related proceedings at national and international levels remain intangible and unsubstantial for the average Czech. Detached from everyday life, they fail to penetrate the xenophobic cocoon of the masses.

As things stand, it is hard to conclude just how xenophobic the country is. On the one hand, the Eurobarometer 2003 ranks the Czech republic as fourth on the “resistance to multiculturalism” scale, yet the number of xenophobic and religious crimes in 2004 is a mere 209—a wimpy statistic against UK’s 52,694. According to the EUMC report on the majority’s attitude towards migrants and minorities, “such data inconsistencies rather suggest the absence of statistical evidence and tell us as much about the inadequacy and inconsistency of data collection as they do about the actual extent of racist violence and crimes.”

A noteworthy media-fabricated phenomenon contaminating not only the Czech Republic is today’s fear of the “Islamification” of Europe: Islamophobia. Although in most of the EU countries the Muslim population is relatively small as the communist regimes never encouraged labour migration from Arab countries, and the media coverage of the community remains light, a stereotype has emerged, which exploiting the public hands-on inexperience with this ethnic group and the inability of average Czechs to compare the media-constructed image with reality of the Muslim culture. A recent research by Martina Křížková from the Multicultural Center Prague inquiring into the portrayal of Muslims in the Czech media points out the community’s depiction in connection with conflicts and controversial issues. The sparse, shattered pieces of information channeled through media paint the Muslims as foreigners with an emphasis on their distinct attributes, which are, for the most part, interpreted in a negative light (such as a potential threat).

Perhaps it is time that the sketches of xenophobia erase some of the more extreme forms embodied by neo-nazistic groups, and trace out the four in 10 Czechs who are  resistant to multicultural society. When it comes to the public, communication and information are key to undermining the dominion of intolerance and xenophobia. To overcome communication and information deficits, the government has scraped off a portion of its budget for the illumination of the public about Czech-foreigner liaisons as part of the integration policy. Now the challenge lies in making theory work in real life—to materialize the ideals of Europeanization on the level of the masses. 

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