The Tolerance Campaign

A media campaign to provoke a public debate on racial violence and discrimination against the ethnic Romani minority in the Czech Republic

Shortly after

I started studying at the FAMU in Prague (1997) and visited a Czech Roma family in Kladno who were earlier denied citizenship by the Czech Republic government after the split-up of Czechoslovakia. (for more information on this subject: https://nyti.ms/2LFcE65

The family from Kladno had applied for asylum in The Netherlands but there case did not make it. After their return to the Czech Republic I got to see their living circumstance and the severe racism they where facing in daily life.

I developed The Tolerance Campaign because I believed it was the best way I could contribute to their case.

Socio-political background

Since 1989 the position of Roma got worse. The splitting of Czechoslovakia had dramatic consequences for many Roma. Ten-thousands of them became stateless, because government refuses to acknowledge them as Czech citizens. Non of both countries were in fact willing to accept or help them. This long lasting stalemate has led to distrust, fear and apathy among Roma. In the years before 1997 at least 25 Roma have been killed by violence based on racial motifs. Regularly, the Czech press reports of violent attacks of youth, often skinheads. These violent attacks are not wholeheartedly condemned and even sometimes tolerated by many. Anti-Romani prejudices are widespread and the marginal socio-economic status of many Romani only further enhances persisting cliches. Housing is in many cases still bad. Education policy has contributed to the fact that almost no Roma kids got any further than elementary school. I felt involved with their destiny.

Media campaign

How to portray an ethnic minority - and avoid the stereotypes? While photographing I tried to avoid to show their living conditions; the context of their reality should not be mixed up with romantic stereotypes of the wandering happy gypsy tramp in the way we see in many existing reportages.

With the help of many great people: interpretors & local contactpersons - I travelled along Czech cities like Most, Chomutov, Usti nad Labem, Ceske-Budejovice, Pilzen, Brno, Prerov and Ostrava to make portraits of a variety of Romani people.

A majority of Czech citizens prefered to ignore the Roma, some would even prefer the Roma to disappear. I decided to fight this ignorance by making Roma visible on the streets of Prague on large format posters with provocative texts. The poster designs where blown up to large seizes; from 1.5m.x 2m. up to 4 x 5 meter. I made sure the posters where hung on walls on the streets nearby the major news media agencies.

I tried to fight this ignorance by making Roma visible on the streets of Prague

Visual proof of racism

What I had expected happened: within just days all the posters were defaced, vandalized and smeared. The violent images made it to the news media, as the demolitions were the visual evidence of latent racism. In this way, the “feed-back” of Prague citizens was documented and shown by the newsmedia themselves.

For two weeks the campaign was on shown on TV & radio. All major national newspapers had shown it. Even the more right-wing newspapers and printed out the pictures of damaged posters. Journalists wanted to know why a foreigner had created such a campaign. What I had produced for a mere pittance became national news and reached the international press (BBC, Reuters, ZDF, Dutch media).

In the Czech Republic, public anti-racism campaigns were practically non-existent at the time of this campaign. This provocative campaign tried to put the subject in the spotlight. Afterwards, other campaigns with a more positive approach have followed.

1997