‘Oasis’? Or ‘concentration camp’? Controversy surrounds Prague’s plan to corral homeless
Filed under: Czech Republic
Topics covered : Bad Politicians, Financial Collapse
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I don’t recall seeing a big homeless problem when I lived in Prague, but that may be a result of having lived in New York for so long: If I don’t see crackheads, curs and crazy fucks on every corner, I assume a city is doing just fine. But — either I wasn’t paying attention or the Czech capital’s homeless problem has grown in recent years. Probably, it’s both.
In an effort to fix the situation, City Hall is building an “integrated assistance center” on the outskirts of the city. According to Councilor Jirí Janecek, the center will be “an oasis” for the homeless. “[T]here will be a doctor, soup twice a day and some accommodation,” he told the Czech daily Lidové noviny. “They will be allowed to pitch a tent or make a fire.”
As part of its new plan, the city will create a “registry” of homeless people. But — they won’t be required to live in the new space. “No one will be held there by force,” Janecek said, “but they will know that they cannot stay elsewhere.” The homeless will be told, in no uncertain terms, that “they will have the most peaceful life there.”
If this kind of language gives you the creeps, you’re not alone.
Ilja Hradecký, chairman of the Christian charity Nadeje, describes the plan as “absolutely misconceived.” According to the Prague Post, “the plans would either see homeless people leaving the camp each day after being taken there against their will, or homeless people being ‘interned’ at the center, something that [Hradecký] termed a violation of human rights.”
The homeless themselves aren’t keen on this not-forced-but-still-forced relocation scheme. The Prague Post interviewed a few:
Helena, a homeless woman from Prague, said that “this camp is the biggest nonsense I have ever come across.” She added that homeless people feared both being forcibly held at the center and the constant involvement of police.
“Offering someone a place to sleep is one thing, but guarding someone by police force is another – it’s mad,” she said. “I think the idea behind it is to get us all there and keep us there. Why would have they come up with the registry for homeless people otherwise?”
“I wonder what kind of idiot came up with the camp idea,” commented Vítezslav Dvorák, a native of Brno. “I guess that if our government was made up of homeless people, it would have made a difference.”
Miroslav Šimunek from Dobkovice called the plans “pure nonsense.”
“This idea for creating a camp for homeless people sounds like a concentration camp to me,” he said.
Unlike here in the U.S., Czechs should be taken seriously when they invoke Nazi imagery. Particularly when a politician proposes cataloging unfortunates and relocating them to an “oasis” on the “outskirts” of a city.
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Ah yes, I remember fondly the stories of my forefathers told of the oasis camps in Warsaw and Lodz. They were a lot like Club Med, except for all the death and starvation. And a registry, too! It’s like a guest book, right? You sign and write about the wonderful time there; it must’ve been good because they still talk about it today.
I wonder if they’ll be taking the train there. I hear it’s quite a scenic route…
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Yes, people should be free to urinate in the streets, sleep in doorways and harass everyone for money. To deny them this is to be a fascist, or a murderer even. Fools.
Oh, I don’t think that’s what they’re saying, Jan. But cataloging and shipping undesirable people to a remote location raises a few eyebrows in a country formerly occupied by Nazi Germany. Can you at least understand that?
“But cataloging and shipping undesirable people to a remote location raises a few eyebrows in a country formerly occupied by Nazi Germany. Can you at least understand that?”
I live in a country formerly occupied by Nazi Germany.