Prague, Oct 26 (CTK) – The organisers of the Czech government’s HateFree Culture project recently sent a Syrian family with a small child to the central Bohemian town of Kolin and some nearby villages to test local people’s reactions, which showed to be mostly positive, the project’s coordinator Lukas Houdek told CTK yesterday.
The experiment took place three weeks ago.
“Our expectations proved true. Face to face with refugees, people help them and show solidarity, though, judging by their utterances on the Internet, they may seem xenophobic. We are not that bad,” Houdek said.
It is mostly people’s fear that motivates their hostile reactions on the Internet and that dissipates face to face with refugees, he said.
The protagonist of the experiment was the “family” of Navdar Muhamed, a young man from Syria who has been living in the Czech Republic for ten years. His parents left Syria after civic unrest.
Navdar is studying international relations at the university in Plzen, west Bohemia. He would like to work for Czech diplomacy in the future.
Within the experiment, Navdar was assisted by a young Muslim woman wearing a scarf and with a small child in her arms. She played his wife.
In reaction to them, one Czech woman advised the “refugees” to go to Germany, as the situation is rather unfavourable in the Czech Republic.
A young family warned them of racism.
A mother with small children advised Navdar to go to a big Czech town as jobs are unavailable in the countryside.
Another woman gave a 1000-crown banknote to the “refugee mother,” and a greengrocer donated fruit to the family.
Other people calmed the “refugees” down, saying they need not fear.
Others called the mayor so that the parents with a small child do not remain helpless in the street.
“You can spend the night in my flat…we can discuss your future,” said an older man and took the “refugees” to his home.
Several people did not understand the refugees and others were in a hurry. “Go home,” one woman told them sharply.
The “refugees” met with no worse reactions during the experiment.
However, a recent poll released by the CVVM agency has shown that a half of Czechs are against the acceptance of refugees coming from war-stricken countries.
Two fifths were for the refugees being accommodated temporarily until the war ends in their homeland.
Only one in 25 Czechs said refugees may settle down in the Czech Republic, according to CVVM.
The HateFree Culture is one of the Czech government’s project against hatred in society. Its organisers include members of the Government Agency for Social Inclusion.
($1=24.450 crowns)
