We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic
 | |
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Anti-Islam campaigning |
| Location | |
Key people | Martin Konvička |
| Website | ivcrn |
We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic (Czech: Islám v České republice nechceme, IVČRN) is a Czech anti-Islam organisation led by Martin Konvička, founded in 2009.[1] The Czech Ministry of the Interior has described the initiative as an Islamophobic populist entity which is attempting to take advantage of the rise of anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant sentiment. According to the ministry, it intentionally uses information that is taken out of context, misinterpreted or generalised.[2][3]
History
[edit]
IVČRN was created in July 2009 as a discussion community on Facebook, with a few hundred users. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the platform was created as a transformation of the pre-existing Czech Defence League (CzDL), based on the English Defence League, which was assessed as extremist and subsequently disappeared.[3] The group draws ideologically from the counter-jihad movement.[4]
The group's Facebook page has been banned several times, first in 2014 when it had 162,000 followers, and then in 2016, when it had 73,000 followers.[5][6] The original page with 162,000 followers was restored in December 2016.[7]
Bloc Against Islam
[edit]On 17 November 2015, the closely associated group Bloc Against Islam (Czech: Blok proti islámu, BPI) held a rally that was attended by President Miloš Zeman, who also spoke at the event.[8]
On 6 February 2016, thousands of people attended a demonstration co-organised by IVČRN, the German group Pegida, and the political party Dawn – National Coalition, which was the largest anti-Islam demonstration held in the Czech Republic.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Čulík, Jan (21 August 2015). "Prague springs to intolerance". Politico.
- ^ "Extremismus. Souhrnná situační zpráva 3.čtvrtletí roku 2015" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior. 2015.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Extremismus. Souhrnná situační zpráva 4.čtvrtletí roku 2015" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior. 2015.
- ^ Nissen, Anita (2022). Europeanisation of the Contemporary Far Right: Generation Identity and Fortress Europe. Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 9781000547085.
- ^ "Facebook opět zakázal antiislámskou stránku. Češce hrozili za pomoc Afghánci smrtí". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 9 December 2016.
- ^ "Facebook zablokoval stránku Islám v České republice nechceme, šíří nenávist i xenofobii". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 1 November 2016.
- ^ Ryšavý, Zdeněk (12 December 2016). "Facebook obnovil původní stránku Islám v České republice nechceme se 160 tisíci fanoušky". Romea.cz (in Czech).
- ^ "Ať žije Zeman, skandoval dav. Prezident si na akci odpůrců islámu užil potlesk a ovace". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). November 17, 2015.
- ^ "My jsme tady doma, skandovali demonstranti proti islámu před Hradem". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 6 February 2016.