It’s not that Czechs dislike foreigners – it’s just that they’re still getting used to them, more than fifteen years after the Velvet Revolution. Under Communism, remember, Western nationals were considered to be enemies of the state, subversive ideologues of corrupt capitalistic decadence. While this image has of course melted away over the years, there remains a lingering distrust of foreigners among the older generation. Part of Czechs’ xenophobic resentment has to do with the fact that the Czech lands have been under foreign rule for nearly their entire history. Even today, as a free nation, the majority of Czech media outlets are owned by foreign-run corporations, and most of the buildings you see in the city center that don’t belong to the state are owned by Germans and Italians. Think about it – if your entire heritage, going back centuries, was as a servant for the powers-that-be, then some snotty foreigner shows up in your country expecting to be waited on hand-and-foot, you might be a bit resentful as well.

Actually, signs of resentment and hostility towards foreigners are rare. But you are bound to be treated differently here than you would be at home – that’s just how it goes in a foreign country. Czechs are notoriously shy around foreigners – this is usually rooted in self-consciousness regarding their ability to speak foreign languages rather than unfriendliness. People of African and Asian heritage shouldn’t encounter any problems in Prague.

The Czechs are, unfortunately, notoriously racist when it comes to the country’s Romany (Gypsy) population. It is an unfortunate fact that the Romany minority is responsible for a large percentage of crime in the city. The Czech government, in cooperation with several NGOs, is working at instituting programs to combat what is in fact a very real social problem, one that includes wide-spread poverty, discrimination, poor housing and social services, not to mention a basic clash of values. While you should by no means condone Czechs’ racist views of the Roma, it is generally fruitless to engage in arguments around the subject unless you have a deep awareness of the problems involved. The best way to gain one is by bringing up the subject over pivo and listening.


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