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As part of this year’s edition of the One World International Human Rights Film Festival, which is currently on in Prague, the German-produced independent documentary Radioactivists – Protest in Japan provides a rare and up-close look at Japanese protests in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It is being shown in the Youth Quake category, which features films that portray young people’s struggle for change in countries around the world. I asked co-director Clarissa Seidel, who made the film together with her good friend Julia Leser, about

A new study commissioned by the Interior Ministry has suggested that the neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic (estimated as 4,000 strong with 400 hardcore members) is successfully pushing an agenda of hatred and racism in troubled parts of the country. As it stands, the last decade or so saw a number of arson attacks against ethnic Roma families including a highly-publicised case where a toddler barely survived and was left with lifelong disabilities. According to the latest report, unless more comprehensive measures are taken soon, racially-motivated

The One World International Human Rights Film Festival has just started in Prague. This year’s edition brings over a hundred films from 72 countries to the Czech capital, where documentary lovers can visit special festival screenings until March 15. With such an abundance of interesting documentaries, it’s something difficult to determine what to see first – we asked program director Kateřina Bartošová about her highlights and about the theme of this year’s main category.

The Czech government is debating continued austerity measures, hoping to save 23 billion crowns in 2012, 42.4 billion in 2013 and a whopping 84.4 billion in 2014. But the plans have been met with opposition from trade unions, who are highlighting that the cuts could lead to as many as 24,000 public sector job losses and include layoffs of as many as 17,000 teachers as well as 3,500 police officers within the next two years. Jaroslav Zavadil, head of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions recently called this “a path to hell, which will

Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper has just published a list of the top twenty places for young people to emigrate, and the Czech capital Prague came in fourth. "Beautiful and only a short flight away from Britain, Prague offers all the stability of Europe with not requiring a new language, and it has the best beer in the world," that's according to the Telegraph at least. So is Prague as an expat destination all it's cracked up to be?

The junior coalition party Public Affairs, which won seats in Parliament on a strong-anti-corruption agenda, is facing a major test of its credibility. The party’s de facto leader, former transport minister and present head of the party’s parliamentary group in the lower house Vít Bárta is standing trial on charges of corruption. The court hearings which began on Monday will hear testimony from ministers and MPs and the outcome of the much anticipated trial could shake the party in its foundations.

Twenty-five of 27 EU member states signed the European Union’s new fiscal compact in Brussels on Friday - but the Czechs were not among them. Prime Minister Petr Nečas together with British Prime Minister David Cameron have opted not to support the treaty, which is aimed at enforcing budget discipline in the union and prevent meltdowns within the eurozone as was seen with Greece.

A week of student protests against proposed reforms of the education system culminated with mass demonstrations around the country on Wednesday. After a night spent sleeping rough on the floor of university halls and lecture rooms students and university staff took to the streets to show their discontent with reforms which they claim will reduce the autonomy of education institutions, shift the burden of funding to students and put the academic sphere under the influence of private enterprise and politicians.

This week saw the completion of a two year restoration project of Villa Tugendhat, a unique functionalist villa in the city of Brno. Its history matches that of Czechoslovakia: repeat occupation, dilapidation and ultimately restoration.

The Finance Minister’s austerity plan for 2013, which includes far-reaching measures to increase state revenues and cut public spending, has raised an outcry from the opposition benches with the leader of the opposition Social Democrats Bohuslav Sobotka saying his party would table a vote of no-confidence in the three-party centre-right coalition.