The thread was never about whether folk=political which is irrelevant anyway but rather why did band members refuse to perform this song. While it raises the valid concern of racism it is racist in itself by branding all Czech s as such. eg "'a Czech gang surrounded her" not a gang of skinheads or nazis. Equally it is offensive to those of us that lived under a repressive system by fondly looking back on the communist state - "revolution & counter revolution" especially when it was written by someone whos probably never lived under such a system. It never was a revolution but a coup detat, both my father and grandfather who were staunch communists quit the party when they saw what it became. Even as a child when Russian tanks surrounded my home town I knew the truth. Intolerance towards the Roma existed even under communism - they didnt 'allow' them to settle but rather forced them because a police state wouldnt tolerate the roving lifestyle they were used to. As you pointed out yourself the Roma themselves are partly responsible for being on the edge of society, refusing to put their children in school, not paying taxes etc. Canada was note exactly thrilled with the influx of hundreds of Roma last year after a Czech documentary ran a story on how easy it is to get into Canada claim refugee status and get welfare. The communist state clamped down on crime but after the velvet revolution Vaclav Havel released many political prisoners but unfortunately in the process pardoned many career criminals. The streets are not as safe as they were but this applies to everyone, not just gypsies. And sad to say that racism does exist there, towards blacks, the vietnamese (who came as workers in the 70s and others) It seems to occur often in homogeneous societies where little in-migration exists (eg In Japan where 3rd generation koreans can be have to carry a foreigner visa and can be deported, I was refused service on two occassions... "sorry Japanese only"') ignorance is the main cause. All that those are all problems that should be addressed and changed but certainly not by going back to a police state. By taking such an extreme view the song is rendered ineffective. No wonder people refused to sing it.