There seems to be an increase of care proceeding for children of Roma in Bradford, UK. The city of Bradford has taken several young Roma children in their care.
Basically, they are continuing some old policies. This is bad.
In Rome’s subway, an announcement over the loudspeakers said loudly several time: “attenti agli zingari” [beware of Gypsies]. This is a first. Luckily, the company who runs Rome’s subway, Atac, is taking action.
We have a long way to go …
A new book on Jenische, Sinti and Roma has just been published in Switzerland. The book is meant to be used in schools. Until recently, Switzerland did not say a word in school about these minorities.
Maxmilian Kryštof was only seven days old when, 80 years ago, he was one of more than a thousand Roma deported from Brno to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Anna Míšková, historian of the Museum of Romani Culture in Brno, informed about this, which commemorates the transport of March 7, 1943 with a memorial service in the museum building. According to Míšková, the events should not be forgotten, especially nowadays with the influx of people fleeing the war from Ukraine.
A Rom is the only Roma teacher in a housing estate in Litvín. Twenty years ago, Marian Dancso had to leave the job he loved. As a sailor, he sailed on the Elbe and the North Sea for several years on cargo ships. “I served on tankers that transported chemicals, gasoline, diesel. I also spent a lot of time in Hamburg and Antwerp before I was seriously injured in a fire on board,” recalls the forty-one-year-old man, who after primary school in his native Lom u Most graduated from the Secondary Vocational School of Shipping in Děčín.
The story of Roma children being taught English but not having any textbook. This in a Roma settlement, which, according to the journalist, resembles wor torn Ukraine.
Bad.
The Government Office for Nationalities has announced new elections to the Council of the Roma Community of the Republic of Slovenia. This council has already started work, but without seven members from the ranks of Roma municipal councillors, as no voters voted in the first elections. This year’s elections will be held on March 30 in Murska Sobota, and in Novi Mesto on March 31, the office announced.
Roma councillors send their possible candidacy for member of the Council of the Roma Community by mail or bring it in person. The deadline for submitting candidacy is March 17 until 2 p.m. The candidature, which will be submitted by registered mail on February 17, is also considered timely.
Bavaria is increasing its financial support for the State Association of German Sinti and Roma. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and head of the state association Erich Schneeberger signed a new version of the contract that had existed since 2018 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Bavarian Sinti and Roma.
This provides for an expansion of cooperation and an increase in financial support from 434,700 euros to 662,300 euros.
A Hungarian movie series based on Roma tales was just realised. It was done a unique 3D series. The Gypsy Tales series was the idea of Mária Horváth, one of the founding members of the Kecskemét Animation Studio. After finishing the Hungarian folk tales, it occurred to her to show the values hidden in Roma culture through Roma tales. The creators consider it important that Roma should be proud not only of their music, but also of their fine arts and literature.
It is an election year for local government in Bulgaria. This means it is also the start of a new bout of demolition of “illegal” Roma houses. The mayor of the Varna “Mladost” district, Hristo Hristov, announced that the removal of 50 objects in the “Maksuda” ghetto will soon take place. Prior to this, deeds of municipal ownership will be issued on the land to provide a legal basis for the demolition in court. About 200 buildings have been removed in recent years.
This is bad.
The Romano actor Zdeněk Godla, starring in the recent movie “Invalid” spoke about working in a Slovak Roma settlement for the movie. He said he cannot understand how politicians can sinply do nothing about this.
Karel Holomek, an important Roma activist, publicist and politician, celebrateds his 86th birthday on March 6. He was born into a family of original Moravian Roma. Like his father, Tomáš Holomek, the first university-educated Roma in Czechoslovakia, he graduated from university – majoring in mechanical engineering at the Military Academy in Brno and worked there as an assistant for several years. Due to his rejection of the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was expelled from the faculty.
Karel Holomek worked in the first Czech Roma organization, the Gypsy-Roma Union. Between 1982 and 1989 he worked for the Samizdat publishing house, in the post-Soviet period he was a member of the Czech National Council for the Civic Forum.
A forum will be held “Suffering of Roma and Sinti in the Second World War” will be held on March 7th in the Synagogue of Niš. Osman Balić, president of the Presidency of the Standing Conference of Roma Citizens’ Associations in Serbia – League of Roma, Đokica Jovanović, retired sociologist and university professor, and Nebojša Ozmić, senior curator of the National Museum in Niš, will speak at the forum.
Discriminations of Roma and Domari (the Roma Middle Eastern cousins) is prevalent in the help of the victim of the recent earthquake in Turkey.
The Christian Roma Vocational Colleges Network and the Roma Vocational Colleges Association will participate in a professional trip at the beginning of March to present themselves at an international conference in Brussels.
In Hungary, eleven Roma vocational colleges have been working for more than ten years on the higher education career path and institutional and social integration of young people of Roma origin and/or underprivileged.
The issue with this is the fact that education is segregated. That seems not to be obvious to the promoters of such colleges…
A scandal broke out at a festival in Miskolc, Hungary. Gyula Horváth, the president of a Roma organisation had all the permission to collect donations and distribute balloons at the festival. The city police, however, harassed him and told him to leave.
“They have been harassing me since the morning, since the Festival started. First they wanted to disturb me, then they threatened me, then they wanted to ring out the stand with a cordon. There were about ten people here, they checked my papers, but I have all the official permits,” Horváth told.
The president negotiated with the police for two hours. In the meantime, they took photos of him, and then the police sent the photos to the mayor.
Marsell Bendig won the award of best actor in a supporting role of the Czech Film and Television Academy on Saturday. He gave an exclusive interview to ROMEA TV right after the ceremony.
The movie for which he received this award is called “Banger” and was directed by Adam Sedlák. The movie was shot on an iPhone and was shown in July 2022 at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary. It tells the story of Alex, a young drug-addicted dealer who wants to change his life and become famous as a rapper, played by actor Adam Mišík. Marcel Bendig played the role of Alex’s friend Ládi in the film.
With a special exhibition, the police headquarters and the Hanover region commemorate the deportation of Sinti and Roma by the National Socialists to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In the first weeks of March 1943, more than 700 Sinti and Roma, including many children, were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau from what is now Lower Saxony alone.
For the last three years, Filip Kaleja (38) has been helping budding musicians who don’t have enough funds to make their own recordings to make their dreams come true. He co-founded the label RMF Evolution Records, which publishes Roma musicians, including those from the poorest backgrounds. In addition, he heads the organization Ostravaská Nota, which co-organizes cultural events in Ostrava, but also supports the use of Romany among the youngest generation of Roma.
More news this week about Roma in the French press. A movie on the Roma Genocide during the Holocaust, which will be released this year; a book by Philippe Lafitte,, where one of the protagonist is a Rom, but which unfortunately uses quite a few stereotypes; a lenghty article in the Le Monde on racism and on the measures the government is taking to fight it; and then the usual. A fire in a camp, a new squat, and travellers “bothering” a town.
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