Monthly Archives: June 2023

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukraine, Roma, and Identity Papers

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Many Roma in the Ukraine do not have any official documents. This prevents them from receiving social help, complicates their situation as IDPs, and often prevents them from finding official work. An action was started in Lviv, to help Roma obtain their papers.

Better late than never …

News Switzerland

Switzerland and Travellers

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There are not enough camping sites for travellers in Switzerland. This is definitively not new. The Council of Europe is now telling Switzerland it must act.

Let’s see, as the country is very good at doing nothing on this topic.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Interview

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An interview with the theatre actress Dominika Badžová, a Romni from the Košice region. She comes from a poor family with a single mother, and while she studied acting, she could not find a job, being a Romni. She was fortunately discovered and her talent rewarded.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Social “Bomb” ???

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Another of those articles in the Slovene press … Speaking of the Roma “Problem”, the fact that they are all unemployed, criminals, that they have many more children than the rest of the population, and that most of their children do not even finish primary school.

What they are talking about is not a Roma “problem”, it is a case of poverty and exclusion. And that is a Slovene issue.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Czecho-Slovak Miss Roma 2023

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The beauty contest, organised by the association Romia CZ recently took place. Seventeen-year-old Lucie Tulejová from Česká Lípa became Czech-Slovak Miss Roma 2023 on Saturday in Hodonín. Eighteen-year-old Vanesa Hrabalová from Ústí nad Labem took home the title of first runner-up, and Stanislava Kroščenová from Spišské Štvrtek finished in third place. The competition, organized by the association Romia cz, aims to show the beauty, talent and personality of young Roma girls from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

News Western Europe Sweden

Sweden and Discrimination

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In his play “Tschandala”, the Swedish Roma actor Lindy Larsson talks about decades of discrimination against Roma in Sweden – and about his own depressing and touching family history.

It’s hard to bear what the man, standing at the edge of the stage in a pale cone of light, is saying. His father was taken from the family as a child and placed in a government home. There he was beaten, raped, tied up for days, imprisoned. Again and again. He almost succeeded in attempting suicide when he was eleven. Later, as a teenager, he was almost sterilized. And he almost spent his whole life in prison and never met his future wife.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Exhibition

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An exhibition on the on the Genocide of the Sinti and Roma, designed by the Mittelbau-Dora Memorial will be shown in the Flohburg in Nordhausen, Germany, opening on July 7th.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Polish Movie

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The Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Skonieczny is directing a new movie set in Wrocław, a city he knows well, featuring a young skateboarder who falls in love with a Romni and is confronted with the prejudice against Roma. Both key actors are new to filming, and are supported by a cast of well know actors.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Roma Refugees from the Ukraine

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Out of the many refugees out of the Ukraine, ca. 100’000 are Roma. One of the issues they face is that many of them are stateless, they have no official papers, often lacking even a birth certificate that would prove their citizenship.
The fate of refugees in Western Europe is much better than in Eastern European countries bordering the Ukraine. There, they are definitively discriminated against.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma Settlement

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Another sad story. An apartment block had to be destroyed in the Roma settlement in Sabinov, in Eastern Slovakia, as the building was apparently unstable. The tenants had to be evicted and relodged in temporary housing.

Years of neglect do not help …

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: An Interview

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Dana Ema Hrušková (55) never thought that she would one day work in social services. Together with her husband, she successfully ran a hardware business. The turning point came when she started cooperating with the non-profit organization Romodrom, which was just starting field work in socially excluded locations. That’s when she discovered that helping others fulfils her more than her own thriving business. Today, she works as a field worker in the Prague 14 Černý Most district and has more than 80 clients.

News Eastern Europe Poland Ukraine

Roma Refugees in Poland

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An estimated 400,000 lived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. A quarter fled the war-torn country. Many went to Poland. Władysław Kwiatkowski, president of the Roma Association in Poland, stated in an interview that “Not everyone in Poland realizes that many Roma fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. They defend their country. They are citizens of Ukraine, just like the rest”.

Dr. Małgorzata Kołaczek from the Foundation for Dialogue – one of the authors of the report “Human rights, and discrimination – the situation of Roma refugees from Ukraine in Poland. Report on research and intervention activities” Said:

“The Roma, like other Ukrainians, lose their life possessions, husbands and fathers at the front, and yet they are treated differently – as if their pain and suffering were less. As it happens in a situation of uncertainty and danger, the lowest human instincts are activated, which are directed towards those whom one “always” dislikes “.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Round Table

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A round table “Roma cultural and artistic influences in Europe” was organized in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.

The keynote speaker of the round table was the advisor for culture of the Republic of Slovenia. In his speech, Marko Sraka Stated: “The topic of today’s round table, Roma cultural and artistic influences in Europe, is extremely important. In the public and the media, the Roma community is not often associated with a rich and vibrant culture, because social issues and problems arising from the relationship between the majority population and the Roma are always in the foreground. Every day, the Roma face hatred and rights violations, and have problems with decent and affordable housing, and are often denied employment and rights, and find it harder to integrate into the education system. The Romani language, culture and art have always been those parts of the Romani heritage, which others also recognize as a special value, especially here in Prekmurje,” he concluded in his speech.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Brno: Recuperation

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Less than a hundred people took part in an anti-Ukrainian xenophobic demonstration in Brno on June 24th, which was organized by pro-Russian disinformation Jakub Netík. Together with David Mezei, they tried to use the death of young Roma Nicolas to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiments. Classic pro-Russian propaganda was heard at the demonstration, as well as calls for the resignation of the government.

France News Western Europe

Arles: Exhibition

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A Photographic Pilgrimage will be presented this summer at the chapel of the Museon Arlaten, the “Rencontres d’Arles” invited the film director Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom, Gadjo dilo, Exils, Liberté, Tom Medina, etc.) to tell us the story of the Gypsies, Manouches , Roma and Travelers from France and Europe.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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More of the usual this week in France. A camp in Arles was dismantled, in Marseilles, residents are deprived of their parking because of an illegal Roma camp, and finally, two young Roma caught after having apparently stolen 212 mobile phones during a festival.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Krakow Festival

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The 12th International Days of Roma culture will take place in Krakow on July 1 and 2, in Łąki Nowohuckie. We will visit a former Roma camp, see museum wagons, ethnographic exhibits, an exhibition of paintings and photographs. On the outdoor stage, traditional dances will be presented by artists from Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Great Britain, Poland and France.

Unfortunately, some of the kitsch and stereotypes are presented here …

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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A nasty story. The town of Michalovce, in Slovakia, sold the run-down buildings of a housing estate where ca. 1’000 Roma live. The new owner says that if they don’t pay, he will evict them.

This is bad, as most probably they do not have the means to pay rent.

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