Reports and complaints about the improper treatment of Roma in Poland’s prisons have reached the ombudsman’s desk and indicate the widespread use of stereotypes and violations of prisoners’ rights.
Bad, but not surprising.
An interview with the president of the Roma Foundation for Europe. He says that “If Europe wants to live up to its own values, it cannot continue to treat the Roma the way it has before”.
An article on a music school in Skopje, Macedonia, which enrols many Roma from the Šutka. Nice project, but on the other hand, it perpetuates some old clichés.
Another article on the controversy surrounding the building of a new subway line that passes under the Berlin Roma Genocide memorial.
Well, who is surprised by the fact that Paris is closing Roma camps ahead of the upcoming Olympic games next summer.
An interview with a Czech activist living in Slovakia. She speaks about the prejudices that Roma are facing there. About stereotypes, she says:
“That Roma don’t want to work, they are just a burden and if they wanted to, they would get out of that situation right away. That’s a narrative I don’t agree with because social problems can’t be solved quickly. And people feel that it is everyone’s personal fault when they live in poverty. But often it may not be the fault of the person and his family, but the fault of the system. Especially if a person is already born into generational poverty and is not to blame.”
A fairly usual story: Roma built houses without land deeds. Communal lands, but also on plots where they have been since before the war, and where, after the fall of socialism, they did not manage to get deeds. Here, a town ploughed a field in front of a settlement, saying this was due to garbage, but did not manage to get rid of the houses. Probably next step.
Recent research shows that Roma men and women are the most frequent victims of discrimination, but the number of cases reported to the Ombudsman, special ombudsmen, police and courts is still extremely low. In order to empower the victims of discrimination, Informative Legal Center (IPC) Roma mediators visited Roma settlements in Brod-Posavina and Osijek-Baranja counties for 10 months and spoke with victims of discrimination and connected them with IPC legal staff who provided them with free legal assistance. The victims of discrimination with whom the Roma mediators talked most often complained about discrimination at work and in employment. They say that employers can often conclude that they are members of the Roma national minority based on their name, surname or address, and do not even invite them to a job interview. If they come for an interview in person, they find that employers use various excuses to not hire them, such as the position being filled, even though the ad is still active.
Another article about the 500 Euro promise made by O’lano and Roma. The articles in the Slovak press are pretty unanimous: Without this promise, the party would not have made it above the 5% threshold. It is now very convenient that a Roma organisation is suing this party for false promises.
Effectively, the narrative is that all Roma votes have been bought. While in some places this may hav been the case, it still needs to b proven…
Members of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic for the Slovakia movement Peter Pollák Jr., Lukáš Bužo and MEP Peter Pollák Sr. reject the accusations of the Union of Roma in Slovakia that they deceived the Roma before the elections in connection with a 500-euro allowance for participating in the elections.
For the International Day of Migrants, Radio Liberty presented a documentary project “In the eyes of God we are all people” – a film about Roma refugees who found refuge from the war in Moldova, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
A Czech Court sentenced two Roma who took part in a mass fight in Pardubice between Roma and Ukrainians at the beginning of this year’s holidays to 150 and 200 hours of community service. The Ukrainian suspect is not yet sentenced but risks up to two years of prison.
Former president Andrej Kiska launched a new philanthropic project called ROMADE, which aims to provide permanent work and income to Roma men and women, but also to be inspired by their culture and traditions.
The OĽaNO party promised in its Agreement with Slovakia that “we will pay a reward of 500 euros in cash to all honest people who come to vote on September 30, 2023”. This is how the representatives of the Pačivale Roma movement also presented it at pre-election meetings in the settlements, and people flocked to them.
According to the article, the prospect of a financial reward for participating in the elections was a very strong. So strong that in many settlements they voted en masse for OĽaNO. In some of them, they even got up to 90 percent of the votes.
Well, this is not proven, but the Union of Roma in Slovakia, as this was not paid, therefore filed a criminal complaint against Igor Matovič and the Pollákovs last week.
The Roma football club “Veternica” from Leskovac is the oldest active Roma football club in the Balkans. It was formed back in 1926 in Leskovac and was founded by Leskovac manufacturer Dimitrije Nikolić, for his workers, Roma spinners from the outskirts of the city in the Roma settlement “Podvorce”.
The Swiss Federal Council remembers the murdered Roma, Sinti and Yenish people. More than 25,000 German and Austrian Sinti and Roma were murdered by the National Socialists. But the Federal Council also looks to the present, where discrimination still occurs.
The Bjelovar-Bilogor County is unique in Croatia in terms of the diversity of its minority communities. As many as 21 of the 22 recognised minorities live harmoniously within its borders. Traditional dishes of national minorities were presented on the recently held Evening of National Minorities in Bjelovar’s Hall of European Champions, which was organized for the 15th time by the Czech Municipality of Bjelovar.
Romapresented themselves with their most famous dish, sarma – stuffed cabbage. The name comes from Armenia where it denotes meat wrapped in wine leaves.
The Union of Roma in Slovakia filed a criminal complaint in connection with a 500-euro payment promised for voting for Matovič and Pollák party. According to the chairman of the civic association František Tanko, Roma were deceived.
“These days, a number of residents of Roma settlements contacted us with a problem that is a consequence of the promises of Matovič and the Pollák family of deputies. It is a promise that if they vote for them in the elections, they will receive 500 euros. People who believed them borrowed money from loan sharks and are now in big personal trouble. Matovič and the Pollákovs grossly deliberately deceived and abused the poor Roma. They knew that they could not accurately understand their misleading promises and that they would get their votes in the vision of quick and easy funding,” said Tanko.
Jakub Prachař, a Czech TV moderator, made fun of Roma during the show Česko Slovensko má talent (Czecho Slovakia has talent). The Romano rapper Rytmus in the show loudly declared in Romany “Xas mro kar”.
Jakub Prachař social media account got overwhelmed by reactions.
Russia has long been recruiting prisoners, criminals and its own ethnic minorities from different regions into the war against Ukraine. Now they have begun to “engage” other categories of the population – Roma and migrants.
For example, on December 12, in the Leningrad region, 30 to 50 Roma were taken to military registration and enlistment offices. The head of the Sitting Rus’ charity foundation, Olga Romanova, told Channel 24 about this, noting that they would subsequently be sent to the front.
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