Monthly Archives: August 2024

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Agency for Social Affairs

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Citizen members of the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs and representatives of the organization RomanoNet today issued a statement calling on the government of the Czech Republic to immediately suspend all decisions regarding the future of the Agency for Social Inclusion (ASZ) and to start a broad public discussion about its future. They stated that the participation of Roma in the ASZ is only a formal one.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatia: Brawl

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A fight between two Roma families was filmed in Bjelovar, Croatia. The fight left several wounded, and a few arrested. One man is now accused of attempted murder, after he shot and wounded another in this fight.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Repression?

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The former leader of the Slovenian Communist Party, Milan Kučan said about the Roma “problem”: “I don’t take a particularly dramatic view of this, but above all I think it is inadmissible that, through repression, people are now trying to make the whole Roma community guilty of the incidents of individuals.” He opposes the proposed creation of village guards in the regions with Roma settlements.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Roma families protests in front of the Ribnič municipality began more than fifteen years ago, and their demands have always been the same, namely that the local authority should solve their housing problems.

The Union of Roma of Slovenia is now trying to calm the strained relations between the local authorities and the local Roma. Their representatives visited two Roma settlements in Ribnica yesterday and advised the local residents not to intensify their protest. They suggested that they first establish a dialogue with the mayor, with whom they had already agreed on a joint meeting.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Social Benefits

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Another article in the Slovak press about a survey on social benefits that dismantles the misconception that financial support for Roma is the main cause of high taxes and public finance deficits in Slovakia. This is a widespread myth in that country.

The survey checked that tamilies with more than three children receive 45 million euros a year through child allowance and parental allowance, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to total public spending. The number of children was chosen as a proxy, as ethnicity is not recorded in the statistics. The reasoning is that while not all families with more than three children are Roma, this will contain many of them.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma from Brekov, Slovakia

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Roma from the village of Brekov in the Humen district in Eastern Slovakia became famous in the region for the production of fired bricks. They were the only ones, and the construction boom in the interwar period guaranteed them sales. They spoke little about the Holocaust.

Today, all these activities remain only in the memories of the oldest inhabitants of the village. Their conversation were captured by Elena Cinová, born Gunárová, whose parents come from Brekov.

A qualified teacher with a focus on Roma culture, she works at the Methodological and Pedagogical Centre in Prešov. She supplemented the audio recordings with photographs from the albums of the families of Martina Petrova, Etela Kirvejová, Magda Tokárová and the Gunár family and exhibited them in the hall of the cultural centre.

France News Western Europe

French chronicle …

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Not much this week. A fire in a camp in Marseilles, and an old reportage just updated about young Roma who are working with social workers.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Schools, and Roma

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Two teachers from Dobšina found a way to attract children from poor Roma families. In four years in their experimental class, not a single student failed. Another 85 children will start school in the fall, who have the chance to experience a different approach.

The problem are textbooks. They cannot yet be purchased from a state grant. So these teachers started a fundraiser.

Good.

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe Poland

Interview of Zeljko Jovanovič

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Zeljko Jovanovič, the president of the Roma Foundation for Europe and a long term activist calls for the community to look to the future and learn from the past. “I would like young Roma to see themselves as a source of collective strength. Let them work as a collective to build a higher level of resistance,” he said in an interview for iROZHLAS.cz at a conference on the anniversary of the Roma Holocaust in Poland.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Festival in Lovosice

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Roma cuisine, attractions for children, and music are in the program of the 7th Roma festival in Lesopark Osmička in Lovosice, which takes place on August 17 from 12:00 and will last until late at night. Look forward to Roma dance groups from all over the country, as well as Roma singers and bands.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, the Police, and Roma

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Following the attack by Roma on policemen trying to arrest two juveniles, the Slovenian police reacted. The Police Union of Slovenia warned of the deterioration of the security situation in some areas of the country. The Ministry of the Interior and the police strongly condemn any violence and attack on police officers, who must be dealt with and punished accordingly. They are actively solving the challenges regarding the Roma community and they believe that in the dialogue between the local community, the state and the Roma population, they will make important steps towards improvement, they stated in response to the union appeal.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

More on the Slovenian Roma “Problem”

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Another incendiary article about the Roma “Problem” in Slovenia. The article states that in recent months, the debate about the Slovenian government’s ineffective handling of the Roma issue has been rekindled, as the media reports on an increased number of crimes related to the Roma minority. Despite the disobedience, the mayors persist and strive for legal changes as soon as possible, because the minority must have exactly the same obligations as other citizens, emphasizes the mayor of Ribnica Samo Pogorelc.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: The Roma “Problem”

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Slovenian media report on Roma violence and crimes almost every day. According to the current opposition, the government is clearly not concerned with this, as it rejects all proposals, even those of mayors who know the situation well.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Attack

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On Sunday, several members of the Roma community clashed with the police officers who arrested the underage driver. The Roma then tried to prevent the arrest by hitting, pushing and threatening the police. Two police officers were slightly injured. The editorial office of 24UR received a video of the attack, and their journalist spoke with representatives of one of the Roma communities from the Kočevje area, who are outraged that “they are all being thrown into the same bin.”

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Unemployment, and Roma

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Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family Erik Tomáš received the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma communities Alexander Daško. The subject of the labour negotiations on projects aiming to create job positions for low-skilled and long-term unemployed people, as well as a legislative proposal to withdraw or reduce benefits in material need for those unemployed who can work, but refuse a suitable job offer.

Daško doesn’t see anything discriminatory in those measures.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and State Finances

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A new study in Slovakia dispels the myth that the social benefits that Roma get is one of the main burden of the state and that this is the reason for high taxes. According to the study, families with more than three children, which often include Roma families, receive approximately 27 million euros per year in benefits in material need and additional payments. “This is the same amount that the government allocated for the construction of the National Football Stadium,” the report said.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Roma Settlements

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The municipality of Velingrad has started a procedure to legalize the illegal buildings in the Roma neighbourhoods of the city. In Bulgaria, many houses in Roma settlements have never been registered and there are often no property documents.

The aim is to give the households who live in the houses there the right and the obligation to pay taxes. This will limit the illegal use of electricity and water.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Dive Maky

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The gala program of the civic association Divé maky brought Roma temperament and several inspiring stories to the center of Bratislava. The celebration of the talent of Roma children took place on Saturday in Hviezdoslav Square, where young Roma scholarship holders will presented the results of their work.

The program offered music and singing, dance, a theater performance and a discussion about the future of Roma youth in Slovakia, which was discussed by the leaders of Dive Maky (Wild Poppies).

Unfortunately, this is full of stereotypes…

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