Author Archives: Roma Foundation

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia Referendum

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Slovakia currently votes on a controversial referendum to call for early elections. This referendum has been supported by the SMER (Slovak Social Demcracy) which was in power when Jan Kuciak, a journalist, was murdered following an investigation into corruption.

Peter Pollak, a Roma MP has been criticizing the attorney general for using a legal tool available to him, Paragraph 363. His use of the article has been widely criticized, including by the Slovak president. Peter Pollak compared the attorney general to Mafia Mobsters. “The attorney general is likely to be inspired,” by infamous drug lords. “It may appear to us that he has similar methods. He uses the audience’s attention just when something big is resonating in Slovakia and many are discussing it,” explains Pollák.

Europe

Breitbart, Again

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The usual Breitbart “reporting”. This time, a family who is left with 36’000 Eur of damage after a Roma refugee family from the Ukraine stayed at their home. Other inlays in the article mention a French hotel that was destroyed by refugees. The usual. The worst part is that they probably on top of it are pro Putler. And haven’t seen the damage they do…

Germany News Western Europe

Amaro Filmo

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The movie “Amaro Filmos” (Sic.), a documentary in which young Roma from Berlin give an insight into their lives. Racism, antiziganism, gentrification and the associated displacement of an entire community are highlighted – because many of the protagonists lived in the so-called “block” at the Ostbahnhof until the end of 2022, when the last families had to move out.

Germany News Western Europe

Integration Councils and Racism

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Individual members of the Nuremberg Integration Council have been criticized for racist statements. Integration councilor Mitra Sharifi explains why such bodies are not free of racism – and what needs to be done about it. Racism against Sinti and Roma is quite prevalent.

Germany News Western Europe

Holocaust Remembrance Day

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On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma invites you to a reading with music and singing. The opera and operetta singer Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter will present his recently published memoirs on January 28 together with the historian Annette Leo. In addition, the 89-year-old will perform some pieces with musical accompaniment.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Zdeněk Godla

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An article about the Czech Roma actor Zdeněk Godla, currently the best know Roma actor in the Czech Republic. He was lucky, as he started his life on the street at the age of 13, got in jail, and he got into acting by accident when he was doing community service in Chomutov and was chosen by the director Petr Václav for the film. Until the last moment, he agonized over whether it was some kind of fraud. He was at the bottom, without money, and acting helped him a lot.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Comedy

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A Slovak Movie comedy about the wild 90’s featuring Zdeněk Godla, the most famous Roma actor in the Czech Republic.

Germany News Western Europe

Movie

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The movie “Injustice and Resistance” about Romani Rose and the Sinti and Roma civil right movement will be shown in London in the Goethe Institute on January 27th.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgarian Wedding

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A Roma wedding in the town of Smolyan in Southern Bulgaria, close to the Greek border. The bad thing is, the paper mentions the bride’s age: 14, and the fact that she was sold for BGN 5’000 (roughly EUR 2’500). This is not good as it perpetuates this stereotype. Brides are generally not sold, but among many Vlach groups, the groom’s family has to pay for the bride, a tradition most probably associated with the slavery in that region.

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ukrainian Activists

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Portraits and discussions with Ukrainian activists, among which Ruslana Polyanska, a Romni who studied at the Central European University. They speak also about sterotypes.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Hate Mails

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A man in Berlin has been sentenced to ten months in prison for sending hate mail containing racist abuse of Sinti and Roma. The district court in Tiergarten found the 56-year-old guilty of incitement to hatred and insult, the Berlin public prosecutor announced on Tuesday. He also had to pay 4,000 euros to the “HateAid” advice center for those affected by digital violence. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the sentence, which was suspended on probation, included an earlier fine for insult, incitement to hatred and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations.

In the current case, the 56-year-old sent e-mails to the Central Council of Sinti and Roma seven times between October 2020 and July 2021.

Good!

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Documentary

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The members of the Schwarz family sit on the couch or camping chairs and talk about the past and present of antiziganism. Many of her grandparents were deported under the Nazis. While the contemporary witnesses have already died or have not returned from the camps, the traumatic experiences live on in the stories and return in antiziganism insults and violence in German schoolyards.

Europe

Turkey, the Police, and Roma

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A Rom who filed a complaint against the police in Istanbul alleging they racially abused him, beat him and tortured him is facing charges of “insulting and resisting against the police officers”. He goes on trial today.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland and Roma

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An article about the life of Romnja in Poland and their constant fight against stereotypes. This is presented through interviews with two Polish Romnja, one who stile lives in a traditional way (whatever that may effectively mean) and one which doesn’t.

But the stereotypes are the same: Dirty thieves.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Elections

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79% of the Roma in a small closed village voted for Babiš in the first round of the presidential elections in the Czech Republic. Marco Cavali from Prague, the chairman of the Roma Luma (Roma World) party, which he founded in 2021, called on the Roma to vote for Andrej Babiš. “And the Roma also voted for Babiš in the first round. Only this candidate is a sure guarantee of a safe life in the Czech Republic for the Roma,” Cavali tells CNN Prima NEWS.

This is bad. Babiš is a populist, supported by the far-right Okamura’s party. This will not turn out good for the Roma.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Still not much in the French press about Roma this last week. An initiative to play with Roma children in the North of France. Nice idea, but frankly, what does it bring? Also in the North, a camp got closed in Lille. Near Paris, in Bobigny, another camp was closed. Finally, near Nice in the South, a new camp was opened. This is the same game since nearly 20 years: Close a camp, the camp pops up somewhere else.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Vasilica

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Vasilica, sometimes also called Bango Vasil, is celebrated all over the Balkans by Roma, be they Christians or Moslems.

Vasilica has been celebrated for a long time, as it is the “Old New-Year” of the Christian Orthodox calendar.

Nebojša Demirović Zeka from Vranje, Serbia, says that his great-grandfather told me that once upon a time, the Čergari Roma crossed some water. Their boats began to sink, and the geese saved them. Since that day, Vasilica is celebrated, while the goose is sacrificed.

The holiday is celebrated for health and happiness. It starts between January 13 and 14, and is celebrated for the next three days.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and LGBT+ Roma

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A discussion with Daniel Bunda, a gay Rom. He says it clearly, prejudice against LGBT+ is also present in the Roma community. It is so doubly difficult for him.

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