Martin Halík, a successful IT worker, left all behind an moved to a Roma settlement in Gemer. He does concrete help, charity, but also is a priest and as such also preaches.
Nice intentions, one needs to understand more.
After more than a year, the talk show Desetiminutovka returns to ROMEA TV, which has been in existence since 2009 and is one of the oldest formats of the first Roma internet television. The new presenter is Nikola Kokyová, a former Miss Czech Republic and model who studied economics and now works in the non-profit sector. Her first guest is psychology student and young activist Robin Balog.
A long article about the forced sterilisation of Romnja in Czechoslovakia (and beyond), and the long plight to get compensated.
A brawl between Roma families in Pilsen saw the intervention of the police, and cast a shadow on this event.
Bad.
An editorial one can only agree with. There is a multiplication of events called “Roma festivals”. This article focuses on the ones created in Slovakia, but this is a phenomenon that exists across Europe. Quality, impact, and meaningfulness are seldom discussed. We have basic folklore, unfortunately pandering to the usual stereotypes.
Another one of those kinds of articles. All stereotypes included. Good musicians who “migrated through Europe for thousands of years”, and so on. Well meant, but full of stereotypes.
As one says: Hell is paved with good intentions.
In the centre of Pilsen, Czechia, after the AraFest 2025 Roma culture festival, which took place on Republic Square in the very centre of the city, police had to intervene because of a fight between tow Romani families.
Shame.
The police have closed the investigation into the case of racist Czech political extremist party SPD posters from last year’s election campaign, in which the chairman of this opposition movement, MP Tomio Okamura, and the SPD as a legal entity are accused. The Novinky server wrote on Thursday evening that criminal investigators are now waiting for the party’s new representative to familiarize themselves with the investigation file. The police are accusing Okamura and the SPD of inciting hatred, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
What is it like to lose your sight as a child? What if you have a disobedient guide dog? What does a blind musician have to deal with? And what did police bullying of Roma look like in the nineties? The most famous Czech Roma accordionist Mário Bihári tells about this in his new book.
The book is called “Music in Colour”.
The Moravian-Silesian Region has increased funds for supporting cultural activities in the region by almost 3 million crowns (121500 euros).
This will contribute to stage readings, a Roma festival or improvisational theatre. “As part of the subsidy program for professional and non-professional activities in the field of culture, the region supported 54 projects in March this year, among which the councillors distributed 11 million crowns. We managed to allocate additional funds for culture, so we will be able to support another 9 interesting events, to which we will contribute a total of 2.8 million crowns. These include, for example, the Improtřesk festival, Sorfest or the multi-genre Roma festival ARA FEST Ostrava,” said Peter Harvánek, the Moravian-Silesian Region Councillor for Culture and Monument Preservation.
Will this help Roma?
An article on the Roma festival in Opava, Czechia.
The Czech President Petr Pavel has signed a law extending the deadline for submitting compensation claims for forced sterilisations to January 2027.
Many Romnja who had been forced-sterilised had tried to get their claims registered, but the process was so slow that they would have seen their claims dismissed. Let’s hope this time it will work.
The musical formation Songs of Roma will perform at one of the largest and most famous music festivals in the world in Glastonbury in the United Kingdom. They will present the Romani repertoire and will also lead a workshop on traditional singing. The festival takes place from June 25 to 29 and will offer a varied cultural program focused, among other things, on the Romani community.
Patrik Banga – a distinguished journalist and blogger – nevertheless published his first book, The Real Way Out. Now Banga has another book to his credit. It inextricably combines journalism, Roma and music – because Banga is also a skilled musician, just like his “Gipsy” brothers Radek and Gyulla – both in the author and in his counterpart. It is a book interview, namely with a person who has long deserved it: the former accordionist of Zuzana Navarová and Koa Mário Bihari, musician, lyricist and frontman of the band Bachtale Apsa.
The Romeo server has just published research on domestic violence against Roma women. The research was presented by the Slovo 21 organization at the Speak Out conference as part of the Khamoro festival. 500 women from 19 cities in the Czech Republic responded. What are the results?
More than two-thirds of the respondents know someone who has experienced domestic violence and almost 29 percent of the women have experienced domestic violence personally. According to more than half of them, violence in their environment occurs either repeatedly or constantly.
But from this small non-representative sample to say that a third of all Romnja suffer from domestic violence is goig to far.
An interview of a young Romni in the Czech Republic who is breaking down stereotypes on Tik Tok.
Well done!
Martin Kanaloš has been writing since childhood, but only recently introduced himself with his debut novel. The book Me, Tran and Everything Else tells the story of two teenagers, half Roma and half Vietnamese, from a housing estate.
“They experience various troubles on the outskirts of the city, in a housing estate,” added Kanaloš. They feel that life is slipping through their fingers, unlike their classmates from a small-town high school, until they show up at a fancy party as uninvited guests. They also have a diverse ethnic background in common: Dezi is half Romani and Tran is half Vietnamese. Kanaloš talks about what it’s like not to fit in in the Czech Republic, mixing social realism with black humour. “I have Romani, Hungarian, Ukrainian ancestors. And because I’ve been focusing on Romani issues for the past few years, I chose the Romani theme for this book as well,” the writer explained. The character of Tran is said to be loosely inspired by his friend.
Twelve ROMEA scholarship holders participated in the organization of the World Roma Festival Khamoro this year as part of the educational program “Khamoro shares experiences”, organized by Slovo 21. They helped with production, communication with guests, and documentation of events. In the process, they gained valuable experience, strengthened their self-confidence and pride in their own identity. They also shared their impressions on stage during the final gala concert, and Denisa Hamáčková’s vlog captures the process of their involvement.
Almost a third of Roma women have personal experience with domestic violence. Yet most of them do not seek professional help. This is according to a new study by the Slovo 21 organization, which also shows a change in attitudes. The number of Roma women who reject traditional family roles and want to be heard is increasing. The research also brings the first extensive probe into the topic of violence in Roma communities.
The Slovo 21 organization for the first time ever examined the experiences of Roma women with domestic violence on a larger scale. 500 women from 19 Czech cities participated in the survey as part of the Speak Out project. Data collection was carried out by 26 trained Roma interviewers.
The issue as usual, is that one generalises based on a sample that is most probably not so representative in the first place. As we always say, if one doesn’t know how many Roma there are, ho can we infer a percentage?
Last week, a number of prominent Roma personalities came to Prague thanks to the Khamoro festival. Among the guests was linguistics professor Hristo Kjučukov, who comes from Bulgaria. He has struggled with discrimination since childhood, not only as a Rom, but also as a Muslim. And this is what he tried to overcome with education and success.
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