Category Archives: North Macedonia

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Bitola, North Macedonia

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The three-year project “BAIR-Joint Action of Bitola for the inclusion of Roma” ended and was financed by the EU, implemented by the Italian NGO COSV, Preda Plus Foundation and the Municipality of Bitola. The final conference of the project “BAIR-joint action of Bitola for the inclusion of Roma” is the culmination of the joint efforts and dedicated initiatives of the project partners and collaborators in the direction of encouraging socio-economic inclusion in the Bair settlement. Through cooperation and dedicated action, the project enabled significant improvements in the urban component in the Bair neighbourhood and improved social inclusion.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Roma Ball

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More on the Roma ball and on the fashion exhibited there in Skopje yesterday.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Skopje Roma Ball

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On January 13th, the European Roma Ball was held in the “Alexandar Palace” hotel in Skopje, organized by the Roma United from Macedonia (ROM) party, headed by Erdzhan Selimi. He thanked the many people present, and mentioned the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, who was among the guests, calling him the future prime minister of Macedonia.

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Roma Ball in Skopje

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The two Balkan stars Svetlana Ceca Ražnatović and Tea Tairović will perform at the “World Roma Ball” in Skopje, which will be held on January 18 of this month. Ceca will sing for 50,000 euros, Tea Tairovic for 20,000 euros.

This is a ball with budget to say the least …

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Roma Ball

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The traditional World Roma Ball will be held in Skopje for the 44th time on January 18, are already preparing for the event. As in previous years, guests from all over Europe are expected. They will be entertained by Ceca, Thea Tairovic, Jogani, Muharem Serbezovski, Tarkan, Jefrina at the Alexander Palace Hotel.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Šutka

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The Šutka offers the iconic but often caricatural image of the Roma of North Macedonia. The municipality of Šuto Orizari, on the outskirts of Skopje, was born in 1963, after the earthquake which devastated the Macedonian capital. Far from the “slum” imagined by some, travel to discover the many faces of the neighbourhood. First part of a series of 4 articles.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia: Resistance Exhibition

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North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski visited the exhibition “Roma partisans – photos and biographies” authored by Daniel Petrovski, organized by the Association of Romani Folk Art Lovers “Romano Ilo” – Skopje. The exhibition presents 50 Roma fighters who participated in various brigades and divisions in the NOB during the Second World War.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia, Universities, and Roma

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Students from the Roma Association “Romaversitas” started a campaign against the abuse of quotas at the university and a correction in the application of the enrolment policy, after five Roma students who applied to the Faculty of Medicine were rejected from the state and private quota of the faculty.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Racism

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The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights strongly condemned offensive graffiti with swastikas and inscriptions “Gyupci”, written with black spray on the houses of the Roma population on Debarska street in Bitola, North Macedonia. According to them, this is another case of a hate crime, with a message calling for violence against the Roma ethnic community.

“Starting from the aspiration to build coexistence, tolerance and mutual respect, regardless of national, ethnic, religious or any other affiliation, we demand that the competent institutions, above all, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor’s Office thoroughly investigate the case, find the perpetrators , who should be held accountable for this crime,” the Helsinki Committee stated.

News Eastern Europe News Switzerland North Macedonia

The Šutka

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Swiss television definitively not at its best. 8-10 Mio Roma (the Council of Europe cites 12 to 14, but then, the Swiss must know it better), and now a capital: the Šutka in Skopje.

It is always amazing what people can write or say about Roma with total impunity.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Hate Speech

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A Romani organisation organised a conference on hate speech in North Macedonia and worked on a project on the more general topic of Hate Speech in the Western Balkans.

The Council of Europe published the information yesterday.

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Tetovo – North Macedonia and Multiple Languages

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In Tetovo, North Macedonia, it is better to be able to speak the languages ​​of its neighbours: Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, Romanes or Serbo-Croatian. This mutual knowledge is the basis of social and professional relations. And the Roma are, as often, the champions of multilingualism!

Tetovo is certainly one of the most multicultural cities in North Macedonia. According to the last census in 2021, it has 84,770 inhabitants, including 60,460 Albanians, 15,529 Macedonians, 1,885 Roma, 1,746 Turks, 256 Serbs, 189 Bosniaks and eleven Vlachs.

Many speak several languages ​​in addition to their own, so they can communicate with neighbours and friends from other communities. In the streets of Tetovo, one hears Macedonian, Albanian, Romanes, Turkish or Serbo-Croatian. The Roma community is the most multilingual, perhaps because its children cannot be educated in their mother tongue in Tetovo and have to attend lessons in Macedonian, Albanian or Turkish.

Nezir Huseini, for example, speaks the languages ​​of all the communities of Tetovo. In addition to Romanes, he speaks Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, but also English and German. “Romanes is my mother tongue, but I speak Albanian because I studied it in primary school. I always spoke Macedonian and Turkish and, as I studied in a military academy in Belgrade, during the time of Yugoslavia, I improved my Serbo-Croatian. Finally, I learned English and German, which I speak, read and write fluently,” he explains.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Roma Education

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The Ministry of Education and Science informed that it hired 40 Roma educational mediators who will provide additional support for students in elementary schools in municipalities with a larger number of students from the Roma ethnic community.

“Their role is to help improve awareness of the possibilities and access to schools, to have regular meetings with the population and employees of the primary school related to the educational specifics and needs of this vulnerable group, to regularly collaborate with professional associates and teachers to improve the achievements of the students, as well as to take actions to reduce the dropout of the educational process”, said the Ministry of Education and Culture.

This is not much when one thinks of how many Roma there are in Macedonia.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia – Renovations

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Soon 27 Roma families from the Bair neighbourhood in Bitola will be able to renovate their homes. The project “Bair – Joint action of Bitola for the inclusion of Roma”, will fund the renovations but after the legalization of the buildings, and the acquisitions of title deeds.

This is always an issue in Roma neighbourhood where many houses simply do not have any deeds, even in cases where the houses have stood there for many years.

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

North Macedonia and Schools

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Parents in North Macedonia demand change as schools in some districts end up t be totally segregated with 100% of the enrolled children being Roma.

This problem is not only prevalent in that country, as there are many places in Europe with de-facto school segregation. This is the case n many places in Hungary too for example.

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