Two good blog articles to understand the upcoming Hungarian elections and whether Viktor Orban manages to stay in power.
A recapitulative of the events and people who were involved in the first World Roma Congress which led to the recogintion og the International Roma day on April 8th.
A very interesting article from the New York Times on the weight of the Roma vote in the upcoming elections in Hungary. Orban has relied on vote from Roma to remain in power, all while jsapping their rights.
The police respects the decisions of international judicial authorities. In response to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), according to which the fundamental rights of two complainants were violated during the police intervention in the village of Milhosť in the Košice-okolie district in July 2019. In July 2019, the police detained two sisters in front of a family house in the village after the intervention and subsequently transported them to the police station. According to the complaint, they were subjected to physical violence, verbal insults and inappropriate treatment during their detention and stay at the police station.
Miha Lobnik, Advocate of the Principle of Equality in Slovenia says about Roma that “To hide their roots, they prefer to choose Slovenian surnames”. He organised a roundtable discussion to highlight the problems in the education of Roma children.
On Thursday (April 9), the Záhrada cultural center in Banská Bystrica will host the Mirror event, dedicated to Romnja, on the occasion of International Roma Day. It will combine the power of art, culture and social discussion.
Grzegorz Szczepański, assistant editor-in-chief of Romano Atmo, the Roma minority newspaper published by the Polish Roma Union in Szczecinek, discusses the most important events of the last year and what is happening now in the latest issue of “Roma Magazine.”
A series of events dedicated to promoting intercultural dialogue and finding sustainable solutions for the educational and social inclusion of the Roma community will be organized as part of the “Roma Week” initiative. It was launched by the Ministry of Education and Research in the context of International Roma Day, celebrated annually on April 8.
A recent survey on attitudes of Ukrainians towards others. Well Roma are behind afrticans, and barely before Byelorussians and Russians living in their respective countries.
Bad.
A program about the traditions and customs of the Roma, their cultural achievements, literature, theater and other artistic fields.
Next Sunday’s elections are critical for Orban. And vote buying or at least influencing is ripe.
A “special operation” by the Bulgarian police in Tasrevo in a Roma neighbourhood resulted in several compl,aints being lodged against the police for viloences. The mayor of the town, Marin Kirov, reacted:
“My position as mayor and citizen of Tsarevo municipality regarding the actions this morning on our territory: It is a pity, we are receiving data about violence against people sleeping in their beds during the action this morning.
That’s right – they are neither running nor hiding, they are sleeping in their beds. They say they were gypsies, excuse me, it’s 2026 and we are in one of the few municipalities with an integrated Roma ethnic group and without significant crime related to gypsies. These are people, for God’s sake!? Nothing was found in them, nothing related to the elections.
We are obviously talking about excessive force and inadequate repression and an operation, planned and implemented in an absolutely insane way, and in Tsarevo – a modern tourist municipality, we depend on this livelihood, on a good image, on the peace between people. We also fully support the local police from tourism with cars, fuel, drug test cassettes and a huge resource for seconded police officers and repairs. And not only the local police, but also regional units of the services.
What are they achieving with these actions? Dozens of jeeps, over 50 berets and uniforms for a few sleeping people from the gypsy ethnic group? For years, they have been working on old signals against the same people who have never been caught or convicted of election crimes.
Are they trying to rewrite the election result? Be patient, they will see in two weeks, Tsarevo is developing and people appreciate it!
The Roma vote is not decisive here, and this aggression is inadequate and will have its own civil resistance in the elections.
Attempts to suggest that a small group determines the agenda and the election result are not based on facts in reality.
Take a walk in Tsarevo – here we earn trust with enormous effort and a lot of work!”
On Saturday 28th March, an estimated 1000 supporters of Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement), and members of its affiliate paramilitary groups marched in the village of Kálló, in what the party’s chairman László Toroczkai billed as a ‘pro-order’ demonstration.
They had already done so on March 13th, but were prevented by the villagers. Now they were protected by the police.
And in another fact, the Minister of Construction and Transport, Kjanos Lázár, held a forum in Úrhida, Fejér County, where his usual arguments about protecting sovereignty eventually led to the conclusion that Fidesz should cooperate with Mi Hazánk in this regard.
Bad.
An interview of Janush Panchenko wo tells what it was like when Russia invaded Ukraine and what it was like when he decided to leave Ukraine.
The Chairman of the National Assembly of the BSP Krum Zarkov met with residents of the Roma quarter “Komluka“ in Sliven. Dozens of questions, remarks from the field and the active participation of people turned the conversation into an open and tense dialogue on the real problems of the community.
President Petr Pavel and Eva Pavlová will receive Roma community leaders at Prague Castle on the occasion of International Roma Day. According to information from the Romea.cz server, a total of 20 Roma men and women are expected to attend. Almost half of them are graduates of the educational program Supporting the Social Inclusion of Roma through Community Development and Entrepreneurship, which was implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The three-year program involved 80 participants from 11 regions of the Czech Republic. The names of the specific participants have not yet been published.
The Regional Court in Ostrava has sentenced a group of three men and one woman, who according to the indictment were led by 23-year-old Enrico Pešta, known as the Roma rapper Hard Rico. He was sentenced to four years in prison for robbery and extortion and must pay two million crowns. Two other defendants were sentenced to five years in prison, and Hard Rico’s former girlfriend was sentenced to three years in prison.
The Roma Foundation for Europe, headquartered in Brussels, is part of the Soros Foundations for an Open Society and implements various programs across Europe in support of the Roma community – it supports children and young people in education and extracurricular activities, young families in self-employment and job creation, protects Roma communities from abuse for political purposes and encourages political activation, and also invests in the preservation and development of Roma culture and language. It has not been present in Slovenia so far because it seemed that there was no need for it – because Slovenia is a sufficiently developed country with a small enough Roma population to be able to solve the problems on its own. Jovanović says today that this opinion was clearly erroneous.
Students from the Veliko Tarnovo region will celebrate International Roma Day – April 8. The event in the old capital will be held on April 3 /Friday/ at 2:00 p.m. at the Petko R. Slaveykov Regional Library. The main highlight of the program is the presentation of the book “The House of the White Swan” by the Roma writer, teacher and educational mediator Atanas Atanasov – Vakavliyata. Guests will have the opportunity to meet the author and get acquainted with his work, dedicated to the life, identity and values of the Roma community.
The Dobrich Municipality (Bulgaria) reported on progress in the integration of Roma communities. During the meeting, the results achieved from the implementation of the ROMACT approach were presented, as well as the main challenges faced by the municipality in the integration process.
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