Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro and Minorities

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Montenegro and Minorities

The Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ​​has welcomed some policy measures implemented by Montenegro in the field of the protection of minority languages, but expresses serious concern about the lack of progress when it comes to Romanes, in particular in the areas of education, institutional use and teacher training.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Schools, and Roma

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Slovakia, Schools, and Roma

On Paper, they are full, schools receive subsidies for Roma, but they cannot keep them in the classroom. They cannot keep Roma students, even though they receive millions in subsidies from the state. Schools say they do what they can, but after the end of compulsory school attendance, it is practically impossible.

On the other hand, resident of marginalised Roma communities say “they just get the money for the children here and they don’t care about them anymore”.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Funeral

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Poland: Funeral

An article about the funeral of a 33 years old Polish Romni who was buried in Poland, although she lived in the UK. The article insists on the fact that the funeral rites are different from that of the Poles. They mentioned the night vigil over the coffin, and the hearth that had to be brought from Warsaw.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Bratislava: Exhibition

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Bratislava: Exhibition

The exhibition “Colour World – Coloriskeri luma” opened on Thursday in the Baroque courtyard of the University Library in Bratislava (UKB). It presents works from the 17th national art competition organized by the civic association Romano Kher – Roma House with the aim of improving communication between the majority and the Roma national minority. The theme of this year’s competition, which brings together Roma children and children from the majority society, was Roma traditions – baptism, wedding, funeral.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma “Issues”

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Slovenia and Roma “Issues”

MPs from the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) from the South East gave a press conference on Roma “Issues”. Franci Kepa, Anja Bah Žibert and Tomaž Lisec warned of ”increasingly worrying conditions due to the increase in Roma violence in Southeast Slovenia and Posavje”. More than 200,000 people live in this area, whose warnings remain unheeded, they warned.

It is a question of justice, security and the functioning of the rule of law, the three MPs emphasize, and in their opinion, people rightly wonder why the state only takes them seriously when it comes to collecting taxes, but not when it comes to their safety and dignity.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia – Prime Minister Questions

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Slovenia – Prime Minister Questions

Robert Golob was asked questions in parliament what he is undertaking to guarantee security in the localities with Roma settlements, especially in the Southeast of the country. He was being challenged for the “failure to control the security situation”. He stated that wwhile police presence has been increased, repression is never the solution.

The articles, especially the Reporter one, have a strong bias against Roma.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

“Gypsies don’t call, don’t write”

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“Gypsies don’t call, don’t write”

In Slovakia, in housing advertisement, these words are often found. Without any shame, nd unfortunately also without consequences…

According to Sára Danielová, is a junior researcher at the Roma Advocacy and Research Centre and an internal doctoral student at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, discrimination is common. “The apartment is no longer up to date. It is already occupied. We apologize.” Landlords are startled when a Roma person shows up during an inspection. Some admit the truth: “The neighbours don’t want it. We don’t want the properties in the village to lose value.”

Bad.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

A Book by Roma about Roma

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A Book by Roma about Roma

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.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Domestic Violence

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Domestic Violence

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.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Social Benefits, and Work

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Slovakia, Social Benefits, and Work
A new law recently passed in Slovakia will cut social benefits to people, mostly long terms or “low-skilled” who do not accept offered work. It was signed by the Slovak president, and will be effective from September. This is mainly aimed at Roma in settlements.

The kind of work offered is highlighted in the second article, where the minister of agriculture says that agriculture will greatly benefit from this law. Well, Fico and his government took example from Hungary, where similar ideas have been put in place. The effectivity of these laws is limited to say the least.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Zaharna Fabrika, and Art

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Bulgaria, Zaharna Fabrika, and Art

The interdisciplinary cultural project “Dom” presents the reality of marginalized children in Bulgaria through the means of painting and video. The project is of a documentary nature, and the goal is to draw attention to the impact of the social environment on children and the place they occupy in it.

Initially, the fields of research were the Roma Mahalas in Svoge and Stolipinovo in Plovdiv, but after the events surrounding the destroyed houses in the “Zaharna Fabrika” district in Sofia, where Roma houses were recently destroyed, they decided to include them in their project.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Ribnica, Slovenia

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Ribnica, Slovenia

According to the journalist, “the Ribnica municipal councillors discussed the Roma issue at last night’s session, after three violent Roma physically attacked the mayor, Sam Pogorelec, a policewoman, and the son of a municipal employee.

As Mayor Pogorelc said, they are extremely disappointed with the government, which turns a blind eye to these issues and is not prepared to get more actively involved in solving the Roma problem. At the same time, municipalities do not have the leverage to influence changes themselves, citing non-attendance by Roma children, unemployment of Roma, non-sanctioning of the actions of violent Roma, and the like. At the same time, one of the municipal councillors wondered how it was possible that one of Saturday’s attackers was not yet in prison, even though he stabbed a man a few months ago.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma, Slovenia, and the Law

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Roma, Slovenia, and the Law

A literal rant against woke ideology, against left leaning lawyers who do not want to discuss the ethnicity of crimes. The TV sender is well known for its anti-Roma views and nationalistic rightists positions.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Poland Slovakia

Slovak Polish Concert

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Slovak Polish Concert

The House of Culture Foundation and ETP Slovensko invite you to the Romani Polish-Slovak Concert – a common space of culture in Europe. It will take place next Saturday (June 14) at the Office of Art Exhibitions in Krosno, Poland, starting at 5:00 p.m.

The programme includes: A performance by the “Sila v mladosti” band from Stara Lubovna, which will present the music of the Slovak Roma from the Prešov region (historical Spiš); a concert by the “Romano Iło” band, led by Łukasz Andrasz, representing traditional Roma music from the Podkarpacie region in a modern version; a jam session, during which musicians from Poland and Slovakia will jointly create a space for improvisation and exchange of artistic experiences; as well as dances.

Slovenia

Slovenia, Politics, and Roma

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Slovenia, Politics, and Roma

The mayor of the Slovene town of Ribnica, Samo Pogorelc, who advocated cutting water and electricity to Roma who do not “behave” was attacked by some of his Roma constituents. This papers deems this a

“a brutal attack by Roma” which did not really require his hospitalisation.

He now demands the resignation of Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar. He also demands measures from the state, which is clearly not in control of the situation.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Stereotypes in Politics

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Stereotypes in Politics

A member of the European Parliament Romana Tomc (SDS) from Slovenia posted a post on her Facebook profile titled “The Gypsy Carmen and the story of the Dolenjska Roma”. Tomc paints a romantic picture of a “passionate, beautiful and special gypsy woman”, who was once supposed to represent something mysterious and exciting. Then follows the contrast: “Today, the gypsies from the story of Carmen are gone. Instead, we have Roma,” she writes.

Bad

 

Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Exhibition

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Exhibition

Through portraits and stories of twenty professionals from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, “Testament” reveals their talent and commitment in their respective fields. However, the exhibition of photographs by Arben Llapashtica, curated by Eliza Hoxha, also radiates the power to challenge stereotypes and build a reality where diversity and equality exist.

In an effort to bring powerful and authentic stories from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities closer to the public, the “Testament” exhibition will open at the Mitrovica Museum on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Minorities

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Czechia and Minorities

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.

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