Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Attacks

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On Monday, a group of Roma walked past the Novo mesto School Centre and attacked several students who were coming to school. Several students were injured and had to go to hospital. The police, who do not know the reason behind this attack, managed to catch most of the attackers.

This is not good.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Romanes Classes

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An article about the first course of Romanes in Kuplin, Vojvodina, in an elementary school. The Ministry of Education has approved two classes, and there are five students from the first to the fourth grade, and seven students from the fifth to the eighth grade.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Romnja and Violence

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According to a recent survey in Serbia by the Roma Centre for Women and Children “Daje”, more than two-thirds of Roma women have been exposed to psychological or physical violence at least once.

The authors of this research state that, due to the specific culture of silence in the community, Roma women hesitate to talk about the violence they are experiencing. Being brought up in accordance with rigid patriarchal norms leads to them accepting violence as something normal and as an integral part of life. In addition, Roma women often do not recognize that they are exposed to violence.

We have a problem with these statements: Two third of the surveyed women may very well have been subjected to violence. But two third of all Roma women? How do they know? In addition, the patriarchal norms are not quite accurate.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma Culture Award

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On Friday, October 20, 2023, the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno hosted the award ceremony of the Museum of Roma Culture Award, which is awarded annually by the museum to personalities who have contributed to the development and preservation of Roma culture. This year, the prize was awarded in memoriam to Robin Strio, director, cameraman, Roma activist and former curator of the museum’s video collection, who died in the spring at the premature age of 33.

Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Montenegro “Young, brave, loud”

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The NGO “Center for the Affirmation of the RE Population – CAREP” organized a two-day workshop on the topic of democracy, and 20 young people from the municipalities of Nikšić and Plužine took part.

The workshop was realized as part of the “Young, brave, loud” project.

“With this project, we want to increase the degree of participation of young people in the local community, especially young people from vulnerable groups, and thus contribute to social cohesion in Nikšić and Plužine. Young people are very interested in our activities, and we will also have a two-day training on youth participation, English lessons language, swimming and music, but also a two-month, paid internship program for young people from the RE community”, explained Nardi Ahmetović, executive director of the NGO “CAREP”.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Roma

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Bojan Kekec is a member of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia. He gave an interview to the press on Roma saying that “Living with them is very difficult. I don’t know how they would look in Ljubljana or other places when a beehive or grain in a field is set on fire. Such actions are unacceptable. There is a lot of crime and misdemeanours.”

Again, the picture chosen is not an actual photograph of the places mentioned, but just a stock picture, perpetuating the stereotypes.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Politics

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In the new composition of the Parliament of Slovakia, out of 150 representatives, as many as six are Roma. And not by some kind of key, but as elected representatives. Many Roma voted for the the party called “Ordinary people and independent personalities” (OľaNO) led by Igor Matovič, which is at the end, with 9% of votes won became the fourth largest party in the Slovak parliament. In some places with a majority Roma population, Matovic’s alliance achieved election results that were suspicious even to the police: while other parties got two or three percent each, OLaNO collected over 90% of the votes.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria, Vote Buying, and Roma

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Alexey Pamporov is an associate professor of sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the BAS, teaches “Sociology of the Family” and “Roma History and Culture” at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

He spoke about vote buying, especially among Roma – something that is often reported in Bulgaria. He says that actually, it is the sectional voting commissions that are often bought, and change the results after voting has been closed. This especially happens in Roma communities.

Also, he says that the Roma population is not increasing, as their birth rate is the same as for the rest of the population, and many of them emigrate.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

So Vakeres?

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The Roma show So vakeres (What are you talking about?) is broadcasted twice a month and is created by Roma journalists. It provides an opportunity to preserve Roma culture and present it to those who do not yet know it. Their creators hope and wish that these shows would also help to reduce prejudice against the Roma.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Belgrade: Commemoration

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26 years after his brutal murder by two skinheads, family and activists commemorated the death of Dusan Jovanović.

In September 2023 they submitted a new proposal in which they specified a part of the park in public property to be named after Dušan Jovanović, but the authorities have not formally addressed and responded to the family of the murdered boy to date.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: The Bedřiška Settlement

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This settlement houses a yearly festival over the summer, the Varvy Bedřiška which helps providing support the unique Ostrava community. Just like the first two years, the 2023 edition combined musical and other cultural performances with current topics in the area of housing and the future of the locality.

This festival is key to helping this settlement as there are big plans for the restoration of Bedřiška but they are currently only on paper. Local residents are the biggest drivers of change.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Roma, and Fico

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The new Slovak prime minister Fico and his extreme right coalition partners are not exactly pro-Roma. Their first test will be on how to deal with the Roma of Telgárt, whose settlement burnt down over the summer and who are still housed in tents.

Fico will definitively need the office of the plenipotentiary for Roma communities, as for the first time, it has a large budget under its belt – it will distribute up to 400 million euros from European funds in the next few years, and also has greater powers.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Roma Councillor

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Another article about the need for a Roma councillor in the town of Dobruška where 350 Roma live. Apparently, only two Roma have work.

The newspaper put up a picture which has nothing to do with the subject, as it does not portrays the situation in that town, but rather shows a settlement somewhere, and of course shows poverty, a caravan etc.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Conference: Critical Romani Studies

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 ‘Exploring Racial Capitalism: Critical Romani Studies in Central and Eastern Europe’ is the closing conference of the research project ‘Precarious labor and peripheral housing. The socio-economic practices of Romanian Roma in the context of changing industrial relations and uneven territorial development’ conducted at Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between 2020-2023.

The conference takes place tomorrow, October 19th, and can be attended remotely if registered.

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News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakian Roma

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Petr and Jana Ščuka are married and Roma. They are exceedingly successful, are de facto billionaires but gave away 1/3 of their fortune to help others, be they Roma or non Roma.

Well done.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Dušan Jovanović

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Representatives of the Ne davimo Beograd-Green Left Front party, the city of Belgrade and the Roma Forum of Serbia laid flowers in Beogradska Street, at the place where a 13-year-old Roma boy, Dušan Jovanović, was killed 26 years ago.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romano voďi

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A new magazine has been launched in the Czech Republic: Romano vod’i. In this first edition, an article on Jan Cibula, first Rom medical doctor and one of the original founders of the International Romani Union, Jan Ort, a Rom and activist, and Lucie Fuková, a Roma representative.

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