Hungary’s Roma suffer from exclusion, poverty and a lack of education. But many Roma politicians are ensnared in conflict and corruption instead of finding a remedy. And there are no Roma in Parliament.
Orban’s government is fuelling this corruption in search for votes.
This is bad.
Jan Hero, the plenipotentiary for Roma Communities for the Slovak Government, highlighted the fact that Slovakia import workers, from the Ukraine and other countries while not giving work to their own Roma.
He praised all Roma working.
They not only face discrimination from the society at large, but also from their own families.
A literary contest in the Czech Republic.
An article in French on Alina Serban’s latest theatre play. One should contrast the way the French speaking press reports on it with the way the German and English speaking one does.
The French have a long way to go.
Up to one billion Euro is earmarked for Roma integration from the EU. In addition. Another 150 Mio are to be granted as part of the Covid Recovery. This is quite a sum, but how will it be spent?
An article on the murders of Roma in 2009 in Hungary, close to the anniversary of the first killing on February 23rd, 2009.
The latest piece from Alina Serban, a Romani actress.
Bravo!
Some Hungarian Roma identify with the poetry of Amanda Gorman, the poet at the inauguration of President Biden and are translating her.
The Slovak Roma Union went to court for an alleged attack by a policeman against 5 Roma children in a Roma settlement during a quarantine. The children apparently had strayed too far from the settlement.
In a resolution on January 20, the investigator referred to a section of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that the prosecution is stopped if “there is no doubt that the act for which the prosecution is being conducted has not occurred”.
No Comments.
The project “Obscuring the world” by Małgorzata Mirga-Tas will be presented in the Polish Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition. The fact that a Romni can represent Poland seems to be quite new to the country…
In socially excluded Roma groups in Slovakia, the number of deaths in earlier waves of coronavirus infection grew twice as fast as in the majority population. At the same time, the Covid-19 epidemic has halted the increasing employment of Roma, and the negative effects of the coronavirus crisis may be more pronounced for this group of Roma, as up to four-fifths of them were already at risk of poverty before the pandemic.
Representatives of the civic association eduRoma claim in an open letter that the Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic Igor Matovič (OĽaNO) is building rough walls between the current government of the Slovak Republic and the civic sector.
The controversy follows the allocation of 330’000 EUR to the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia to support missionary pastoral work in Roma communities and ignoring the work of other NGOs and churches.
The Romani artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas will represent Poland at the Venice biennale.
Well done.
On the commemoration of the Holocaust Remembrance in the Czech Republic, a region which basically eradicated all Roma during World War Two.
Where are the Roma in the Census? There is a lot of excitement, even outrage at the fact that Roma in their large majority, did not declare themselves as Roma in the latest Slovak census, but rather as Slovak or in quite a few cases as Hungarians.
Well, first, they are Slovaks… Whether the majority population likes it or not. Second, asking for ethnicity is fraught with problems. Third, the main reason people will not declare themselves as a minority is simple: Racism and discrimination. That question is absent from the articles on the topic.
Sad.
Unfortunately, 20 years after having expelled a large majority of Roma, Kosovo remains Roma averse and racism against the minority is rampant.
The Hungarian Roma activist Jenő Setét died last week at the age of 50.
May he rest in peace.
He had become, over the course of his years of activism, the main figure in the fight for the inclusion of the Roma minority in Hungarian society. Noting that “today there is a lack of a politically aware Roma community” capable of defending its political, economic and social interests, he multiplied initiatives to bring out this political awareness.
The Hungarian Roma activist Jenő Setét died last week at the age of 50.
May he rest in peace.
Setét was one of the best-known figures in the protection of Roma interests in Hungary, he organized the Roma Pride Day and also led the Association.
The case of Nižný Slavkov, a small town in Eastern Slovakia, where none of the roughly 230 the Roma living in the local Osada (Settlement) declared themselves as Roma in the census, saying that they are Slovaks (which, by the way it technically correct).
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