Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

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The Catholic Church and Roma

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The Catholic Church and Roma

A Roma delegation from the Czech Republic led by Karel Karika, Chairman of the Czechoslovak Roma Union, today attended a general audience with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square. Representatives of the Roma community delivered an exceptional message to the Holy Father: They requested the symbolic lifting of the excommunication of Roma from the Catholic Church, which was declared in 1427 and not abrogated to this day!

Pope Leo XIV also signed a Romanes translation of the Bible during a personal meeting with a Roma delegation from the Czech Republic.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Elections

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Czech Elections

Roma conservative politician Josef Tokár is running in the South Bohemian Region for the SPOLU coalition in 21st place on the candidate list. In the pre-election special of the SODAcast podcast, he talked about his journey to the ODS, why he decided to enter politics, and also about the problems he considers key – from education to discrimination to migration and the Green Deal.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Collective Guilt

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Slovakia: Collective Guilt

Two articles on the follow up of the death of a man aggressed by Roma in Zlaté Moravce. Now, all Roma are on “rampage”, are dangerous and aggressive.

Why is it that for minorities, the guild of one is the collective guilt of the community? This is just racist.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Attack, and Justice

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Slovenia, Attack, and Justice

The mayor of Ribnica, Slovenia and his partner, are suing Roma for a sum of 156’000 Euros following the attack they were victims in June. Three Roma are standing trial there (one, a minor, is being judged behind closed doors).

This very mayor, prior to the attack, had been stating he’d cut water and other municipal services to the Roma settlement unless they “behaved”.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Integration Picnic

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Integration Picnic

The “Breaking Stereotypes” Integration Picnic will take place this Friday (September 26) in Suwałki, Poland.

The event aims to build bridges between cultures and generations and to break down stereotypes. During the picnic, participants will have the opportunity to sample traditional Roma dishes prepared during culinary workshops, participate in educational activities exploring the history, culture, and language of the Roma, and have fun together during activities and integration competitions.

Unfortunately, all pictures here are stereotypical …

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and the Genocide

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Slovenia and the Genocide

More than forty years ago, Dr. Spomenka Hribar warned the public about the post-war massacres of people and secret graves in Slovenia and about the urgent burials of these deceased.

The article whitewashes this issue saying that in other countries, much worse massacres were committed, and anyhow, Roma were killed by Partisans as they collaborated with Germans…

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia and Elections

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Czechia and Elections

Roma must learn to understand their vote as an option, not as a lost hope – even a bad decision is better than none. This was emphasized in the pre-election special of the SODA podcast by Jan Dužda, a Roma activist and Roma regional coordinator for Prague. In a debate with SODAcast authors Patrik Banga and Zdeněk Ryšavý, he spoke about the barriers to Roma entering politics, low turnout, and the need for voter education.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

More on the Slovak Attack

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More on the Slovak Attack

The victim of an attack Martin, died in hospital after a few days. It took place on the evening of September 13, the Regional Directorate of the Police Force (KR PZ) in Nitra reported. The man’s girlfriend spoke to the television, shedding more light on the case.

“There was a group of Roma, one of them said something to me and Martin just stood up for me, saying what a problem they had with me,” she described. Shortly after they left the supermarket, Martin was attacked by one of the group of teenagers. “He punched him in the head five times. Martin fell and was unconscious for three minutes,” she recalls of the terrifying moments. She added that he broke his leg during the fall.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Attack

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Slovakia: Attack

The Police Force has charged a specific person in the case of the attack on a 39-year-old man in Zlaté Moravce. The attacked man died after several days in the hospital. The attack took place on September 13 in the evening.

This case of violence was also addressed by deputies at a meeting of the Zlaté Moravce City Council on Thursday, September 18. According to them, a group of Roma youths attacked a man in front of a shopping centre. They caused him a head injury and a fractured lower leg.

Mayor Dušan Husár and Chief of the Zlaté Moravce City Police, Marián Takáč, confirmed that the aggressiveness of Roma youth in the city is increasing and Zlaté Moravce is starting to have a serious problem with it. The mayor stated that shortly before the tragedy, he had warned the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities about the growing aggressiveness of Roma youth, both in writing and in person.

This is bad…

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: A Mayor’s view

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Slovenia: A Mayor’s view

Ivan Molan has been the mayor of the municipality of Brežice since 2005, when he first ran for mayor in the by-election and was successful.

On the Roma “Issue” he says: “The laws that we mayors proposed are described as discriminatory, even racist. But we only want things to finally be sorted out. Because what is happening now in this area, that is, the criminal acts committed by certain groups against the local population are practically legalized, is unacceptable, and the greatest damage has been done to the majority Roma population. It has come to the point that people are afraid of the Roma and no longer distinguish between those who respect the law and those who commit crimes on a daily basis. However, the ruling politicians, by defending criminal activity in the sense of violating human rights, are only worsening the situation.”

No comments …

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Exhibition

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Poland: Exhibition

“The Great Wagon. A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan at a Rest Stop near Łomża” is the latest cultural offering from the North Mazovian Museum in Łomża. The opening took place on September 12th in the Cultural Hall. Currently, photographs by Zygmunt Dudo are on display in the Old Market Square; the exhibition will later move to a new location.

Unfortunately, quite stereotypical.

Europe Kosovo News Eastern Europe

Kosovo Trial

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Kosovo Trial

Paul Williams, who provided pro bono legal assistance to the Kosovo delegation in Rambouillet, stated that during the Vienna process and the drafting of the Constitution, Jakup Krasniqi played a positive role regarding the role of minorities in Kosovo, particularly Serbs and Roma.

Well, what was positive in the expulsion of most Roma from Kosovo? This was ethnic cleansing.

  • Williams affirme que Jakup Krasniqi a joué un rôle positif concernant le rôle des minorités roms et serbes au Kosovo. In: Koha. 17.09.2025. https://www.koha.net/fr/arberi/williams-pohon-se-jakup-krasniqi-pati-rol-pozitiv-lidhur-me-rolin-e-pakicave-rome-dhe-serbe-ne-kosove
News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovak Police and Minorities

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Slovak Police and Minorities

On Thursday, masked men from the Inspection Service intervened directly at the district department in Bratislava’s Old Town. They took away a police officer from among his colleagues who, according to the findings, was supposed to spread extremist expressions and behave in a manner incompatible with the profession of a law enforcement officer. He apparently made comments against Jews and Roma.

Good he was arrested. Let’s see if he should rightfully loose his job.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Roma Road Show

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Roma Road Show

Successful Roma projects were presented at the Roma Road Show conference in the Chamber of Deputies. Representatives of organizations showed that community involvement is the key to positive changes.

The Roma Road Show conference was initiated by the Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková and took place on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. The aim was to present inspiring community projects and open a debate with politicians and public administration representatives about their benefits. According to Fuková, improving the situation of Roma is a benefit for the whole society.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

What to say here?

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What to say here?

An editorial whose title says: “Roma everyday life: If they have mortars, will they shoot with them or what?” And it goes on in worse fashion afterwards. According to eh the article:

During the summer, firefighters, especially those from Krško, are practically on firefighting missions in Roma settlements every day. ”They are present during the arson, let alone the firefighting missions,” our reader says about the Roma.

Last week also did not go without mentioning the issues related to the Roma community. A citizen, who did not hide his indignation, believed that Roma offenders who break the law and do so repeatedly, some over and over again, should be dealt with more strictly. “They’ve been shooting with weapons a few times lately. Now they’re shooting in bursts. If they have mortars, they’ll use mortars, right? By having weapons and shooting, they’re an armed army above the rest of us. This is unacceptable. But no one in Slovenia is seriously dealing with this problem,” he said, full of disappointment.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Southern Slovenia and Roma

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Southern Slovenia and Roma

At a meeting on “Roma issues”, the mayors of Southeastern Slovenia warned government representatives today that the security situation in the region is poor and must be resolved both through changes to laws and the actions of authorities. After the meeting, the ministry representatives expressed hope that the problems will be solved by changes to laws that they have already or will yet adopt.

What change of laws? Laws are for all, here we are speaking of laws aimed at a minority. And that is racism.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Romanes in Czechia

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Romanes in Czechia

Phen oda romanes (Say it in Romanes) – a two-day series of workshops focused on written Romani will take place on October 4 in Třebechovice and November 22 in Prague. The event is intended for novice and experienced authors, journalists, translators and students of Romani studies – both Roma and the majority. The workshops will be led by experts in Czech and Romanes and will offer space for creative writing, translations (e.g. of biblical and judicial texts) and sharing experiences.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Southern Slovenia and Roma

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Southern Slovenia and Roma

The meeting with mayors at the premises of the Novo Mesto municipality is being attended by the Minister of Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Luka Mesec, the Minister of Justice Andreja Katič and the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior Helga Dobrin, who is also the head of the working group for addressing Roma issues.

According to some media, Minister Luka Mesec, who is visiting southeastern Slovenia with a government team today, where “a chaotic situation with problematic Roma prevails”, did not visit dangerous Roma settlements.

The situation is bad, and Roma are being instrumentalised.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

New Book

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New Book

A presentation of a new books about the Roma community “The Politics of Unbelonging” by authors Andreja Zevnik and Andrew Russell is being presented in the Provincial and Study Library of Murska Sobota, Slovenia.

The book shows, using examples from Slovenia and the EU, how national and European policies in practice consolidate the marginal status of Roma. Although Roma are constitutionally recognized in Slovenia, they lack actual political power for co-determination, which places them in a position of semi-inclusion. Media discourses and ineffective policies, often adopted without the participation of the Roma community, only exacerbate this situation.

Lithuania News Eastern Europe

Gypsy Fest

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Gypsy Fest

This year’s “Gypsy Fest” was an attempt to bring awareness to the Roma culture and customs. A colourful parade passed through the centre of Vilnius. One of the festival’s highlights was a Roma village with traditional dishes and handicrafts. A fashion show and a free concert also took place.

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