Category Archives: Romania

News Eastern Europe Romania

Elvis, Roma, and Romania

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Elvis, Roma, and Romania

Tudor Lakatos is fighting discrimination against Roma, one Elvis Presley song at a time. He says: “I never wanted to get on stage, I didn’t think about it,” Lakatos, 58, said after a recent gig at a restaurant in the capital, Bucharest. “I only wanted one thing — to make friends with Romanians, to stop being called a Gypsy,″ he added, using an often derided term for Roma.

Europe News Eastern Europe Romania

Roma in Europe

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Roma in Europe

The dialogue between the Roma Foundation for Europe network and the newly elected President of Romania, Mr. Nicușor Dan, marked a historic moment, one in which the Roma community is not seen as an object of aid, but as an equal partner in building a European future. The delegation of Roma representatives was led by Željko Jovanović, Director of the Roma Foundation for Europe, a leader whose work has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible for decades when it comes to rights, security and dignity.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Romania: Minister

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Romania: Minister

The appointment of Florin Manole as Minister of Labour is not just a first. It is a fracture in the status quo of a Romania accustomed to keeping the Roma in the invisible corner of democracy, writes human rights activist Ciprian Necula, in an opinion piece hosted by HotNews. It is no coincidence, he says, that the first Rom becomes a minister under duress, in a government bound by an imperative reform agenda.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Romania, and the Extreme Right

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Romania, and the Extreme Right

Threats to the Roma minority have increased since the far-right won the presidential election, which was cancelled at the end of 2024. But on the second round on Sunday, May 18, many Roma are paradoxically ready to vote for these ultranationalist candidates.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Romania

Book

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Book

Soldiers. A Story from Ferentari  was only published in Czech this year. It tells the autobiographical story of a famous anthropologist Adrian, who is writing a dissertation on Romani music and moves into the Bucharest ghetto of Ferentari. There, former Romani prisoner Alberto becomes his guide, and the mismatched pair eventually becomes a couple facing the surprising twists and turns of an unexpected intimate relationship.

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

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Teaching about Roma in Greece and Romania

The representation of people in schools says a lot about their condition. In this regard, that of the Roma raises questions in the Balkan countries: despite some real efforts, school textbooks remain very incomplete and perpetuate false ideas, as in Romania and Greece.

Good article, false history… Roma left earlier than indicated.

Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Roma Misrepresentation

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Roma Misrepresentation

An article about the representation of Romain Greece and Romania schoolbooks.

Good intentions, but stating that Roma arrived in the 14th century in Europe is also a misrepresentation …

They would never have had the opportunity to learn Greek …

So good intentions, and total lack of knowledge.

News Eastern Europe Poland Romania

Roma, Romanians, and Poland

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Roma, Romanians, and Poland

After the fall of communism, in the early 1990s, a significant number of Roma migrants from Romania appeared in Poland. According to this article, they engaged in organised begging (and other stereotypes). But the result was that for many Poles, Romanians and Roma were two interchangeable terms, i.e. all Roam are Romanians and all Romanians are Roma…

No comments.

News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania Ukraine United Kingdom

Ukraine, the UK and Roma

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Ukraine, the UK and Roma

A reprint of a Guardian article in the Ukrainian press about Roma palaces in Hășdat.

Both articles pander to sterotypes…

Bulgaria Greece News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

Greece and the “Copper Mafia”

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Greece and the “Copper Mafia”

Several articles in the Bulgarian press about a police action in Roma settlements in Greece against the “copper mafia”, which steals and trades metals on the black market. According to the police, these are usually Roma gangs, and the target of their raids are copper cables and railway tracks. Catalytic converters are also removed from the cars, which are then sold on the black market for between 400 and 900 euros. The more expensive ones are stolen to order from illegal car repair shops.

Among the people arrested there were Greeks, Bulgarians, and Romanians.

News Eastern Europe Poland Romania

Romano Feminist Theatre

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Romano Feminist Theatre

An interview with Mihaela Dragan, founder of a feminist Roma theatre. She says “My grandmother was a matriarch, so I always had feminism first-hand, although I didn’t know that such a word existed. At home, I saw that women are born leaders.”

The manifesto “Roma Futurismi” written by Mihaela Dragan, was translated into Polish by Marta Orczykowska for the Łódź of Many Cultures Festival.

Europe News Eastern Europe Romania

A book on Rudari Migration

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A book from 2023 about Rudari, a Vlach Roma group now found all over Europe. It investigates their migrations and history.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

French Chronicle …

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Not much about Roma in the French press this week either. A festival in Perpignan, in Southern France showcasing the work of a Romanian photograph, who, sorry to say, perpetuates stereotypes; and the evacuation of one of the oldest Roma camps near Paris, in la Courneuve. The camp was established in 2008. An no one asks why 80 families had to stay there for 16 years …

News Eastern Europe Romania

Romania, Racism, and Music

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Coldplay frontman Chris Martin personally invited the increasingly popular Romanian musician Babasha for a duet in front of thousands at the National Arena in Bucharest on Wednesday. Neither expected the crowd to react with such fury.

The issue is that Babasha is Rom and plays Manele music, a music that  many Romanians associate with criminality. He was booed.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Romania

Witch School

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In Romania, women from the impoverished Roma community see witchcraft as a means of taking social revenge. Under construction since 2011, the first witch school in the world aims to preserve their traditions. Between feminist discourse, 2.0 spells and commodified folklore, it is difficult to see clearly in the land of the occult.

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