Category Archives: Greece

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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.

Greece News Western Europe

Conference in Greece

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Conference in Greece

A conference on Antisemmitism and anti-Roma racism in Greece on October 17th. It goes unter the motto “Let us never forget” and investigates the roots of the Holocaust, a systematic genocide during World War II,  which targeted, Jews and Roma on ethnic grounds. Its roots lie in long-standing prejudices and the radicalization of exclusionary ideologies during the nation-building period of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Understanding this historical context is crucial to recognizing and combating similar forms of discrimination today.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece and Roma

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Greece and Roma

Another one of those articles. This time, about residents who are “terrorised”, “trembling”, when faced by Roma “Criminality”. Clearly, there is a problem in some neighbourhoods, but such articles will not help solving the issues.

Greece News Western Europe

Crime in Greece

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Crime in Greece

A rehash of an old story. It says that 84% of the Greeks involved in theft and burglaries in 2002 were Roma.

Well, other say these are migrants, and so on.

Bad.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece and Roma

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Greece and Roma

A horrible article relating the violent burglary of a German’s house near Corinth, Greece. This is the start of a diatribe against Roma, with all stereotypes, advocating stricter laws, deprivation of civil rights, and cuts of social benefits.

Bad.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: A Really Bad Article

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Greece: A Really Bad Article

of Greeks involved in thefts and burglaries are Roma” and requires the state to deal with “the systemic delinquency of the Roma”.

He further says that “they used to be mostly vagrants, employed in seasonal agricultural work, basket weaving, petty trading and peddlers, almost all of them uneducated and with slight delinquency, mainly petty theft”.

So basically, all Roma are thieves since immemorial times.

Not a word about the segregation and racism, about the failure of the state to improve housing conditions and so on.

We will pass on the measures advocated by the article like police control of the slums etc.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: The “No one should be left behind” Project

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Greece: The “No one should be left behind” Project

The project “Empowerment of young Roma women in matters of health, prevention and human rights” implemented as part of the Active citizens fund program sees Roma schoolgirls return to their camps and teach other women a great lesson about human rights, health and domestic violence.

17-year-old student Katerina Mukani from Zefyri was one of the students trained by experts to give a great lesson on human rights, health and domestic violence to the rest of the Roma women back in the camp where she lives. She says: “My daily life in Zefyri is boring and I feel trapped. I think a lot about my life after the Panhellenic Games, while many nights I dream of the moment when I will leave Athens, even far from Greece. Educating other Roma women helped me a lot to understand that my dreams and all of us are possible because we all deserve something better. None of us should be left on the sidelines.”

Greece News Western Europe

Greece and Stereotypes

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Greece and Stereotypes

Spyros Bakas is 24 years old, he grew up and lives in Dendropotamos (a neighbourhood of Thessaloniki) and for the last two years he has been studying Journalism, while working at a Creative Employment Center there. Spyros is the first journalist in Thessaloniki who openly declares that he is Roma, or rather Gypsy.

Many Roma in Greece as in other countries simply do not say they are Roma, simply to avoid being confronted with racist stereotypes. He chose to out himself, bravo!

  • Θεσσαλονίκη – Σπύρος Μπάκας: Ο Ρομά δημοσιογράφος από τον Δενδροπόταμο που θέλει να σπάσει τα στερεότυπα. In: Voria. 04.02.2024. https://www.voria.gr/article/spyros
Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Riots

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Greece: Riots

Greek Roma rioted in Greece after a young Roma was killed by the police. He was the third one in as many years.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Again!

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Greece: Again!

A third young Rom was killed by the police in Athens after a police chase. According to the police, the gun went off when the young Rom tried to grab a pistol from the police.

He is the third young Roma killed by the police in Greece in as many years.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece and Roma

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Greece and Roma

The Onassis Foundation House presents in October and November a series of actions that highlight the issues of the Roma community in Greece.

A performance – Romáland, a VR experience – On the road to Colonos, a film – Sam Roma: We Are Gypsies and a discussion available online for some months “Roma without mediation” ask questions and talk directly about the problems but also the dynamics of the Roma, giving the speech and the space to the individuals of the community itself.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Series and Stereotypes

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Greece: Series and Stereotypes

At the beginning of the 20th century, in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, more than a third of the population was Jewish. The series Le Bracelet of Fire, directed by Giorgos Gikapeppas, has been released on February 4 on the public television channel ERT and from January 25 on the Ertflix group platform and retraces for the first time the history of a family of Thessaloniki through the darkest events of the 20th century.

However … The first episode, at the 37th minute and 45th second has a “Gypsy”, called Angelis is saying:

I stole, I stole (past continuous)

But it is allowed for the Gypsies to steal.

God gave us this right.

And he “explains” that the Romans gave an order to a Gypsy to forge the 4 nails to crucify Jesus. But when the Gypsy found out it was to crucify Christ he swallowed one. From then onwards God gave the Gypsies the right to steal.

This later tale is one that Roma told in Western Europe (but not in Greece) as the reason for their continuous travels (and originally as to why they claimed to be pilgrims).

In any case, that is a bunch of stereotypes…

Greece News Western Europe

Thessaloniki: Restaurant

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Thessaloniki: Restaurant

The first restaurant with Romani cuisine will open in the centre of Thessaloniki in February! Its name will be Amalin and is the culmination of years of effort by the Roma Women’s Association of Dendropotamos.

Amalin will be the 1st Non-Profit Romano Restaurant in the city, in which women from the settlement of Dendropotamos will cook and serve. “It was a lifelong dream for us. The Association has been fighting for 20 years for inclusion and the promotion of good practices. What could be better, then, than to highlight the traditional Romani cuisine” said the head of the effort, President of the Dendropotamos Roma Women’s Association, Giannoula Magga, speaking on TV100’s Check in events show.

Greece News Western Europe

Greece: Freed – Really?

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Greece: Freed – Really?

A Greek court has decided to release from custody the police officer who shot and killed a 16-year-old Roma man in Thessaloniki on December 5 after a chase over an unpaid gas bill, Greek media reported.

The policeman has been banned from leaving the country. The court of first instance in Thessaloniki approved the proposal of the investigation to release the 34-year-old police officer, Kathimerini newspaper reports, despite the opinion of the prosecutor’s office.

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