A comparison of the fate of Roma and Jews in the UK as viewed from an English Romni.
The number of cases of discrimination and racism against Sinti and Roma in Germany has never been so high. This is really bad.
Another article that reinforces the usual clichés about Roma. This time about a Kalderaša family in Germany.
Who are the Roma? Well, definitively not what this newspaper writes. This is a concentrated collection of stereotypes that do not apply to the overwhelming majority of Roma.
They say: Many travel, formerly in carriages, now in cars and caravans, in search of work. They live and dress traditionally, the women for example in colourful, long skirts.
A new radio documentary presents the life of 4 young Romnja in Ireland.
The Andalusian Gitanos Sociocultural Centre, in collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Granada, is organising a Workshop on Health and the Gitanos Community. It aim is to make the students of the Faculty aware of the values of the Gitanos culture, the socio-sanitary situation and the idiosyncrasies of this group.
The contents of the Workshop will deal with:
– History and cultural values of Gitanos.
– Current situation of the Roma community.
– Experiences of Roma men and women in the health field.
The so-called “Hungarian” Roma have lived in France since the end of the 19th century. From the article, it is not clear from which group they are, but they are most probably Lovara.
By classifying them as “gens du voyage” as soon as they continue to circulate in caravans, the administration obliges them to live in “reception areas” often located near polluted industrial areas. Through a caravan ethnography, the anthropologist Lise Foisneau describes their attachment to places, the invisible traumas of the Second World War, the transmission of memory. But also the police and administrative hunt, and the search for places to stop. Despite the persecutions of the 20th century and the increasing privatization of public space, these companies have been constantly reconfiguring their worlds for 150 years. Lise Foisneau’s book Kumpania: living and resisting in gadjo country describes its flesh and vivacity.
More news this week in France about Roma. The Abbé Pierre Foundation and the Romeurope National Human Rights Collective lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor following the eviction of a shantytown occupied by Roma in Villeron (Val-d’Oise), on February 5, 2023. It is in addition to the five others already submitted by three members of the Roma community, the association La Voix des Rroms and the Mrap.
In Lyon, around 20 Roma were expulsed. In Aix, a fire broke out in a Roma camp. In Marseilles, another camp is threatened with closure. And finally, three Romnja are arrested in Western France for having stolen elderly people.
The city of Munich decides to realize a work of art that gives the history and present of the Sinti and Roma a voice in the city centre and brings the culture of remembrance to life. With a large majority, the general assembly of the city council now voted in favour of the implementation of a permanent, participatory art project by the artist Ladislava Gažiová on the Frauenplatz. The victims of the systematic persecution and murder during the Nazi regime are remembered and the current life of the Sinti and Roma in Munich is made visible. In this way, the city also wants to counteract the discrimination that still exists.
The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, has called for more civil courage against racism. “We are experiencing again that people in the crisis are looking for scapegoats,” Rose explained on Monday at the start of the International Weeks Against Racism in Schwerin. “But racism only comes into play when people watch and don’t contradict,” said Rose, referring to this year’s motto “Get involved.”
Not much going on in France: A celebration of the International Roma Day in Paris at the French National Institute of Oriental Languages, a new squat near Paris, and a burglary in a supermarket.
An impressive program in Vienna for the International Roma day and the 30th anniversary of the recognition of Roma in Austria. Podium discussion with Dieter Halwachs, Emmerich Gartner-Horvath, Erika Thurner, Mirjam Karoly, and Ursula Hemetek; Roma Tales and concert, and an after party.
Jo Clement, a lecturer at Northumbria University, recently published a poetry collection that has been nominated for the prestigious John Pollard Foundation Poetry Prize.
She also was an editor in the ERIAC published book “Wagtail: The Roma Women’s Poetry Anthology”.
When Josef Maria Schneck died, he was only 13 years old. The boy was one of the 141 Sinti who were deported from Munich to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp 80 years ago, on March 13, 1943. The city of Munich honours the victims of this genocide with a day of remembrance.
3’200 people from Moldova will be expelled from Germany back into their home country at the end of the month. Most of them are Roma. These Roma protested over the weekend.
“We want to stay here. We don’t want to be deported and come back every three months,” said a young mother. Like most of those who gathered on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Mitte on Saturday afternoon, the Romni comes from the Republic of Moldova. The woman with the microphone looked desperate: “They treat us like dogs.”
Truly nothing in the news in France this week. A “Reportage” on the wedings of the various “Gitans” communities on the main French TV – TF1. It caters to all stereotypes, and frankly, amalgamates everything, contributing to the non-understanding of Roma in general in France.
There seems to be an increase of care proceeding for children of Roma in Bradford, UK. The city of Bradford has taken several young Roma children in their care.
Basically, they are continuing some old policies. This is bad.
In Rome’s subway, an announcement over the loudspeakers said loudly several time: “attenti agli zingari” [beware of Gypsies]. This is a first. Luckily, the company who runs Rome’s subway, Atac, is taking action.
We have a long way to go …
Bavaria is increasing its financial support for the State Association of German Sinti and Roma. Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and head of the state association Erich Schneeberger signed a new version of the contract that had existed since 2018 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Bavarian Sinti and Roma.
This provides for an expansion of cooperation and an increase in financial support from 434,700 euros to 662,300 euros.
With a special exhibition, the police headquarters and the Hanover region commemorate the deportation of Sinti and Roma by the National Socialists to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In the first weeks of March 1943, more than 700 Sinti and Roma, including many children, were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau from what is now Lower Saxony alone.
English (UK) English (UK) 
Deutsch
Français