For a change a positive article about Roma. A employee of a supermarket about her colleagues who are all Roma. According to her, 90% of the team are Roma: They are hardworking and family-oriented. They also take the whole family to team building.
A team, appointed by the Voivode of Lesser Poland to solve the problems of the Roma community in Koszary has started work. Currently, the settlement located on plots belonging to the Limanowa commune is inhabited by over 120 Roma (including a large group of children), but a large part of them live in unauthorized construction works, which are subject to a valid demolition order. The first proposals were made on how to effectively enforce the law without escalating tensions in the area where the Roma have lived for half a century. One idea is to relocate Roma families to larger cities.
Already a few years ago, families living in the buildings, brick houses with water, sewage and electricity connections, received final decisions requiring demolition. So far, none of them has complied with the order.
Two articles in Polish about anti-Roma racism incidents in Germany. In 2023, 1,233 anti-Gypsy incidents were recorded in Germany, almost twice as many as the year before, when there were 621 such cases. The latest data was published on Monday (June 17, 2024) by the Antigypsyism Information and Reporting Center (MIA) in its latest report.
The Slovenian president met the mayors of the municipalities of the Novo Mesto region regarding the Roma “Problem”. These mayors have proposed drastic measures to limit social benefits for Roma. They were not approved in parliament as they were obviously targeted at a minority, but the issues persist, and the mayors are pushing the government for action.
A vehement article in the Slovene press against the social help that Roma in that country are getting. According to the article, “Roma have the highest child benefits and social assistance in Slovenia, which prevents them from working, they live in non-profit apartments in settlements that have become ghettos, they do not pay rent, and they break in, threaten and attack everyone: the old, the young, women, the disabled. Among the Kočevci, because of the indifferent attitude of the government towards the increasingly serious Roma problem, it is boiling.”
Well, what about that fact that no-one in Slovenia would employ Roma?
The city of Vsetín will file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of the eviction of Roma in 2006. In his opinion, the right to a fair trial was violated in the dispute. The court condemned the city of Vsetín for the eviction of Roma from a boarding house in 2006.
The house was in bad condition, and the city then had it demolished. Some of its residents, including the plaintiffs in the case, had previously failed to pay rent. The Roma ended up either in container houses elsewhere in Vsetín or in old houses outside the region.
On the weekend in Hodonín, the final of the Roma beauty queen pageant took place. Twelve finalists, who were chosen from more than sixty applicants, competed for the title. The winner was sixteen-year-old Martina Balažová from Liptovský Mikuláš.
Almost a hundred years ago, the so-called Pobedim massacre, a pogrom against Roma, took place in Slovakia. In October 1928, a group of rioters from Pobedimi attacked a Roma settlement. The pogrom left behind destroyed houses, injured and six dead, including a six-year-old child. But no one saw and did nothing. This event is commemorated by a production of the Slovak National Theatre.
A portrait and interview of the Burgenland Romni Danijela Cicvaric, the director of the Vienna Association Romano Centro. Romano Centro has been working since 1991 for helping Roma, combatting discrimination, and promoting integration.
Roma living in an unused building in Lausanne have been ordered by a tribunal to leave the place by July 1st. Where to and how remains to be seen.
Some more positive news in France this week (at least some …). An association called Rencont’Rom (A French play on rencontres – meetings, and Roma) was funded by the Occitanie Region as part of a project for a more inclusive region. In Grenoble, in the Apls, an Exhibition is trying to counter the stereotypes. The rest is more of the usual. A fire in a Roma camp in Montpellier is the South was probably a criminal act; in Toulouse, tons of garbage on the site of a former Roma camp is partly attributed to them; and finally, in Nantes, in Western France, a tribunal judged the construction of a site for Roma to be illegal.
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.
A Roma evening in the southern town of Gliwice, Poland. With music and more.
Branislav Ondruš, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, revealed more about a planned project to support the work integration of marginalized Roma communities and women from eastern Slovakia to the SITA agency.
A seminar for representatives of local institutions on the topic of Child, early and forced marriages was held in Vranje, within the framework of the Roma women’s activism project in the protection of Roma girls from violence caused by child marriages.
The goal of the project is to reduce the number of child marriages in the Roma community in Serbia, that is, to protect the human rights of Roma girls, as well as to raise awareness that child marriages are not part of Roma culture.
For the first time since 2004, there are no Roma representatives from Eastern Europe. There were several candidates for the European Parliament from different countries:
Czech Republic: David Beňák for the ANO movement, Ivana Batthyány for the Left and Jaroslav Miko for the Mayors.
Slovakia: Peter Pollák and Dominik Lakatoš for the Volt party.
Hungary: Bogdán Csaba from the Tiszla movement.
Bukgaria: Vanya Grigorová
They all failed to be elected.
An article about the history of Roma in Finland, from their arrival in the 16th century via Sweden to the present day. Discrimination in the Swedish Kingdom was very strong, and after Finland’s annexation by Russia in 1809, continued. They are now recognised as a minority in Finland, but still face strong prejudice.
In October 1928, a group of rioters from Pobedimi attacked a Roma settlement. The pogrom left behind destroyed houses, injured and six dead, including a six-year-old child. This event is commemorated by a production of the Slovak National Theatre.
Yet another fight between Roma families in Bulgaria. This time in Blagoevgrad over a toilet, with injuries being reported.
Bad.
On June 11, in the centre of Warsaw, Dariusz Gabor, the father of the famous singer Vika Gabor, was brutally attacked by a 34-year-old man. He severely beat Dariusz Gabor and sprayed him with gas. Viki was also injured. A few hours after the attack, the singer’s sister issued a statement. — Unfortunately, Polish society has a big problem with accepting and treating Roma.
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