Author Archives: Roma Foundation

Social Work

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An interview with Iveta Millerová, born in a Roma settlement, who went on to pass her high school diploma at age 36 and then studied pedagogy at the University of Ušti nad Labem and now works as a direct care educator at the Children’s Home with a school in Dobřichovice and is also studying for a postgraduate degree.

French Chronicle …

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Literally no news this week on Roma in France. One article, about tiny houses and a social project aiming at mixing people from camps with regular residents in Lille mentions the Roma and states that the French insertion villages are an integration failure as they keep the Roma among themselves. Other than that, a fire in a camp near Paris.

Slovakia Referendum

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Slovakia currently votes on a controversial referendum to call for early elections. This referendum has been supported by the SMER (Slovak Social Demcracy) which was in power when Jan Kuciak, a journalist, was murdered following an investigation into corruption.

Peter Pollak, a Roma MP has been criticizing the attorney general for using a legal tool available to him, Paragraph 363. His use of the article has been widely criticized, including by the Slovak president. Peter Pollak compared the attorney general to Mafia Mobsters. “The attorney general is likely to be inspired,” by infamous drug lords. “It may appear to us that he has similar methods. He uses the audience’s attention just when something big is resonating in Slovakia and many are discussing it,” explains Pollák.

Breitbart, Again

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The usual Breitbart “reporting”. This time, a family who is left with 36’000 Eur of damage after a Roma refugee family from the Ukraine stayed at their home. Other inlays in the article mention a French hotel that was destroyed by refugees. The usual. The worst part is that they probably on top of it are pro Putler. And haven’t seen the damage they do…

Amaro Filmo

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The movie “Amaro Filmos” (Sic.), a documentary in which young Roma from Berlin give an insight into their lives. Racism, antiziganism, gentrification and the associated displacement of an entire community are highlighted – because many of the protagonists lived in the so-called “block” at the Ostbahnhof until the end of 2022, when the last families had to move out.

Integration Councils and Racism

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Individual members of the Nuremberg Integration Council have been criticized for racist statements. Integration councilor Mitra Sharifi explains why such bodies are not free of racism – and what needs to be done about it. Racism against Sinti and Roma is quite prevalent.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

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On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma invites you to a reading with music and singing. The opera and operetta singer Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter will present his recently published memoirs on January 28 together with the historian Annette Leo. In addition, the 89-year-old will perform some pieces with musical accompaniment.

Zdeněk Godla

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An article about the Czech Roma actor Zdeněk Godla, currently the best know Roma actor in the Czech Republic. He was lucky, as he started his life on the street at the age of 13, got in jail, and he got into acting by accident when he was doing community service in Chomutov and was chosen by the director Petr Václav for the film. Until the last moment, he agonized over whether it was some kind of fraud. He was at the bottom, without money, and acting helped him a lot.

Slovak Comedy

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A Slovak Movie comedy about the wild 90’s featuring Zdeněk Godla, the most famous Roma actor in the Czech Republic.

Movie

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The movie “Injustice and Resistance” about Romani Rose and the Sinti and Roma civil right movement will be shown in London in the Goethe Institute on January 27th.

Bulgarian Wedding

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A Roma wedding in the town of Smolyan in Southern Bulgaria, close to the Greek border. The bad thing is, the paper mentions the bride’s age: 14, and the fact that she was sold for BGN 5’000 (roughly EUR 2’500). This is not good as it perpetuates this stereotype. Brides are generally not sold, but among many Vlach groups, the groom’s family has to pay for the bride, a tradition most probably associated with the slavery in that region.

Ukrainian Activists

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Portraits and discussions with Ukrainian activists, among which Ruslana Polyanska, a Romni who studied at the Central European University. They speak also about sterotypes.

Germany and Hate Mails

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A man in Berlin has been sentenced to ten months in prison for sending hate mail containing racist abuse of Sinti and Roma. The district court in Tiergarten found the 56-year-old guilty of incitement to hatred and insult, the Berlin public prosecutor announced on Tuesday. He also had to pay 4,000 euros to the “HateAid” advice center for those affected by digital violence. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the sentence, which was suspended on probation, included an earlier fine for insult, incitement to hatred and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations.

In the current case, the 56-year-old sent e-mails to the Central Council of Sinti and Roma seven times between October 2020 and July 2021.

Good!

Germany: Documentary

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The members of the Schwarz family sit on the couch or camping chairs and talk about the past and present of antiziganism. Many of her grandparents were deported under the Nazis. While the contemporary witnesses have already died or have not returned from the camps, the traumatic experiences live on in the stories and return in antiziganism insults and violence in German schoolyards.

Turkey, the Police, and Roma

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A Rom who filed a complaint against the police in Istanbul alleging they racially abused him, beat him and tortured him is facing charges of “insulting and resisting against the police officers”. He goes on trial today.

Poland and Roma

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An article about the life of Romnja in Poland and their constant fight against stereotypes. This is presented through interviews with two Polish Romnja, one who stile lives in a traditional way (whatever that may effectively mean) and one which doesn’t.

But the stereotypes are the same: Dirty thieves.

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