Author Archives: Roma Foundation

Lviv and Roma

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Reportage about a camp of Roma from Transcarpathian Ukraine in Lviv. About two hundred Roma live there. They came from Zakarpattia, where uneducated Roma lack jobs. They hope for a better fate in the case of a big city, which is not fully realized. They collect scrap from garbage dumps, sometimes they are hired to do odd farm jobs. They live in tents made of branches and construction foil, placed on the bare ground.

Catholic parishioners from Lviv are helping them.

Ukraine’s View of the Attack in Pardubice

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Three articles in the Ukrainian press relating the manifestation of the Roma following the brawl between Roma and Ukrainians in that city that left on Rom injured.

The stress in the Ukrainian press is effectively “we don’t really know what happened” and “who started it”, and in one case “nationality of the people was not disclosed”. Other than that, fair representation of the manifestation and the facts.

Czech Republic: Again

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This weekend, a young Rom was injured in a fight, apparently by three Ukrainian. As a result, hundreds of Roma manifested in Pardubice, Czech Republic.

The organizers of the protest told ČTK that a young Rom was injured during the fight. According to them, the protesters were from all over the Czech Republic. A police spokeswoman said that one person was injured and three people were arrested in a brawl involving about 20 people on Saturday night. The police repeatedly called for calm. “We want to draw the government’s attention to the fact that we too are citizens of the Czech Republic and we do not walk around the city armed and attack. We want to live peacefully. We are here because the situation among the Roma is tense. This case from Saturday is not unique, it is only the second to be reported in the media. Conflicts between Ukrainians and Roma are increasing, I think it is unnecessary,” one of the organizers of the protest, Ferdinand Baník, told ČTK.

Lety

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Two articles on the Lety concentration camp and on the recent destruction of the pig farm that was on the site.

Czech Republic and Ukraine’s Refugees

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The Czech government passed a law stating that from July 1st, Ukrainian refugees who have been in the country for more than 150 days will no longer receive allowances for housing and will have to find their own accommodation. Exempt are a few categories (single women with small children etc.).

Jan Husák from from the association Romodromo stated that this so-called Lex Ukraine will have the hardest impact, among others, on Roma refugees and will increase homelessness.

Krakow: International Days of Roma Culture

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The International Days of Roma Culture are celebrated in Krakow for the twelfth time with Roma from various parts of Europe came. Concerts and exhibitions will bring Krakow’s inhabitants closer to the culture that has become overgrown with many myths. To see what it really is like, it is worth visiting Nowa Huta on July 1 and 2.

Portugal and Chega

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In Portugal, the Chega! (That’s enough!), which currently has 12 seats in parliament, is now considered the third political force in the country, with 13.2% of the voting intentions in the latest polls. Although none of its members currently sit in the European Parliament, the party could gain three to four.

In a similar vein to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, Chega’s ideology is described as anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial, according to a report by the Global Project Against hate and extremism (Global Project against Hate and Extremism, GPAHE).

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week about Roma in France, which is not surprising in view of the riots that followed the killing of a young man by the police in the Paris suburbs.

A festival in Poitiers focusing on Roma tales, the paramisja, and an article about a “huge” Roma camp (with about 500 inhabitants) which apparently disturbs business.

Trnava: Exhibition

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Born in Trnava, Emília Rigová  has her own exhibition in Trnava for the first time. Yesterday, she opened the Untitled exhibition in the Synagogue – a space for contemporary art, in which she deals with the theme of the Roma Holocaust. She has been working on it for a long time. “Only now has she reached the place where she really belongs, and that adds a new semantic level to the work,” she told Trnavské rádio.

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas

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Another article, this time in the Polish press about Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’ exhibition in Berlin. The host of the exhibition is the famous Brücke Museum, presenting only Expressionist painters associated in the early 20th century in the group “Die Brücke”. Małgorzata Mirgi-Tas’s exhibition “Sivdem Amenge. I sewed for us” is an artistic dialogue with selected artists of this group. But not only.

The article states that Małgorzata Mirga-Tas is currently the most famous contemporary Polish visual artist in the world.

Germany and Refugees

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The Berlin police wanted to deport a Roma family from Moldova early in the morning. The parents weren’t there, just two children. The officers took the 18-year-old daughter away and “handed over” the 11-year-old son to the neighbours. The boy then disappeared the management of the refugee home called the police and the youth welfare office, but even after the entire home was searched, he remained missing.

His siter was deported.

Ukraine, Roma, and Identity Papers

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Many Roma in the Ukraine do not have any official documents. This prevents them from receiving social help, complicates their situation as IDPs, and often prevents them from finding official work. An action was started in Lviv, to help Roma obtain their papers.

Better late than never …

Switzerland and Travellers

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There are not enough camping sites for travellers in Switzerland. This is definitively not new. The Council of Europe is now telling Switzerland it must act.

Let’s see, as the country is very good at doing nothing on this topic.

Slovakia: Interview

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An interview with the theatre actress Dominika Badžová, a Romni from the Košice region. She comes from a poor family with a single mother, and while she studied acting, she could not find a job, being a Romni. She was fortunately discovered and her talent rewarded.

Slovenia: Social “Bomb” ???

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Another of those articles in the Slovene press … Speaking of the Roma “Problem”, the fact that they are all unemployed, criminals, that they have many more children than the rest of the population, and that most of their children do not even finish primary school.

What they are talking about is not a Roma “problem”, it is a case of poverty and exclusion. And that is a Slovene issue.

Czecho-Slovak Miss Roma 2023

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The beauty contest, organised by the association Romia CZ recently took place. Seventeen-year-old Lucie Tulejová from Česká Lípa became Czech-Slovak Miss Roma 2023 on Saturday in Hodonín. Eighteen-year-old Vanesa Hrabalová from Ústí nad Labem took home the title of first runner-up, and Stanislava Kroščenová from Spišské Štvrtek finished in third place. The competition, organized by the association Romia cz, aims to show the beauty, talent and personality of young Roma girls from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Sweden and Discrimination

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In his play “Tschandala”, the Swedish Roma actor Lindy Larsson talks about decades of discrimination against Roma in Sweden – and about his own depressing and touching family history.

It’s hard to bear what the man, standing at the edge of the stage in a pale cone of light, is saying. His father was taken from the family as a child and placed in a government home. There he was beaten, raped, tied up for days, imprisoned. Again and again. He almost succeeded in attempting suicide when he was eleven. Later, as a teenager, he was almost sterilized. And he almost spent his whole life in prison and never met his future wife.

Germany: Exhibition

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An exhibition on the on the Genocide of the Sinti and Roma, designed by the Mittelbau-Dora Memorial will be shown in the Flohburg in Nordhausen, Germany, opening on July 7th.

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