This tiny country doesn’t often make the headlines in terms of Roma. Now Simone Beissel, a member of the municipal executive board of the city of Luxembourg is facing criticisms and demands for resignation after having made what many deem racists comments on Roma in the context of begging.
The Roma sans frontières association was recently created in Luxembourg, to break stereotypes, help the Roma who live in the country and defend their rights and their culture. The president of the non-profit association, Dibran Saljihi, says more about it.
Most national governments in Europe, the European Commission and other international organizations agree that Roma are left out by the educational systems. The latest report of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights shows disastrous results in 10 countries, including EU member states Romania and Hungary, as well as North Macedonia and Serbia.
The proportion of Roma who felt discriminated against when addressing school authorities has increased over the past five years, the report said. Ethnic segregation in schools has increased among children aged six to 15. The share of young Roma between the ages of 20 and 24 with at least secondary school education remained mostly at the same low level as in previous years.
An interview with the president of the Roma Foundation for Europe. He says that “If Europe wants to live up to its own values, it cannot continue to treat the Roma the way it has before”.
Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, a Polish-Romani artist, has won the prestigious Tajsa Prize Cultural Heritage Prize 2023 for her significant contribution to Roma cultural heritage. The award ceremony took place on 30 November at Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater and was organized by the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC).
The European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) has announced the five finalists for the prestigious Tajsa Roma Cultural Heritage Prize 2023, which honours outstanding individuals who are leaders in the contemporary Roma cultural movement. The award ceremony will take place on 30 November 2023 at 19:00 and will be broadcast online from the Gorki Theatre in Berlin.
An editorial from the European Roma Right Centre on the integration of Roma in the EU and specially in the western Balkans.
The Tajsa prize will be awarded to Franciska Farkas and Horvá Kristóf “Színész Bob
(aka “Actor Bob”), both award-winning actors from Budapest, are notable for their contributions to the world of theater, film, poetry, and talent education.
The Jury has nominated them together for their outstanding performance in the movie Three Thousand Numbered Pieces (2022) “a political, cruel and original film spiced with dark humour, which makes an urgently needed and impactful statement against injustice, prejudice, discrimination and racism against the Roma, the biggest European minority”.
https://www.gorki.de/en/tajsa-roma-kulturerbe-preisverleihung
On Monday, November 15, 1943, the main organizer of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler, issued an order to complete the mass extermination of another ethnic group: the European Roma.
Roma and Jews were massacred side by side during World War II. However, does a genocide unite its survivors? In a remarkable work, historian Ari Joskowicz offers a relational history of Roma and Jews from the end of the war to the beginning of the 21st century.
A review of Klaus Michael Bogdal’s Book “Europa erfindet die Zigeuner– ‘Europe Invents the Gypsies’ which has just been published in English.
The architect Daniel Libeskind was awarded the European Sinti and Roma Civil Rights Prize.
From Bucharest to Budapest via Rome, these are the three placves where the International Roma Theatre Festival which opened on 8 September in the Romanian capital took place and will take place. The Roman stop was on October 2 to 8. The tour will end in Budapest from 3 to 14 December . The intent is the “dissemination of innovative and unprecedented knowledge of the Roma Community”.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) organised a discussion on 11. October in Warsaw on means to improve access of Roma to health care and housing.
A new book by Ari Joskovicz, a historian, examines the relationship between Jews and Roma in the struggle for recognition and justice for the Holocaust.
The director of the European Roma Right Centre, Ðorđe Jovanović, speaks about the impact of Soros’ Open Society to scale back operations. For the ERRC, it is a difficult time.
On Thursday, September 21, an international Roma conference was held in Radenci, Slovenia. Representatives of the Roma community from 15 countries discussed several topics important to Roma with representatives of national and European institutions. In the foreground were the implementation of the European Commission’s ten-year plan for supporting Roma in the EU and the presentation of good practices for solving the problems of the Roma community.
After three decades of supporting the Roma, the Open Society Foundation allocated 100 million euros for the Roma Foundation for Europe, which is based in Brussels and is headed by Željko Jovanović. The commitment of 100 million euros to this Foundation was announced by Alexander Soros.
“With a new generation of exceptional Roma leaders setting strategy and funding priorities, I am confident that the new foundation will be a dynamic force—committed to realizing the full potential of Roma and overcoming the deep-rooted barriers they face.” We will do everything we can to support the foundation and its leadership in a mission that will benefit not only the Roma, but also Europe as a whole,” said Soros.
Culture gives identity and a sense of belonging. Roma culture almost always implies diversity. DW tries to find answers to the question of what is the specificity of Roma culture.
Two articles on the relations between Jews and Roma after World War Two.
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