Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

Bulgaria: Protests

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Bulgaria: Protests

Residents of the Roam neighbourhood of Fakulteta in Sofia have been protesting against Kiril Kirov – known as Kiro the Japanese. The protestes claim that for years Kirov and his family have been harassing the residents of the neighbourhood, extorting them and forcing them to leave their homes, even to emigrate abroad. According to the protesters, the Japanese’s associates were distributing drugs in the neighbourhood, beating and even raping women.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Public Collection

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Public Collection

The Brno Museum of Romani Culture launched a public collection on Monday, the aim of which is to raise money to acquire a portrait of Romani singer Věra Bílá. It wants to buy the portrait because it sees Bílá as an exceptional personality who has appealed to a wide audience with her art. The collection will last 60 days, and the aim is to raise 70,000 crowns. Bílá died on March 12 at the age of 64 in a Pilsen hospital. The Rokycany native was probably the most famous Czech singer in the world at the turn of the millennium, and years ago she sold out the Paris Olympia.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

House without an Exit

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Tomáš Hlaváček, director of the film House Without an Exit explains that his documentary shows that since the state and its institutions leaves the Roma to fend off by themselves, they rely on the family. But this is not always an advantage, as it keeps the families in a spiral of exclusion and poverty.

 

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovenia: Humour?

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Slovenia: Humour?

A Slovenian Radio produced a “humorous” video clip as a parody of a new measure introduced by the Slovenian government about the right to disconnect, i.e. the right not to answer emails.

Their parody involves a debt-ridden Rom who tapped into the water supply and complains about the water “cutoff”.

Bad.

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovenia: Campaign against Racism

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Slovenia: Campaign against Racism

The Slovenian government campaign Together against anti-Gypsyism has upset residents living near Roma, as well as Roma. The Government Office for Nationalities explained that by announcing a prize-winning competition for children and youth entitled Together against anti-Gypsyism, they want to tackle so-called anti-Gypsyism, which is an internationally accepted and established term.

In communes with a Roma minority, people have started protesting saying “what will a 4th grader in SE Slovenia, who has a Roma classmate four years older than him, who bullies him every day and demands money from him, think about this prize game?”

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovenia and Access to Water

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Slovenia and Access to Water

Representatives of Amnesty International Slovenia, Roma organizations and Roma people warned at a press conference in Ribnica that a fifth of Roma settlements in Slovenia still do not have drinking water, even though the right to water is guaranteed as a human right under the constitution. They therefore called on the government with a special petition to provide water where it is not yet available.

News Osteuropa Slowenien

Slovenia and Roma Settlements

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Slovenia and Roma Settlements

An interview of Jasna Hudorovič, a 60-year-old Romni who was born to a single mother in Gornje Lepovče, Ribnica. She has now lived in the Roma settlement in Goriča Vas near Ribnica for forty years and has been without water and electricity her entire life.

This says it all …

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Roma Strategy

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Slovakia: Roma Strategy

The non-legislative document Action Plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma by 2030 for the years 2025-2027 was submitted to the interdepartmental commentary procedure. The strategy highlights a set of starting points and goals that aim to stop the segregation of Roma communities, a significant positive turn in the social inclusion of Roma, non-discrimination, changing attitudes and improving coexistence.

But it also pushes for de-facto segregated schools by promoting teaching in Romanes.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Education of Roma

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Slovakia and Education of Roma

Vlado Rafael, the Head of eduRoma MGO says Roma children can also study to become psychologists in Britain. Here they end up in special schools.

The article addresses the largest misinformation about Roma and education currently circulating in Slovakia: What is the status of the lawsuit filed against Slovakia by the European Commission for the segregation of Roma children in education, what impact does their placement in special schools for students with mild mental disabilities, where up to 70-80 percent of them end up, have on the future of Roma, why, according to non-governmental organizations, the amendment to the Education Act will further exacerbate the problem, and how Roma students are treated differently in Great Britain, where many of them successfully graduate from universities.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Gypsy Fest Festival

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Gypsy Fest Festival

The 15th annual Gypsy Fest took place in Bratislava. It is the fourth largest Roma festival in the world. It was unusually held in November.

Gypsy Fest is not just a music festival. The organizers also try to show the public positive examples from among the Roma.

News Osteuropa North Macedonia

North Macedonia: Conference

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North Macedonia: Conference

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mutsunski participated and addressed the government donor conference “Roma and their friends”, dedicated to projects aimed at improving the integration of Roma into society, with a focus on housing, culture and education.

The Minister highlighted the importance of the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2022-2030, which addresses key areas such as education, employment, housing, social and health care. He stressed that the government will continue its efforts to achieve social cohesion and equal development and will firmly keep the promise that “no one will be left behind”, in line with the UN 2030 Agenda.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

A Young Talent

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Last spring, only his classmates from the conservatory in Rimavská Sobota and friends from Detva in Slovakia knew him. But then in May he published a song with a video clip on the Internet and everything changed.

He is Rom, queer, and sings about the difficulties he is facing in a small Slovak town.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Segregated Schools

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Slovakia and Segregated Schools

The elementary school on Krčméryho Street in Nitra is now attended exclusively by Roma children, but several Ukrainian students have also joined. Years ago, it was a mixed school, but parents of non-Roma children withdrew their children. A view of what this means first hand

Bulgarien News Osteuropa

Bulgaria: Arrest

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Bulgaria: Arrest

The police searched the properties of Kiril Kirov, nicknamed the Japanese. The police presence in the capital’s “Faculty” Roma district was increased since early in the morning.

At this point, official information on the case is scarce. The Ministry of the Interior only confirms that there were searches. The reason for them, however, remains unclear. It’s not about drug crimes.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Roma, and Work

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Slovakia, Roma, and Work

Often called an “Ambitious fool,” Ivan Mak came up with the idea that he would employ Roma, the disabled, the long-term unemployed, single mothers, people without education and difficult to place on the labour market. For 10 years, Ivan has been giving work in the laundry and ironing shop in Horehroní, regardless of the colour of the skin or the disability of the people. It is said that people used to look at him like a UFO.

Tschechische Republik News Osteuropa

Roma and the Velvet Revolution

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Roma and the Velvet Revolution

On November 25, 1989, Emil Ščuka and Jan Rusenko spoke to a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Letná in Prague. They also reached most households through television cameras. At the same time, a Roma group unfurled the Roma flag on the Letne plain, and a huge crowd chanted “Long live the Roma”.

Prior to that, Czech Roma dissidents were practically inexistant. The only notable exception was Karel Holomek, a signatory of the Movement for Civil Liberties (HOS), established in 1988. Holomek, expelled from the military college after 1968 and expelled from the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, was detained and interrogated as early as 1981 for “subversion of the republic.”

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