Category Archives: Slovakia

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Awards

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Folklorist, civic activist and community worker Marie Oláhová, sociologist Zuzana Kusá and mayor of Toporec Gustáv Pompa won the Luč z tmy (Ray of Darkness) award this year. The prize was awarded for the sixth time to people who have long been advocating for the improvement of the position of the Roma in various areas of life.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Roma Spirit

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The Roma spirit finalists are announced. The Roma Spirit prizes are given to organisations and individuals who have contributed to the integration of Roma.

Among them are, for example, the non-governmental organizations Detstvo deťom from Dobšina, Šukar Dživipen from Banská Štiavnica and Spokojnost – a center of social services from Prievidza. The gala evening with the awards will be on November 25.

  • Finalistami Roma Spirit sú aj učiteľky z Dobšinej, združenie zo štiavnického Šobova aj mäsokombinát a odpadová firma. In: Dennik N. 20.11.2023. https://dennikn.sk/minuta/3688446/
News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and Roma Education

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An editorial on the newly published government program on education. In the case of Roma, the government “hid” the entire extensive topic of their inclusion in education under the concept of generational poverty. According to the editorial, this is the proof that the current government is not sincerely interested in solving the inclusion of Roma on a human rights and respectful approach.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia and the Telgart Debacle

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Amnesty international stated that the Slovak government failed to resolve the Telgart issue. A Roma settlement totally burned out in the summer, and the residents of the settlements are still in tents as we speak. A bit of caution is needed on the reporting due to its source, as it is very critical of the previous government.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Portraits

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The portraits of ten Slovak Roma writers, as part of the exhibit “Portraits Between the Lines” from the artist  Šarlota Bottová opened on Tuesday (November 7) in the Ethnographic Museum in Martin. It was prepared by the Museum of Roma Culture in Slovakia on the occasion of the World Day of the Roma Language (November 5).

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Fico, and Roma

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An increasing number of Roma are worried about the prime minister Fico and his plkans to abolish the office of the plenipotentiary for Roma of the Slovak government. Reason behind it might well be, that this office will decide on EU funds earmarked for Roma …

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Telgart: A Solution?

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28 containers are already standing near the Roma settlement, where a fire broke out in July, almost totally destroying it. 105 people could move into them, 60 of them children. “Everyone is impatient, they have been here too long to be in a good mood,” said Telgárt mayor Jozef Štajer.

The catch: Electricity has not yet been installed.

Ungarn News Osteuropa Slowakei

Exhibition on Roma and the Holocaust

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In the gallery of the City History Museum in Fiľakovo, Slovakia, visitors will be able to view the exhibition of the Dutch photographer Jutka Rona entitled Hungarian Gypsies – Survivors’ Testimony dedicated to the memory of the Hungarian Roma holocaust.

Hungarian-born photographer Jutka Rona was two years old when her parents immigrated to the Netherlands.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Roma, and Politics

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In the new composition of the Parliament of Slovakia, out of 150 representatives, as many as six are Roma. And not by some kind of key, but as elected representatives. Many Roma voted for the the party called “Ordinary people and independent personalities” (OľaNO) led by Igor Matovič, which is at the end, with 9% of votes won became the fourth largest party in the Slovak parliament. In some places with a majority Roma population, Matovic’s alliance achieved election results that were suspicious even to the police: while other parties got two or three percent each, OLaNO collected over 90% of the votes.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia, Roma, and Fico

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The new Slovak prime minister Fico and his extreme right coalition partners are not exactly pro-Roma. Their first test will be on how to deal with the Roma of Telgárt, whose settlement burnt down over the summer and who are still housed in tents.

Fico will definitively need the office of the plenipotentiary for Roma communities, as for the first time, it has a large budget under its belt – it will distribute up to 400 million euros from European funds in the next few years, and also has greater powers.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakian Roma

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Petr and Jana Ščuka are married and Roma. They are exceedingly successful, are de facto billionaires but gave away 1/3 of their fortune to help others, be they Roma or non Roma.

Well done.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: Football Tournament

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The EQUAL CUP football tournament is taking place in Záhorí under the auspices of the Human in Danger organization, with the participation of students from Lozorn and Plavecký Štvrtek. As part of the Better Future for Young Roma project, which is financed by the Volkswagen Slovakia Foundation, the organization Human in Danger works with young people from marginalized Roma communities (MRK) in western Slovakia, primarily in Záhorí.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Erik Žigmund

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Erik Žigmund is a successful Slovak musician, and a Rom. He says: “There are very few Roma in Trenčín, I was probably the only one in the whole school”. He also said he was bullied in school. He speaks about a friend who died and abot commemoration in this interview.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Roma and the Slovak Election

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An article on the press reaction to the fact that around 80% of the Roma in Eastern Slovakia voted for the Oľano party. It wouldn’t be an issue but for the implicit attempt in those articles to portray the Roma as stupid, who let Igor Matovič, the Ol’ano leader, fool them. Worse, as the author says, is that the media is also assuming that the Roma vote was bought.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

OĽaNO and Roma

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The big surprise of the last elections in Slovakia was the re-emergence of the OĽaNO party, which took almost all localities in Eastern Slovakia with a large Roma minority.

Electoral fraud was immediately suspected. But no concrete cases were found so far. The explanation of this success was presented by Igor Matovič, the party head, together with Peter Pollák, a Roma representative of this party. They said that it was the fear of the populist (and anti-Roma) Fico who drove Roma to vote en masse for OĽaNO.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovak Parliament

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There will be 6 Roma in the new Slovak Parliament. 6 out of 150, so not quite yet at the population level. 4 of them are from the OĽaNO party.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovakia: How not to do it!

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The municipality of Telgárt, where a fire destroyed the Roma settlement, has neither the money nor the means to deal with the situation. The Roma are still housed in tents.. The district office does not have the capacity to resolve the situation, and only the county has the competence.

Th temperatures are dropping rapidly, and soon someone will freeze.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Slovak Elections and Roma

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It seems that Roma voted overwhelmingly (up to 80%) for the conservative and anti-establishment party OĽaNO party led by Igor Matovič. There are a few dissonant voices and the police is investigating suspicions of electoral corruption.

News Osteuropa Slowakei

Voting in Slovakia

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The story of voting in a village with a majority of Roma. They voted on local elections, but not so much on the national ones.

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