An article about the Roma in Moldova who are largely pro-Putin.
Lower life expectancy, limited access to health services, violation of human rights… So many factors that affect the mental health of some 10 million Roma in Europe. Associations are sounding the alarm.
The pilgrimage of Saintes Marie de la Mer has started.
The pilgrimage is in full swing right now.
The traditional Hungarian restaurant music is threatened by the covid pandemic which forced many musicians to seek other jobs.
Mehmet Daimaguler is the Federal Government’s first Antiziganism Commissioner. In the interview he talks about the Sinti and Roma Holocaust, about their scandalous treatment in the post-war period and about the ongoing discrimination.
The Open Society Foundations (OSF) has established a pan-European Roma independent foundation. Under the leadership of Zeljka Jovanovice, the current director of the OSF Roma Initiatives Office, the new European Roma Foundation will become the largest European Roma foundation ever. It will be financed by the OSF for ten years, which it will build on.
“I am proud to announce on the occasion of International Roma Resistance Day that we are taking our long-term commitment and commitment to the Roma to the next level,” said George Soros, founder and chairman of the OSF, on May 16.
Zsolt Bayer, author of racist and anti-Semitic remarks, is among the speakers at the event organized in Budapest by an American conservative group. He qualified Jews of “stinking excrements” and Roma of “animals.
So much for these conservative Americans …
Not much news on Roma this week. The upcoming pilgrimage of Saintes Marie de la Mer; the inauguration of the transition village in Montpellier and the fate of Roma from a camp that burnt in Aix en Provence in the South; and two articles on neighbours complaining about new Roma camps in their neighbourhood near Paris.
A young Roma was awarded a Vaclav Havel Scholarship, allowing him to start studying at the prestigious English College n Prague. Money for the scholarships is being raised by concerts.
Robert Fico, the populist ex-prime minister of Slovakia is claiming the aid of 100 EUR promised by the government per child in June is solely aimed at Roma. This is not the case.
There are not enough camping sites for Travellers in the UK, resulting in tensions when they pitch camp in other areas.
Not all is rosy for minorities, and the Council of Europe suggests measures are needed to combat hate speech, especially against Roma and Tattare (the name of the autochthonous Roma group).
A reportage in the South Serbian town of Bosilegrad, a city that historically was part of Bulgaria and is predominantly still Bulgarian with a significant Roma population. Many of them do no longer want to be Bulgarians.
This coming Monday will celebrate the anniversary of the Roma rebellion in the Roma camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. This unprecedented event is one of the essential elements of our history. (…) It is a symbol. Courage and heroism should be a beacon for contemporary Roma. Determination and resistance, even in a seemingly hopeless situation, give hope
– said the president of the association Roman Kwiatkowski in an interview with PAP.
The RFK and Kolektiv 115 groups convened a demonstration in support of Ukrainian Roma in front of the Czech Interior Ministry on Thursday. The organizers wanted to express that, according to them, the Czechia did not ensure basic security for all people fleeing Ukraine before the war.
Many of the Roma currently stuck in Prague’s central station have fled Ukraine but have a dual citizenship (Hungarian/Ukrainian) and are denied any help in the Czech Republic.
The issue of the Ukrainian Roma refugees who also have a Hungarian passport but whom no one wants, starting with Hungary itself. They were granted a Hungarian passport as part of Orban’s drive to grant citizenship to Hungarian speakers in neighbouring countries, but they are not wanted.
For several weeks, hundreds of Roma refugees who fled Ukraine have been refused residence permits in the Czech Republic. In Prague, dozens of families sleep on the floor of the Central Station. An open-air humanitarian crisis that led the authorities to build, last weekend, a guarded camp on the outskirts of the city for these unwanted war refugees.
An article on the museum of Roma Culture in Brno.
The mayor of Gallarate, a town not far from Milan was brought to court by Roma families who accuse him of defamation, as he openly said they were a bunch of thieves. It is part of a longer battle between the mayor and the Roma, as the mayor tried to evict them, and was forced to restore services he had cut off by a court in Milan.
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