A round table held in Slovenia on Roma integration stated that one of the key challenges is the legalisation of Roma settlements. Roma representatives, however, warn that solutions and legislation on them are often adopted without them.
The German government is effectively abolishing the position of Commissioner for Combating Antigypsyism. The position will not be filled, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Family Affairs told taz. Mehmet Daimagüler, who held the position until a few weeks ago, told taz: “Abolishing the office would be a slap in the face for the Sinti and Roma in Germany.”
An article about the police action in the French speaking cantons of Switzerland that attempts to prevent Roma travellers from coming to Switzerland. The Police in Valais even illegally blocked a highway to prevent Roma from passing. They issue fines, but also summons.
This is clearly racist.
Visitors can expect real Romani cimbalom, authentic flamenco and for the first time in its almost thirty-year history, Romani musicians from Greece will perform at the festival,” Nikolas Ferenc, a spokesman for the Khamoro festival, told the Romea.cz news server.
Yesterday evening was opened by the band of violin virtuoso Ivan Herák, one of the most sought-after Romani primas in our country. His cymbalom band features Romani artists with musical training, including singer Erika Nováková.
Roma music is a melting pot of all genres, it is diverse and fascinating, says linguist and musician. Ondřej Skovajsa, a literary historian, ethnomusicologist and chairman of the Giľora association, which records and makes contemporary Roma songs accessible in audiovisual form, as well as linguist and musician Martin Gális speak about music and Romanes. The end of May belongs to the Khamoro World Festival, which is a traditional celebration of Roma culture. But do young Roma still speak Romanes in everyday communication?
The Slovak parliament has passed a law that can take away benefits for refusing a work opportunity. Opposition warns of discrimination against Roma. Their concern is that Roma will be offered menial works (such as in the Hungarian Közmunka), and will be no longer entitled to anything afterwards.
The Minister of Tourism has declared that Roma communities are “a clear cost to society” and therefore wants to employ them in agriculture and support for tourism.
Already his statement is derogatory. But he wants to employ Roma in helping develop tourism in the Slovak countryside. It sounds very much like the mandatory work that was introduced in Hungary, as a way to get cheap labour.
Instead of solving the sewage or water supply problems in Roma settlements where people live in clay houses, a completely meaningless Roma media house will be built for 60 million. This cannot be overlooked, says Tomáš Zdechovský, who heads the European Parliament’s audit in Slovakia, in an interview with Aktuality.sk.
What a waste …
According to this article, only 17.5% of children aged 7 to 16 attend the general education system in Soroca, Moldova. The situation was analysed during a public consultation organized by the Ministry of Education and Research in partnership with UNICEF Moldova, IPN reports.
Only issue: No one knows how many Roma are living there…
An editorial following an incident in a football field in a school where a Roma boy took the ball from an ethnic Slovene who fell and had to be brought to a hospital. The Roma boy was deemed “aggressive”.
The editorial argues that ethnicity has nothing to do with capacities, behaviour, and values.
Blaming Roma is simply not an acceptable excuse.
The German Catholic Foundation Renovabis and the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia (KBS) announced that in 2025 they will also financially support the development of Roma pastoral centers and Catholic Roma missions through the Capacity Building for Roma Pastoral Work and Its Sustainability program and its Small Projects Fund.
The aim of this joint initiative, which began in 2015, is to strengthen the spiritual service, social inclusion and human development of Roma in Slovakia in accordance with the Christian values of solidarity, respect and integration.
Well, in terms of combatting racism and exclusion, the catholic church, and the Slovak one in aprticular, haven’t got a real track record…
The EU control commission, which is currently examining the use of EU funds in Slovakia, will also meet with the Roma MEP from the Slovakia movement, Peter Pollák. “MEPs will rightly ask why European taxpayers’ money should be spent on media houses, tree planting or other ‘soft’ projects, while people in settlements live without water, sewage and basic infrastructure. We have something to talk about,” he said. According to Pollák, hundreds of millions of euros are spent on analyses, strategic documents and training, but practically nothing has changed in Roma settlements over the years. He claims that people continue to live in inhumane conditions despite the fact that we have historically received the most money from the European Union to improve their lives – more than a billion euros.
The latest movie from Tony Gatliff, Ange et Soléa, is presented at the Cannes Festival.
The festival is organized annually by Slovo 21 and Studio Production Saga s.r.o. It opened with the traditional “Khamoro party”, which was held at Gauča na Výstaviště, where fans of modern Romani music can look forward to Tessie & Band, Tomas and Ritmo Gitano. There were also two concerts in the Jazz Dock – the first one will take place on May 26 and will feature the Milan Angelo Trio. On May 27, he will be replaced by the Dario Napoli Trio, whose frontman is the phenomenal Italian guitarist Dario Napoli, who draws inspiration from the legacy of Django Reinhardt.
This year’s Khamoro World Romani Festival will not be without traditional Romani music. Visitors can enjoy it on May 29th and 30th in the La Fabrika space.
All what we said all along about the dreadful situation of Roma in Transcarpathian Ukraine in a reportage in the Swiss press. Well, their history is not quite straight, as the existence of these camps goes back to the Ungarian domination of this region and to Maria-Theresia of Austria. And there, they still call it cigánytelep [Gypsy settlement] rather than the term tabor meaning a camp.
The largest Roma festival Khamoro in Prague has started.
A brawl between two families during the pilgrimage of the Saintes-Marie de la Mer resulted in shots being fired, with two people seriously wounded and some others hit by baseball bats.
Bad.
98 percent of the Slovak municipalities included in the sociographic mapping of Roma communities have already completed the registration, and all the necessary data has already been completed by 60 percent of the municipalities that stated that there are Roma localities on their territory. This was announced by the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK) on social networks.
Thrilling rhythms, strong voices and a unique atmosphere – that’s how the 27th year of the world’s largest Romani festival Khamoro will kick off tonight. The opening concert on the open-air stage in Gauč at Prague’s Výstaviště will feature contemporary Romani music performed by Tereza “Tessie” Ondičová, the band Ritmo Gitano and singer Thomas from 7:30 p.m.
An article about Roma access to education. As usual, in spite of their good intentions, the generalisation is quite obvious: All Roma have issues accessing education. As a result, for the average reader, most Roma must be illiterate.
One speaks here of the most segregated Roma living in segregated settlements, and not of all Roma.
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