An excellent article and a reminder of the fact that Switzerland was at the forefront of the eugenics movement that led ultimately to the Holocaust. The article focuses more on Yenische and less on Roma, but these theories were applied also to Roma.
An exhibition of drawings by children on the theme of Roma personalities has opened in Bratislava in the baroque courtyard of the university. “Especially for Roma children, this topic was very inspiring, encouraging and instilling pride. For children from the majority society, such a topic is an opportunity to get to know successful Roma,” explained Agnes Horváthová, founder of the civil association Romano kher – Rómsky dom, which organizes the competition.
An article on the improvements in terms of work and poverty in the town of Rimavská Sobota, in South Central Slovakia. There, the unemployment has been the highest in Slovakia for a long time, but it has fallen sharply over the last 10 years. In addition, a large investment is planned for the district, the German company Winkelmann will build a plant there, which will create 450 jobs.
At the exit meeting on Wednesday, the government distributed approximately two million euros to various projects in the districts of Rimavská Sobota and Poltár.
What benefit will come to Roma still needs to be seen.
Svátý Kopeček revived the traditional June Roma pilgrimage again this year, bringing together participants from different communities and places. The event connected faith with traditional Roma culture.
The news server Romea.cz provided a detailed analysis of the results of the European Parliament elections from the point of view of the Roma minority through a special podcast. Journalists, political analysts and representatives of the Roma community took part in the discussion.
The results of the EP elections from the point of view of the Roma were evaluated on Wednesday evening by: journalist Jarmila Balážová, political scientist Edita Stejskalová, former social worker Jan Houška and founder of the Be Heard initiative Petr Banda. The podcast was presented by Zdeněk Ryšavý, editor-in-chief of the news server Romea.cz.
There was an altercation between Roma and non-Roma in an elementary school in the municipality of Brežice, Slovenia. This made the news in the country, and a controversy arose as the mayor of Brežice wrote in social media “a Roma student attacked an eighth-grader in class.” The question raised whether this is an incitation to racial hatred or not.
For a change a positive article about Roma. A employee of a supermarket about her colleagues who are all Roma. According to her, 90% of the team are Roma: They are hardworking and family-oriented. They also take the whole family to team building.
A team, appointed by the Voivode of Lesser Poland to solve the problems of the Roma community in Koszary has started work. Currently, the settlement located on plots belonging to the Limanowa commune is inhabited by over 120 Roma (including a large group of children), but a large part of them live in unauthorized construction works, which are subject to a valid demolition order. The first proposals were made on how to effectively enforce the law without escalating tensions in the area where the Roma have lived for half a century. One idea is to relocate Roma families to larger cities.
Already a few years ago, families living in the buildings, brick houses with water, sewage and electricity connections, received final decisions requiring demolition. So far, none of them has complied with the order.
Two articles in Polish about anti-Roma racism incidents in Germany. In 2023, 1,233 anti-Gypsy incidents were recorded in Germany, almost twice as many as the year before, when there were 621 such cases. The latest data was published on Monday (June 17, 2024) by the Antigypsyism Information and Reporting Center (MIA) in its latest report.
The Slovenian president met the mayors of the municipalities of the Novo Mesto region regarding the Roma “Problem”. These mayors have proposed drastic measures to limit social benefits for Roma. They were not approved in parliament as they were obviously targeted at a minority, but the issues persist, and the mayors are pushing the government for action.
A vehement article in the Slovene press against the social help that Roma in that country are getting. According to the article, “Roma have the highest child benefits and social assistance in Slovenia, which prevents them from working, they live in non-profit apartments in settlements that have become ghettos, they do not pay rent, and they break in, threaten and attack everyone: the old, the young, women, the disabled. Among the Kočevci, because of the indifferent attitude of the government towards the increasingly serious Roma problem, it is boiling.”
Well, what about that fact that no-one in Slovenia would employ Roma?
The city of Vsetín will file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of the eviction of Roma in 2006. In his opinion, the right to a fair trial was violated in the dispute. The court condemned the city of Vsetín for the eviction of Roma from a boarding house in 2006.
The house was in bad condition, and the city then had it demolished. Some of its residents, including the plaintiffs in the case, had previously failed to pay rent. The Roma ended up either in container houses elsewhere in Vsetín or in old houses outside the region.
On the weekend in Hodonín, the final of the Roma beauty queen pageant took place. Twelve finalists, who were chosen from more than sixty applicants, competed for the title. The winner was sixteen-year-old Martina Balažová from Liptovský Mikuláš.
Almost a hundred years ago, the so-called Pobedim massacre, a pogrom against Roma, took place in Slovakia. In October 1928, a group of rioters from Pobedimi attacked a Roma settlement. The pogrom left behind destroyed houses, injured and six dead, including a six-year-old child. But no one saw and did nothing. This event is commemorated by a production of the Slovak National Theatre.
A portrait and interview of the Burgenland Romni Danijela Cicvaric, the director of the Vienna Association Romano Centro. Romano Centro has been working since 1991 for helping Roma, combatting discrimination, and promoting integration.
Roma living in an unused building in Lausanne have been ordered by a tribunal to leave the place by July 1st. Where to and how remains to be seen.
Some more positive news in France this week (at least some …). An association called Rencont’Rom (A French play on rencontres – meetings, and Roma) was funded by the Occitanie Region as part of a project for a more inclusive region. In Grenoble, in the Apls, an Exhibition is trying to counter the stereotypes. The rest is more of the usual. A fire in a Roma camp in Montpellier is the South was probably a criminal act; in Toulouse, tons of garbage on the site of a former Roma camp is partly attributed to them; and finally, in Nantes, in Western France, a tribunal judged the construction of a site for Roma to be illegal.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin personally invited the increasingly popular Romanian musician Babasha for a duet in front of thousands at the National Arena in Bucharest on Wednesday. Neither expected the crowd to react with such fury.
The issue is that Babasha is Rom and plays Manele music, a music that many Romanians associate with criminality. He was booed.
Bad.
A Roma evening in the southern town of Gliwice, Poland. With music and more.
Branislav Ondruš, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, revealed more about a planned project to support the work integration of marginalized Roma communities and women from eastern Slovakia to the SITA agency.
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