Five Roma journalists have been rewarded for their work.
Well done!
A reportage on Roma beggars in Lausanne. Now, there are also Bulgarian Roma.
In Romania, women from the impoverished Roma community see witchcraft as a means of taking social revenge. Under construction since 2011, the first witch school in the world aims to preserve their traditions. Between feminist discourse, 2.0 spells and commodified folklore, it is difficult to see clearly in the land of the occult.
A reportage on Czech TV of the Khamoro festival.
A series of photographs of the Khamoro Festival in Prague.
The atmosphere of the ancient Jerusalem Synagogue in Prague turned into a treasure house of Romani and classical music for one evening on 5/29/2024. This unique fusion was performed by the group Lavutari di Praga, led by violin virtuoso Ivan Herák.
Thursday evening at the 26th edition of the Khamoro festival in the Prague club La Fabrika belonged to traditional Roma rhythms. In addition to Ame Roma from Latvia and Ciganos d’Ouro from Portugal, the visitors were also introduced to the classical dulcimer Erika Holuba from the Czech Republic. This recently formed group brings together leading Roma musicians who have been working together for many years on various events.
On April 30, 2024, the final press conference for the “Culture Breaks Borders” project implemented by I Am The Sound s.r.o. was held in Přerov. The main goal of the two-year project, supported by the EEA and Norway Funds, was to strengthen the business of Roma music artists in the Czech music and culture industry.
The President of the Slovenian Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, visited the municipality of Ribnica on Tuesday and, together with the mayor, Sam Pogorel, saw the Roma settlement Lepovče, which the municipality wants to relocate because it is located in an industrial zone. At the same time, Pirc Musar supported the efforts of the mayors of 11 municipalities in south-eastern Slovenia and Posavija to tighten certain benefits for the Roma. “If it doesn’t work with a carrot, you also need a little stick,” she said. She also said that she supports most of the proposed laws that also solve the Roma issue. The latter was submitted to the National Assembly by 11 municipalities last year, but was flatly rejected by the government coalition for being racially biased.
An article about the current allegations against Roma refugees from the Ukraine in Switzerland. They are accused of having false Ukrainian papers or having bought them and are used by politicians to lobby against the special status granted to Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland.
The Slovak National Theatre presented a play about a tragic 1928 pogrom against Roma in Pobedimi which killed 6 Roma and left many without a house at the Khamoro Festival.
Inadmissible in the West, normal in the Czech Republic. Roma are the least popular minority and many openly express their hatred. “If I got five crowns every time someone tells me they don’t like Roma, but I’m fine, I’d already have a villa,” says journalist Patrik Banga, a Rom. Together with Romanologue Saša Uhlová, they talked about why antigypsyism is so common and what can be done about it in the Aktuálně.cz Rasování program.
The President of the Slovenian Republic, Nataša Pirc Musar, visited the Roma settlement Lepovče in Ribnica, where she discussed the common issues facing them with representatives of the Roma and the mayor Sam Pogorelce. She pointed out that Roma children attend schools as the key to solving Roma issues. “That’s why I call on all Roma parents to send their children to school,” she said.
On Monday, May 27, as part of the 26th edition of the Khamoro Roma festival, a discussion on the topic of Roma education, entitled Together for the Future of Young Roma, took place in Prague’s Přítomnost cinema. The event was organized by the ROMEA organization.
Acclaimed Slovak director Martin Šulík made an uncompromising film about a young Roma boy born in a settlement in Eastern Slovakia.
The director said: “We wanted to make a film about our Roma because we realized that we don’t know anything about them. We know the Gypsy Kings, a one-hundred-member Roma orchestra from Budapest, but we have no idea of the conditions in which two hundred thousand Roma live in eastern Slovakia. Before we started writing the script, we travelled around Roma settlements and met interesting people who opened up to us and told us their stories. Our film was made up of their stories. We did not want to mythologize the Roma, look at them as folklore or romanticize them. We wanted to capture their life truthfully, because life in a Roma settlement is a reflection of our world. It’s just that everything is more emotional, more intense and more direct.”
An article on the 26th Khamoro festival in Prague and on its program. This year it is not only about Roma, with, for example a concert in the Jerusalem Synagogue which will bring classical music with modern elements and Romani rhythms.
Eighty years ago, in May 1944, 578 Roma and Sinti were rounded up in a major raid and transported to Camp Westerbork. Of these, 245 were deported by train to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland. Only 31 returned alive.
A commemoration was held on Sunday on the site.
David Beňák, a prominent figure of the Czech Roma community, is a candidate for the European Parliament for the ANO movement, the party of the former prime minister and businessman Babiš.
He wants to effectively fight against discrimination in Brussels. According to him, this applies not only to Roma in the Czech Republic. According to him, the solution could be high fines.
He mentioned that the Roma have a problem with the current coalition of five, and that they sympathize with the ANO movement, under whose government, according to them, “it was better”.
Slovakia mourns the death of musician Igor Holub. The sad news was published on the social network by the artist’s nephew Robert, the website regiony.zoznam.sk reported.
May he rest in peace.
The organization RomanoNet, an umbrella platform of Roma and pro-Roma non-profit organizations and initiatives, in cooperation with one of its member organizations, ROMEA, launched the awareness and motivational campaign Me žav! on May 20. Its goal is, in the form of short videos, to contribute to increasing the participation of Roma voters in the elections to the European Parliament, which will take place on June 7 and 8, 2024.
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