A reportage in Spiš, Slovakia, where many residents of the Roma settlement work in the UK and return home with nice cars, luxury goods, and renovate their houses. The story from exclusion to integration, albeit in another country.
Over the weekend, Nitra, in Slovakia, will host the eighth annual international Roma festival called Amaro Fest 2024 – open air gipsy festival. As the organizers from the civic association Roma Art Agency stated, in addition to promoting culture, the festival is supposed to support Roma identity and contribute to the social and cultural inclusion of Roma. “Amaro Fest 2024 will offer performances by professional Roma artists from abroad and from home. The audience will see dynamic dance ensembles and the world star from Germany Ricard Kwiek with a live band, Ján Bendig will come from the Czech Republic,” the organizers informed.
A reportage in a Roma camp near Marseilles in the South of France. These are not necessarily productive, as they reinforce many stereotypes which are not valid for all Roma. Near Paris, a camp was closed due to the Olympic games, and it seems from another reportage, that besides Roma, others are also displaced due to the Olympics. Finally, an interview with the mayor of a suburb from Nates about an integration camp there.
A Slovak journalist, Petra Strižková, went to two Slovak villages: Bystré and Hlinné. What they have in common is that they succeeded in what many only dream of or say is impossible! Roma-non-Roma coexistence is harmonious there – and has been for decades. The beginning of the successful story of integration was the demolition of a Roma settlement 50 years ago.
Well, that is clear: If you segregate people in a ghetto, you will definitively not integrate them.
The Office of the Government declared that, in addition to focusing on the field of civil protection, it will make maximum effective use of European funds aimed at the restoration of cultural monuments. “The restoration of cultural monuments, […], also has an important social element, in the form of social enterprises that employ a significant part of members of marginalized Roma communities during the restoration of cultural heritage,” according to the document approved by the government on Wednesday.
It means, like in Hungary, that they hire Roma (usually at low rates) for unskilled work…
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Slovak Republic wants to establish a working group that would prepare a legislative proposal for compensation for women sterilized in violation of the law. The Department informed about this in connection with the meeting of its State Secretary Katarína Roskoványi with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty.
It is about time. The practice continued even after the fall of the iron curtain.
The situation is not getting better in Slovenia, especially in the South East of the country. The article starts with “After the municipal councilors met in an extraordinary meeting last Wednesday due to the increasing insolence, violence and crime of individual Roma or groups of Roma in the municipality of Škocjan, another meeting was also organized last night by the village community of Grmovlje, which in addition to Grmovlje also includes Hudenje, Dobruško village and Doljno Staro village, and also invited villagers from the village communities of Dobrava pri Škocjan and Tomažja village.”
In brief, bridges are burnt. And this is bad.
Ethel Brooks is now a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. People of Roma origin often face racist prejudices that make it impossible for them to rise in the professional hierarchy. Ethel also had such problems. “It very often happened to me that some of my classmates told me: “Gypsy, your place is in the corner!”, she says. When she tells the story, there is no anger in her voice, but the sadness is palpable.
Well done.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, Katarína Roskoványi, met today with the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Michael O’Flaherty. The subject of the meeting was the human rights of the Roma.
Commissioner O’Flaherty informed about his visit to Slovakia. During the initial days, he visited eastern Slovakia, where he met with representatives of the Roma community and held interviews about their situation, access to housing and other rights.
There are many Roma in Slovakia under the long term unemployed. Many of them retrained, but employers do not want to hire them… And now the minister wants to stop the benefits if they refuse a job. The fear is that the jobs they will propose are menial work with 19th century technology like the Hungarian közmunka (public work).
An interview with Anton Karagyozov, a Roma activist who has been active since the 1980s and has created the Roma Plovdiv Regional Development Foundation.
He tells about his work, successes, and challenges.
A flash mob took place in the center of Chisinau on July 7. The mostly Roma participants chanted slogans such as “Stop ethnic discrimination!” or “Stop the hate speech. Yes! Stop inciting hatred against Roma. Yes! Stop inciting hatred towards anyone. Yes!”
A decision of the Supreme Administrative Court says that the Ministry of Health must now actively verify whether an applicant for compensation was subjected to illegal sterilization in the past.
The impetus for changing the system was the request of a woman whose request for compensation was rejected by the Ministry of Health in the spring of 2022. The decision was mainly justified by the fact that the applicant’s medical records had already been shredded and she herself had not proven the illegality of her sterilization.
The Roma settlement in Koszary, located in the Limanowa region, are to be demolished as they were built without permits. A company has been contracted to demolish the houses. But they are not empty, as nothing has been done to re-locate the Roma families living there.
Bad.
Bronisława Wajs (Papusza) is one of the best know Romani poets. She owes part of the fame to Jerzy Ficowski, a Polish poet and ethnographer who published her poetry. In the article here, Emilia Kledzik, a professor in the university of Poznan, claims that the poetry were largely constructed by Jerzy Ficowski.
She even uses the word “forgeries”.
More and more of Sweden’s Finnish Roma, who are also called Kalé Roma, are moving to Finland, even though many have grown up in Sweden and spend their lives here. Above all, it is the fear of increasing gang crime but also poorer educational opportunities in Sweden that make the neighboring country attractive.
The Pilsen club Pixla mainly cares for underprivileged children from nearby hostels, having many Roma among its clients. Ukrainian refugees were added to this recently. For its work, the club won the second prize in a national competition for social services in May.
An Interview with Igor Andre, a Slovcak from Bratislava who worked in the office for the plenipotentiary of the Roma and moved 10 years ago in Eastern Slovakia and taught in a Roma school.
Well, his view of Roma is stereotypical. He states: “The debate about the Roma in our country is influenced by the woke ideology”; that the debate is “automatically based on the principle that the majority is the oppressor and the Roma are the victims.” He continues and says that Roma are gifted in crafts… In brief, he knows and sees only a part of the Roma community and thinks he knows it all.
Another Slovak article about the latest measures from Minister of Labor Erik Tomáš to reduce unemployment and prevent abuse of the social system.
“We want to employ and get to work as many Roma as possible,” said the minister at the beginning of the press conference. How will it work in practice? If an unemployed person rejects a job offer, the material need benefit will be withdrawn or reduced for 12 months. According to the law, it still applies that it must be such an offer that is suitable for the person in question and corresponds to his abilities.
Well, how will it work with Roma? Since most companies do not want to employ them, how is this supposed to work? This is just another of those populists measures that bring nothing.
The premiere of a short documentary film “Domov západ života” [Home, the basis of life], dedicated to the innovative practice of guaranteed housing, was held in Prague on June 28, 2024.
The guaranteed housing system, as presented in the document, plays a key role in providing affordable housing. A key role in this process is played by the guarantor, which can be a municipality or a non-profit organization. In the slide you can see how the system works, its benefits for all stakeholders and the real impacts.
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