There is still opposition to the current plans for the new S-Bahn in Berlin which passes very near to the memorial for the Roma victims of the Nazis as well as to other prominent landmarks.
In the Slovenian municipality of Škocjan, the population feels there is a real Roma “problem”. The question asked is whether a Roma councillor in the municipal council (OS) could help solve the problems? The municipality of Škocjan does not have one, because it is not a “Rom” municipality. About 350 Roma live there, which is 10 percent of the entire population, 20 percent of Roma children attend .
The preliminary results of the Hungarian 2022 census have been published. One astonishing fact is that according to the census, the Roma population decreased by more than a third, passing from 315’000 in 2011 to 209’000 now.
These numbers are totally out of whack with reality, as the estimated number of Roma in Hungary lies between 600 and 800’000… According to the Hungarian press, the decrease is due to people not stating their ethnicity in the census.
Bojan Kekecis a member of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia. Last week, he gave an interview about the changes to some laws that relate to the Roma issue. “Living with them is very difficult. I don’t know how they would look in Ljubljana or other places when a beehive or grain in a field is set on fire. Such actions are unacceptable. There is a lot of crime and misdemeanours.”
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From Bucharest to Budapest via Rome, these are the three placves where the International Roma Theatre Festival which opened on 8 September in the Romanian capital took place and will take place. The Roman stop was on October 2 to 8. The tour will end in Budapest from 3 to 14 December . The intent is the “dissemination of innovative and unprecedented knowledge of the Roma Community”.
Another one of these stories that make it always to the press and give the impression all Roma are like this: A fight between two Roma families in Razlog escalated terribly. A 20-year-old boy was stabbed in the stomach and hospitalized. The attacker with the knife fled and is currently being sought. The families are from different parts of the country, but work in Razlog. Last night they sat down to eat and drink at the hotel where they are staying in the city. They got drunk and fought, after which 50-year-old Zivko K. grabbed the knife and wounded 20-year-old Valentin. Seeing what he had done, he fled the scene of the crime.
More news this week about Roma in the French press. First a conference that will take place next week about the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust, and its French specificities. This is quite uncommon. In Rezé, in Western France, an open reunion between the mayor, politicians and residents about a project for Roma resulted in insults and threats against politicians. Then, more of the usual news. Near Paris, a camp that was disbanded has turned in a huge open air garbage dump; in another commune around Paris, residents are complaining of the stench created by a Roma camp; in another one, Roma were forced to leave their camp all the while being threatened and insulted by local residents; in Grenoble, a camp was closed; and finally in Strasbourg, an article about row between two Romanian Roma families which ended tragically in an accident.
In his last address to the management of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, the Ombudsman points out that the Roma settlement in Koszary, in the Limanowa commune, is inhabited by approximately 120 people. Many of them live in buildings arbitrarily built from random materials. These buildings are in poor technical condition – they are neither insulated nor plastered.
This is not new, and this discussion has been going on for years by now.
Bad.
The EQUAL CUP football tournament is taking place in Záhorí under the auspices of the Human in Danger organization, with the participation of students from Lozorn and Plavecký Štvrtek. As part of the Better Future for Young Roma project, which is financed by the Volkswagen Slovakia Foundation, the organization Human in Danger works with young people from marginalized Roma communities (MRK) in western Slovakia, primarily in Záhorí.
The head of the German Railways visited the Sinti and Roma Documentation centre. He stated there is no place in the railways for antitziganism.
The usual story that Travellers leave a mess in their camping sites. Here, near Linz.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) organised a discussion on 11. October in Warsaw on means to improve access of Roma to health care and housing.
An article about a scam in Zurich, whereby a person asks for food near an automatic distributor, and when a person is kind enough to pay, the scammer selects a charger instead, for a higher sum, which can be returned for deposit at a later stage. According to the victim, a reporter for a local newspaper, she was asked by a “young woman who I would classify as Sinti or Roma”…
Another article in the Ukrainian press about the tent school set up in a Roma refugee camp by a catholic priest. There are quite a few photos that show the precarity of the camp. Maybe it would be better to lodge these IDPs correctly and send the children to a regular school…
Erik Žigmund is a successful Slovak musician, and a Rom. He says: “There are very few Roma in Trenčín, I was probably the only one in the whole school”. He also said he was bullied in school. He speaks about a friend who died and abot commemoration in this interview.
On October 9, the Roman Catholic Church organized a school where both children and adults can study in the Roma camp near the bypass road of Lviv.
This is good, but is also coupled with a strong push to convert, even though the vast majority of Roma there are Orthodox.
A camp of Sinti is being relocated in Val Polcevera, near Genova. Several political parties and members of the local council haves asked the mayor to reconsider the decision, as a relocation doesn’t solve any problems.
The Bulgarian press focuses on bad stories on Roma. Here, on a police operation in three Roma settlements in Kazanlak. This followed the stabbing of a policeman in the Roma settlement “Kazmera” by a 20-year-old criminal from the neighbourhood.
An interview with Matic Vidic who is employed by the Slovenian Army where he takes care of spiritual care in the Novo mesto and Cerklje ob Krka barracks. He is a permanent deacon in the diocese of Novo mesto, and he teaches religious education to children. He also does pastoral work with Roma and wants to help Roma to improve their lives and to improve the bad relations between the local population and Roma.
Another article with details on how the city of Hannover systematically discriminated against Roma.
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