Slovenia and Roma

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The Slovene Ombudsman Peter Svetina visited the municipalities of Škocjan, Sevnica and Radeče, where he met with mayors. In Škocjan, he was informed about the problems they have with individual Roma. At the same time, Svetina emphasized that positive discrimination against the Roma minority cannot discriminate against the rights of the majority population. After the meeting he clarified the statemen, saying Roma population have legislation which protects them, “but positive discrimination cannot discriminate against the rights of the majority population”, but the right balance must be found. “Also, protective legislation does not give the Roma population a free hand for criminal acts”.

Infamia

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An interview with Anna Maliszewska, the director and author of the series “Infamia”. She explains how difficult it was to give an objective portrait of Roma and how she did not manage to get any of them to come to the castings. She also spoke of Dr. Joanna Talewicz, who has been working for the Roma community for years and how she helped her in shaping the series.

Roma and the Slovak Election

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An article on the press reaction to the fact that around 80% of the Roma in Eastern Slovakia voted for the Oľano party. It wouldn’t be an issue but for the implicit attempt in those articles to portray the Roma as stupid, who let Igor Matovič, the Ol’ano leader, fool them. Worse, as the author says, is that the media is also assuming that the Roma vote was bought.

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week either in France about Roma. Near Paris, Roma in a small camp are facing insults and threats; in Toulouse, another edition of Rencont’roms is planned for mid-November; and finally, an article on pickpockets in Nice, some of which are Romnja.

Vojvodina and Education

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The city of Subotica financed free textbooks for vulnerable children from the Roma population again this year. This is a measure aimed at preventing school dropouts and has been in place for a number of years. The ceremony of handing over textbooks was held today at the “Matko Vuković” Elementary School.

Bosnia and Roma

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Romanes, language of Roma was introduced in elementary schools in Tuzla Canton, which thus became the first canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina to systematically contribute to the creation of an educational environment without discrimination and the preservation of the rights of national minorities. Years of lobbying and advocacy have finally borne fruit, say the Roma Association “Euro Rom” Tuzla.

Montenegro: Exhibition

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The NGO “Koračite sa nama – Phiren Amenca” opened the exhibition “Racial diagnosis: “Gypsy” – the Nazi genocide of the Roma and Sinti and the long struggle for recognition” paid a special tribute to the victims of the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust during the Second World War.

OĽaNO and Roma

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The big surprise of the last elections in Slovakia was the re-emergence of the OĽaNO party, which took almost all localities in Eastern Slovakia with a large Roma minority.

Electoral fraud was immediately suspected. But no concrete cases were found so far. The explanation of this success was presented by Igor Matovič, the party head, together with Peter Pollák, a Roma representative of this party. They said that it was the fear of the populist (and anti-Roma) Fico who drove Roma to vote en masse for OĽaNO.

Slovak Parliament

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There will be 6 Roma in the new Slovak Parliament. 6 out of 150, so not quite yet at the population level. 4 of them are from the OĽaNO party.

Germany and the Sinti Romanes

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The Romanes of the Sinti is closely interwoven with the Koblenz subculture. As kickboxing world champion, Marlon Reinhardt often lets his fists do the talking. But the 32-year-old is also intensively involved in the Sinti community.

Slovenia and the Mayor’s Initiative

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The initiative and law proposal presented by Slovenian Mayors aimed solely at Roma has been defeated in the Slovenian parliament.
The Labour Committee of the National Assembly rejected most of the mayor’s for regulating the situation of children from difficult social environments, with which the mayors of 11 Slovenian municipalities, among other things, wanted to start “solving” the “Roma problem”.

Slovakia: How not to do it!

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The municipality of Telgárt, where a fire destroyed the Roma settlement, has neither the money nor the means to deal with the situation. The Roma are still housed in tents.. The district office does not have the capacity to resolve the situation, and only the county has the competence.

Th temperatures are dropping rapidly, and soon someone will freeze.

Hannover and Racism

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The City of Hannover has admitted that they discriminated against Roma for years.

European Roma Right Centre

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The director of the European Roma Right Centre, Ðorđe Jovanović, speaks about the impact of Soros’ Open Society to scale back operations. For the ERRC, it is a difficult time.

  • European Roma Rights Centre director, Ðorđe Jovanović: Open Society’s decision to scale back operations in Europe “means that hundreds of small organisations will probably die”. In: Equal Times. 05.10.2023. https://www.equaltimes.org/european-roma-rights-centre

Germany, Roma, and Discrimination

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Several articles about the constant discrimination faced by Roma in Germany. Be it searching for job or as refugees, the picture is not flattering for Germany.

Polish article on Romanian Roma

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The Title says it all: “They live on garbage in the largest ghetto in Europe. “A school bag and money for school were impossible wishes’” It is an article on Pata Rat, a garbage dump on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, which has become a home for the excluded. The country’s fifth largest city, wealthy and with numerous cultural centres, hides people who are not treated as citizens.

Good to say, but also presents Roma as exactly that: The ones who are excluded. It also furthers stereotypes.

Slovak Elections and Roma

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It seems that Roma voted overwhelmingly (up to 80%) for the conservative and anti-establishment party OĽaNO party led by Igor Matovič. There are a few dissonant voices and the police is investigating suspicions of electoral corruption.

rroma.org
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