A reportage in Mitrovica, Kosovo, among Roma. It is bad and is not improving, 15 years after the declaration of independence.
An article about all the others (i.e. non-Serbian) minorities in Kosovo, and mostly on Roma. The situation is still not good, with unemployment, discrimination, and emigration.
Another article in the Slovak press about the bias that Roma face in the judicial system.
Anti-Roma racism is not only widespread in society, Roma are discriminated against at all levels of criminal proceedings. This follows from research reports published by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC). The report states that accused Roma face discrimination at every stage of criminal proceedings by the police, judges, prosecutors and often their own defence lawyers.
Munich Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx wants to conduct a review of the historical responsibility of the Catholic Church for the persecution of the Sinti and Rom during the Nazi. Marx visited the documentation and cultural centre of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma.
The visit also dealt in particular with the role of the then Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber (1869-1952) and his attitude towards Sinti and Roma.
Two reports by the European Roma Right Centre highlight the discrimination of Roma in the justice systems of both the Czech and Slovak Republics.
A Sinti centre in Elle, Germany, received a letter from the accident insurance. So far nothing really special. But the letter was addressed to the “Kindergarten in the social hotspot of Gypsy square”. Not really politically correct. No one know how this happened. And frankly, how did the letter arrive in the right place???
In the Stodolní Street in the center of Ostrava in the eastern part of the country, about a hundred Roma demonstrated in the early evening on Wednesday. They protested against the fact that security guards of some bars in this area allegedly physically attack Roma visitors for no reason, and the police allegedly do nothing about this violence. The crowd reached the nearby police station.
The event was called by Roma activist David Mezei. “There were two such cases in January alone, when the security guard beat up a young visitor for no reason just because he is Rom. It doesn’t work like that anymore. The police only save money, but they never investigate anything,” Mezei was angry, with other participants of the demonstration shouting in agreement.
The Church of England took a positive step and recognized that the church played a significant role in anti-Roma racism. When are the other churches (and also non-Christian denominations) going to do the same?
The members of the Schwarz family sit on the couch or camping chairs and talk about the past and present of antiziganism. Many of her grandparents were deported under the Nazis. While the contemporary witnesses have already died or have not returned from the camps, the traumatic experiences live on in the stories and return in antiziganism insults and violence in German schoolyards.
An article about the life of Romnja in Poland and their constant fight against stereotypes. This is presented through interviews with two Polish Romnja, one who stile lives in a traditional way (whatever that may effectively mean) and one which doesn’t.
But the stereotypes are the same: Dirty thieves.
The case of a waitress who refused to serve Roma in a bar in Černelavc. Apparently, the waitress made no secret of her disregard towards Roma. Her and the bar’s lawyer argued that she thought one of the three Roma she refused to serve had been involved in a brawl the day before in the bar, which proved to be untrue.
The bar and waitress lost the case.
A report was published by the European network of Roma organizations ERGO, and was recently presented by the Swedish politician Soraya Post. The prominent Roma activist was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. The current report, among other things, shows that in the field of health care, Roma do not have the same treatment as others. Thus, 22 percent of members of the Roma community suffer from chronic diseases, and every fourth person does not have health insurance. These data come from national studies and confirm that Roma have more difficult access to health care in several EU countries.
Around two hundred Roma live in the municipality of Šentjernej in several settlements – on Trdinova cesta in Šentjernej, Mihovica, Draškovec, Roje and Drama. They were represented in the municipal council by Darka Brajdič for two terms, but this year she decided not to run for the post of Roma councillor.
She says without hesitation what bothers her about her work so far in the Šentjernej municipal council:
“I was not heard, much less considered. In the last mandate, the current mayor has never been among the Roma, he does not know how they live, what needs and opportunities they have. In our municipality, Roma families are not treated the same as others, they even oppose Roma if they want to do something themselves.”
Well, if you are Rom, you will be confronted in racism in the administration, or at least to discrimination. Milena Ademović can come up with a long list: unnecessary documents that are required, letters that get lost in the administration or child benefit applications that the parents who come to her have to wait a year for to be processed. “That’s why we’re here,” says Ademović, who, as a social worker at the Kulturen im Kiez advice centre in Wedding, also supports Sinti and Roma in their dealings with the authorities.
The Roma and Sinti are the largest minority in Europe – and the worst off. This is proven by a new report, which extensively documents the situation of Roma communities in Europe. This report was published by the ERGO network (European Roma Grassroots Organization) and was recently presented by the Swedish politician Soraya Post. The prominent Roma activist was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and is a board member of the network, which unites Roma organizations from more than 30 countries. The current ERGO report testifies, among other things, to a clearly unequal treatment of the Roma, in terms of health care. For example, 22 percent of people from the Roma community have chronic diseases and one in four does not have health insurance. The data comes from studies in the relevant countries and confirms that Roma find it more difficult to access healthcare in some EU countries.
These figures, says the Post, show that the situation has not improved since the adoption of the new EU framework for Roma political participation in 2020. On the contrary, we can talk about a deterioration, caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. And this despite the urgent appeal of To the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during the presentation of the strategic framework for the Roma in the EU: “Where is the essence of humanity, when the Roma are excluded from society and oppressed every day?”
The district court of Neumünster sentenced the operator of a fitness studio to a one thousand Euros fine and thus agreed with Kelly Laubinger, a Sintica from Neumünster. She had suspected that she was denied membership of the fitness studio because of her last name – Laubinger which is a name that many Sinti bear. She hopes that her recent court victory will encourage others to take action against inequality.
Marek Tatar (28), a Czech Rom, is currently studying transcultural communication in his third year at the Faculty of Education in Hradec Králové and works as a programmer in IT. Hi path to higher education was not smooth. He faced bullying in elementary school, overheard a conversation between two of his teachers in the school corridor about the fact that they didn’t want a gypsy at school, which prompted him to stop his studies. Fortunately, he was convinced by his family to do at least the minimum, which allowed him later to start studies.
It shows how discrimination and racism early on can disadvantage children from minorities for their entire lives. Fortunately, there are also example like him.
An interview with dental hygienist Daniela Patkaňová. For years she has been working as a dental hygienist in one of the facilities in Prague. It originally comes from Svidňik, Slovakia. Her journey to the dentist’s office was far from straightforward. She started in the field of sales, went to the Czech Republic for work and later also to Great Britain. It was there that she completed her education and started as a dental nurse. Although she encountered rejection in the areas of housing and employment because of her Roma status, she did not give in. What was decisive for her was the meeting with associate professor Mariá Bartoňová, with whom she still works.
Zoran Janković, the current mayor of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is trying to be re-elected for the fifth time in a row and also to get a majority in the city council to govern. He is however involved in a controversy about the burial of Roma from Ižan, victims of the Nazis and of the Partisans in Ljubljana’s cemetery. He is opposing the burial and has now been officially accused of racism by the Assembly for the Republic who published a harsh statement: By not burying the Roma from Ižan, he showed a level of racism hitherto unknown in Ljubljana, that he despises the sanctity of life by abusing cemeteries, that he incited intolerance and hatred with his political appearances.
An article in the German press on Roma in the Ukraine. As usual, the focus lies on Transcarpathia and, together with Bessarabia, represent an exception regarding to the situation of Roma in the Ukraine. In those two regions, the situation is really bad, with ghettoes and unemployment. But in places where the majority of Roma are Xaladytka and Servi, the situation is very different.
This is almost never presented in the press.
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