The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks visited Slovenia for four days. During his stay he criticised the country for its treatment of refugees and also for the continuing discrimination against Rroma in that country.
– Muižnieks: Upam, da novele zakona o tujcih ne bo treba nikoli uporabiti. In: Sio1 Net. 23.03.2017. http://siol.net/novice/svet/muiznieks-upam-da-novele-zakona-o-tujcih-ne-bo-treba-nikoli-uporabiti-438093
Finally, the integration plan of Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi has been unveiled. And there is quite a bit of critique against it. The Association “July 21st” has criticised the plan in a press conference, denouncing weaknesses and contradictions. The main issues are: The plan only covers a tiny minority of the Rroma in the city and the plan to put the Rroma in some separate settlement which would rapidly turn into a ghetto.
– Piano per il superamento dei campi rom: “Discriminazione e ritorno alle baraccopoli abusive”. In: Roma Fanpage. 20.03.2017. http://roma.fanpage.it/piano-per-il-superamento-dei-campi-rom-discriminazione-e-ritorno-alle-baraccopoli-abusive/
As the Polish state is currently not helping, Gdansk, Poznan, and Wroclaw has initiated a project and a discussion on Rroma integration. They are particularly concentrating on Rroma without residency papers and on those who live in appalling conditions on the edges of the cities.
– Państwo nie pomaga, więc Gdańsk, Wrocław i Poznań chcą zawiązać koalicję na rzecz integracji Romów. In: Polsat News. 20.03.2017. http://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc/2017-03-20/gdansk-wroclaw-i-poznan-chca-zawiazac-koalicje-na-rzecz-integracji-romow/
– Poznań, Wrocław i Gdańsk wspólnie chcą działać na rzecz integracji Romów. In: Onet Poznan. 21.03.2017. http://poznan.onet.pl/poznan-wroclaw-i-gdansk-wspolnie-chca-dzialac-na-rzecz-integracji-romow/k82mq6f
– Jak integrować Romów? Ma powstać wspólny program Poznania, Wrocławia i Gdańska. In: Wyborca. 20.03.2017. http://poznan.wyborcza.pl/poznan/7,36001,21523746,koalicja-poznania-wroclawia-i-gdanska-w-sprawie-romow-ma-powstac.html
An article on the Rroma homeless in Romania.
– Roma Homeless in Romania. In: NewEurope. 23.03.2017. https://www.neweurope.eu/article/roma-homeless-romania/
The rapid modernisation of Romanian cities is also a gentrification and an engine of segregation. Rroma are slowly but surely pushed out of the cities. Rroma are being evicted from the centre of most cities in Romania.
BAD.
– Roma fear there is no place for them as Romania’s cities modernize. In: Reuters. 21.03.2017. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-roma-property-feature-idUSKBN16T043
An association “Phurdo” has turned itself in Salzburg into a centre for Rroma and into a bridge between Rroma, Sinti and the general population. It is now being funded by the city.
Good! Models such as this exist in Vienna (Romano Centro) and should exist in all major cities!
– Salzburg erhält Beratungsstelle für Roma. In: Der Standard. 22.03.2017. http://derstandard.at/2000054645792/Salzburg-erhaelt-Beratungsstelle-fuer-Roma
A documentary exposes the racism faced by Rroma in Hungary. The movie “Judgement in Hungary” opens this week in the US and reports on the trial of rightist extremists who killed 6 Rroma in Hungary in racially motivated attacks.
They were finally condemned after several appeals.
– Documentary exposes racism against Hungarian Roma. In: Jewish Light. 22.03.2017. http://www.stljewishlight.com/features/article_8ffb58e6-0f15-11e7-9e12-67cf14c9daa9.html
A Rroma family (clan according to the press) has been using the so-called “grand children” trick to defraud elederly people of quite a bit of money. The family is from Poland and is “thought” to have invented this trick.
According to the police, the have defrauded elderly people of up to a billion Euro…
Bad for all of us. But also bad that the ethnicity is being put forward here. And a whole bunch of other stereotypes. Shame on this.
– Enkeltrick-Pate Hoss zum dritten Mal erwischt. In: Tages Anzeiger. 22.03.2017. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/enkeltrickpate-hoss-zum-dritten-mal-erwischt/story/27647149
A new exhibition opened recently in Montreuil near Paris on the “Gens du Voyage” – travellers – who stopped in that town since the 1970’s.
An interesting article about one of the founders of the Canadian Alt Right media movement. If you have any doubts about their views on Rroma, here is what he said:
“These are gypsies, a culture synonymous with swindlers.The phrase gypsy and cheater have been so interchangeable historically that the word has entered the English language as a verb: he gypped me. Gypsies are not a race. They’re a shiftless group of hobos. They rob people blind. Their chief economy is theft and begging. For centuries these roving highway gangs have mocked the law and robbed their way across Europe.”
You can be a member of a minority and be a racist …
– Meet Ezra Levant, The Jewish Founder of Canada’s ‘Alt-Right’ Rebel Media. In: Forward. 31.03.2017. http://forward.com/fast-forward/366253/meet-ezra-levant-the-jewish-founder-of-canadas-alt-right-rebel-media/
Moldava nad Bodvou – the National Criminal Investigator Agency (Naka) indicted one person for a misdemeanour for disorderly conduct committed with a racial motive. According to the Police: “On March 5, 2017 in the area of the football stadium in Moldava nad Bodvou the accused Paul P., drunk, did commit gross indecency against citizens of Roma ethnicity. The accused fired several shots in the air from a gas gun and shouted: you should be shot, you need only Hitler”…
At least he was arrested…
– Pavol strieľal na futbale a kričal na Rómov: Na vás treba len Hitlera! In: Topky. 17.03.2017. http://www.topky.sk/cl/100370/1616721/Pavol-strielal-na-futbale-a-krical-na-Romov–Na-vas-treba-len-Hitlera-
An article about the impact of the European Refugee crisis on the Rroma minority. Apart from some historical inaccuracies (Rroma are in Europe since longer than the 14th century), the article is worth reading.
– How the refugee crisis is dealing another blow to Europe’s Roma. In: The Conversation. 20.03.2017. http://theconversation.com/how-the-refugee-crisis-is-dealing-another-blow-to-europes-roma-74000
The 20th Herdelezi festival will soon opens its doors in San Francisco! May 6th is the date!
– Yuri Yunakov to Headline 20th Anniversary Herdeljezi Romani Music Festival. In: Broadway World. 20.03.2017. http://www.broadwayworld.com/san-francisco/article/Yuri-Yunakov-to-Headline-20th-Anniversary-Herdeljezi-Romani-Music-Festival-20170320
The US State Department, in its annual report, is criticising Slovenia for its treatment of its Rroma minority. Main critique is against discrimination and hate speech politicians, as well as some cases of police violence against Rroma.
– Američania hodnotia Slovensko: Vyčítajú Bašternáka a diskrimináciu Rómov. In: SME Svet. 21.03.2017. https://svet.sme.sk/c/20488232/americania-hodnotia-slovensko-vycitaju-basternaka-a-diskriminaciu-romov.html
The Rroma musical “Somnakaj” is still going on, now with smaller concerts like the one here in a church. The musical presents are really cliché view of Rroma, in a country where stereotypes on Rroma are common.
– Somnakaj templom-koncert. In: BMC. 19.03.2017. http://www.behir.hu/somnakaj-musical-eloszor-bekescsaban
A prominent right wing extremist and member of the Slovak Parliament is being prosecuted for racism following his statements in a right wing Radio “Radio Žilina”
We reported on the statements that took place in December…
Better late than never!
– NAKA prosecutes MP Mazurek for anti-Roma statements. In: The Slovak Spectator. 16.03.2017. https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20484906/naka-prosecutes-mp-mazurek-for-anti-roma-statements.html
An article about Rroma in the Italian capital. Where they live (i.e. which camps) and how many there are (only 4’500)…
You could think that with such a number, a solution could have been found by now …
– Quanti sono e dove vivono i rom nella capitale. In: Agi. 15.03.2017. http://www.agi.it/cronaca/2017/03/15/news/quanti_sono_e_dove_vivono_i_rom_a_roma-1584277/
Very much in line with the same polemics as in Slovakia, dogs were retrieved from a Rroma settlement near Poznan and are said to have been maltreated and abused. Amongst the abuse cited here: “Among quadrupeds located within the encampments was a bitch of a few days to eight puppies. She was lying in the outdoors, in makeshift shack, which did not give any protection against the cold. Animals should absolutely not be in such conditions – says Agnieszka Wolska, a veterinarian.”
Well, she did barely worse than the Rroma with whom she was living.
– Poznań: Psy zabrane z koczowiska Romów przy Lechickiej. “Znęcano się nad nimi” [ZDJĘCIA]. In: Gazeta Buska. 12.03.2017. http://www.gazetalubuska.pl/polska-i-swiat/a/poznan-psy-zabrane-z-koczowiska-romow-przy-lechickiej-znecano-sie-nad-nimi-zdjecia,11874287/
– Skrajnie zaniedbane psy zabrane z koczowiska Romów. In: Poznan Onet. 13.03.2017. http://poznan.onet.pl/skrajnie-zaniedbane-psy-zabrane-z-koczowiska-romow/blmqf7y
A young Rromni who died in prison after childbirth during the Spanish civil war has just been beatified by the Catholic Church. She is the first Rromni to be beatified …
This says a lot about the Catholic Church’s attitude towards Rroma.
– Gypsy woman left to die after childbirth among 115 Spanish martyrs. In: Catholic Register. 17.03.2017. http://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/24626-gypsy-woman-left-to-die-after-childbirth-among-115-spanish-martyrs
Not that many news in France this week (that is besides the Front National statement on Rroma)… A police affair in Montpellier where two persons were detained and beaten by Rroma after they came to their camp to gather scrap metal, which was followed by the arrest of four Rroma and their prompt liberation as they were not the ones who detained the others. Bad. And then, in Bondy, near Paris, the mayor is facing citizen who want the Rroma out; in Villeurbane, near Lyon, a camp was destroyed by fire, leaving more than 100 people on the street; in Montpellier, associations are asking for a stop of stigmatisation of the Rroma; and finally, in the North, a squat in Lille is still making the headlines – all following the aggressions there.
– Montpellier : double séquestration dans un campement de Roms. In: Metropolitain. 16.03.2017. http://e-metropolitain.fr/2017/03/16/montpellier-enlevement-et-sequestration-dans-un-campement-de-roms/#P6wJfHegHGfDGz9D.99
– Séquestration à Montpellier : les « suspects » libérés. In: Metropolitain. 18.03.2017. http://e-metropolitain.fr/2017/03/18/sequestration-a-montpellier-les-suspects-liberes/#6tPUwPRamUlx8qzu.99
– Bondy : la maire rencontre les habitants excédés par le campement rom. In: Le Parisien. 17.03.2017. http://www.leparisien.fr/bondy-93140/bondy-la-maire-rencontre-les-habitants-excedes-par-le-campement-rom-17-03-2017-6772602.php
– Leur squat incendié, plus de 100 Roms et Albanais à la rue. In: Le Progrès. 15.03.2017. http://www.leprogres.fr/rhone/2017/03/15/leur-squat-incendie-plus-de-100-roms-et-albanais-a-la-rue-tmlu
– Villeurbanne : 150 Roms à la rue après l’incendie d’un entrepôt. In: Lyon capitale. 14.03.2017. http://www.lyoncapitale.fr/Journal/Lyon/Actualite/Actualites/Accident/Villeurbanne-150-Roms-a-la-rue-apres-l-incendie-d-un-entrepot
– La mission des associations de Montpellier : ne plus stigmatiser les Roms. In: Midi Libre. 10.03.2017. http://www.midilibre.fr/2017/03/10/montpellier-ne-plus-stigmatiser-les-roms,1477177.php
– La friche H2D est toujours un gruyère d’où les Roms entrent et sortent. In: La Voix du Nord. 13.03.2017. http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/131908/article/2017-03-13/la-friche-h2d-est-toujours-un-gruyere-d-ou-les-roms-entrent-et-sortent
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