Author Archives: Roma Foundation

Portugal and Chega

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In Portugal, the Chega! (That’s enough!), which currently has 12 seats in parliament, is now considered the third political force in the country, with 13.2% of the voting intentions in the latest polls. Although none of its members currently sit in the European Parliament, the party could gain three to four.

In a similar vein to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, Chega’s ideology is described as anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-LGBTQIA+, anti-Roma, anti-Muslim and conspiratorial, according to a report by the Global Project Against hate and extremism (Global Project against Hate and Extremism, GPAHE).

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week about Roma in France, which is not surprising in view of the riots that followed the killing of a young man by the police in the Paris suburbs.

A festival in Poitiers focusing on Roma tales, the paramisja, and an article about a “huge” Roma camp (with about 500 inhabitants) which apparently disturbs business.

Trnava: Exhibition

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Born in Trnava, Emília Rigová  has her own exhibition in Trnava for the first time. Yesterday, she opened the Untitled exhibition in the Synagogue – a space for contemporary art, in which she deals with the theme of the Roma Holocaust. She has been working on it for a long time. “Only now has she reached the place where she really belongs, and that adds a new semantic level to the work,” she told Trnavské rádio.

Małgorzata Mirga-Tas

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Another article, this time in the Polish press about Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’ exhibition in Berlin. The host of the exhibition is the famous Brücke Museum, presenting only Expressionist painters associated in the early 20th century in the group “Die Brücke”. Małgorzata Mirgi-Tas’s exhibition “Sivdem Amenge. I sewed for us” is an artistic dialogue with selected artists of this group. But not only.

The article states that Małgorzata Mirga-Tas is currently the most famous contemporary Polish visual artist in the world.

Germany and Refugees

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The Berlin police wanted to deport a Roma family from Moldova early in the morning. The parents weren’t there, just two children. The officers took the 18-year-old daughter away and “handed over” the 11-year-old son to the neighbours. The boy then disappeared the management of the refugee home called the police and the youth welfare office, but even after the entire home was searched, he remained missing.

His siter was deported.

Ukraine, Roma, and Identity Papers

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Many Roma in the Ukraine do not have any official documents. This prevents them from receiving social help, complicates their situation as IDPs, and often prevents them from finding official work. An action was started in Lviv, to help Roma obtain their papers.

Better late than never …

Switzerland and Travellers

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There are not enough camping sites for travellers in Switzerland. This is definitively not new. The Council of Europe is now telling Switzerland it must act.

Let’s see, as the country is very good at doing nothing on this topic.

Slovakia: Interview

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An interview with the theatre actress Dominika Badžová, a Romni from the Košice region. She comes from a poor family with a single mother, and while she studied acting, she could not find a job, being a Romni. She was fortunately discovered and her talent rewarded.

Slovenia: Social “Bomb” ???

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Another of those articles in the Slovene press … Speaking of the Roma “Problem”, the fact that they are all unemployed, criminals, that they have many more children than the rest of the population, and that most of their children do not even finish primary school.

What they are talking about is not a Roma “problem”, it is a case of poverty and exclusion. And that is a Slovene issue.

Czecho-Slovak Miss Roma 2023

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The beauty contest, organised by the association Romia CZ recently took place. Seventeen-year-old Lucie Tulejová from Česká Lípa became Czech-Slovak Miss Roma 2023 on Saturday in Hodonín. Eighteen-year-old Vanesa Hrabalová from Ústí nad Labem took home the title of first runner-up, and Stanislava Kroščenová from Spišské Štvrtek finished in third place. The competition, organized by the association Romia cz, aims to show the beauty, talent and personality of young Roma girls from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Sweden and Discrimination

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In his play “Tschandala”, the Swedish Roma actor Lindy Larsson talks about decades of discrimination against Roma in Sweden – and about his own depressing and touching family history.

It’s hard to bear what the man, standing at the edge of the stage in a pale cone of light, is saying. His father was taken from the family as a child and placed in a government home. There he was beaten, raped, tied up for days, imprisoned. Again and again. He almost succeeded in attempting suicide when he was eleven. Later, as a teenager, he was almost sterilized. And he almost spent his whole life in prison and never met his future wife.

Germany: Exhibition

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An exhibition on the on the Genocide of the Sinti and Roma, designed by the Mittelbau-Dora Memorial will be shown in the Flohburg in Nordhausen, Germany, opening on July 7th.

Polish Movie

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The Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Skonieczny is directing a new movie set in Wrocław, a city he knows well, featuring a young skateboarder who falls in love with a Romni and is confronted with the prejudice against Roma. Both key actors are new to filming, and are supported by a cast of well know actors.

Roma Refugees from the Ukraine

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Out of the many refugees out of the Ukraine, ca. 100’000 are Roma. One of the issues they face is that many of them are stateless, they have no official papers, often lacking even a birth certificate that would prove their citizenship.
The fate of refugees in Western Europe is much better than in Eastern European countries bordering the Ukraine. There, they are definitively discriminated against.

Slovakia and Roma Settlement

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Another sad story. An apartment block had to be destroyed in the Roma settlement in Sabinov, in Eastern Slovakia, as the building was apparently unstable. The tenants had to be evicted and relodged in temporary housing.

Years of neglect do not help …

Czech Republic: An Interview

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Dana Ema Hrušková (55) never thought that she would one day work in social services. Together with her husband, she successfully ran a hardware business. The turning point came when she started cooperating with the non-profit organization Romodrom, which was just starting field work in socially excluded locations. That’s when she discovered that helping others fulfils her more than her own thriving business. Today, she works as a field worker in the Prague 14 Černý Most district and has more than 80 clients.

Roma Refugees in Poland

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An estimated 400,000 lived in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. A quarter fled the war-torn country. Many went to Poland. Władysław Kwiatkowski, president of the Roma Association in Poland, stated in an interview that “Not everyone in Poland realizes that many Roma fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. They defend their country. They are citizens of Ukraine, just like the rest”.

Dr. Małgorzata Kołaczek from the Foundation for Dialogue – one of the authors of the report “Human rights, and discrimination – the situation of Roma refugees from Ukraine in Poland. Report on research and intervention activities” Said:

“The Roma, like other Ukrainians, lose their life possessions, husbands and fathers at the front, and yet they are treated differently – as if their pain and suffering were less. As it happens in a situation of uncertainty and danger, the lowest human instincts are activated, which are directed towards those whom one “always” dislikes “.

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