The Prague New Town Hall hosts the exhibition called “Do not spit in my face”, the author of which is the Roma academic painter from Bosnia and Herzegovina Mersud Selman. Musical actress and singer Mária Bikárová will come to the microphone.
Another discussion / interview with Patrick Banga, the young Romano author who got a coveted Czch literary prize for his first novel.
The portrait of an activist, originally from Slovakia but now from the Czech Republic who fights against hate.
What a destiny: His grandparents were shot by guardsmen, his parents met in a concentration camp. His father came from Velké Zalužice in Slovakia, where he owned huge plots of land on which a Roma settlement stood. His great-ancestor saved the life of his lord in the Battle of Slavkov, and he gave him extensive land in Slovakia for that.
A video of the by now traditional parade of the artists of the Khamoro festival in Prague.
A video of the gala concert in the Khamoro festival in Prague.
The Khamoro festival has started in Prague with groups such as the Rosenberg Trio.
Well, no surprise: Roma children are segregated and discriminated against in the Czech school system.
Being a Rom in the Czech Republic is really difficult. Parick Banga was beaten by the police in his youth. He comes from Žižkov in Prague and is 41 years old. He is in charge of blogs at iDNES.cz, at the same time runs an IT business and plays in a swing band in his spare time. Banga received the Magnesia Litera literary award for his coming-of-age story.
The Karel Janeček’s foundation, in response to the early release from prison of two of the Vítkov arsonists, has established a collection called “We Stand With Natálka” (“Stojíme za Natálkou”). The aim to not only to help the victims of this arson, but also to highlight that little is done in the country for victims of serious crime.
Roma university student and futsal talent Dominik Balog says he want to show the way to Roma children. He is completing his bachelor at the university in Prague, where he is studying criminology and will also play in the finals of the Czech futsal league. He was also a member of the delegation of successful Roma students, with whom the presidential couple recently discussed the possibilities of better integration of Roma into Czech society at Prague Castle.
Petr Pavel, the new Czech president says the state carries responsibility in not having acted faster to buy the pig farm on the site of the concentration camp of Lety.
In 2009, Václav Cojocara and Ivo Müller participated in an arson attack Roma on a home in Vítkov in the Opava region. They were caught and condemned to a prison sentence. Now, they have been conditionally released as they purged part of their sentence and showed good behaviour.
Whether this is a good idea remains to be seen…
Another article in the press about the Romano journalist Patrick Banga whose first book won the prestigious Czech Magnesia Litera award in the new author category.
It does not please certain people. According to the article, Patrik Banga now reads almost every day that he bribed the entire jury of the Magnesia Litera award. Many people cannot accept the fact that the book award went to Rom.
Bad
An interview with the popular Czech Roma actor Zdeněk Godla, in which he states “Why should I call myself Roma when I’ve been a Gypsy all my life?” A touchy question.
“I am sincere and not politically correct,” says Patrik Banga, author of the autobiographical novel titled Skutečná cesta ven – The real way out. This book, which traces the eventful life of a Roma child and adolescent in the effervescence of the 1990s, won its author the Magnesia litera prize for the first novel.
Time has passed since the legislation allowing people who were forced sterilised to ask for compensation. Well, so far, only 275 have received the money. This is almost deliberately slow.
On April 13, President Petr Pavel and his wife Eva received a group of Roma students at Prague Castle. The meeting took place as part of this year’s International Roma Day, which fell on April 8.
“What I consider to be one of the biggest dangers of our time – and it is far from only affecting Roma people – is prejudice. They often stem from a lack of information, from stereotypes, from a lack of will to listen to each other and understand each other’s arguments… For me, you represent an opportunity to point out good examples not only towards your community, but above all to the majority community. You are an example of the fact that it is possible to get out of the circle of prejudices,” Pavel said at the beginning of the meeting.
During this year’s celebrations of International Roma Day, D21 theater visitors presented a new theater production Pal e marikľi? Actors Michal Žolták and DAMU student Nikolas Ferenc played the roles of two bakers, Michal and Hynk. A fairy tale based on the motifs of three Romani fairy tales brings the situation from the life of the Roma people closer, which bear many features and characters of the present day.
The Congress of the International Catholic Committee for Roma was held in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, in which more than 130 participants from 20 European countries took part, who discussed the topic: “Crisis and wounds as a source of change.” In his message to the Polish news agency KAI, Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Service to Integral Human Development, cited the words of St. Pope Paul VI addressed to the Roma in 1965: “You are not on the side-lines, but in the very heart of the Church”.
Well, these are just words …
Three Roma recently won prizes in the Czech Republic. Patrick Banga, a Romano journalist won the prestigious Magnesia Litera literary prize in the new authors category; Renata Berkyová, a historian who works on the Holocaust of Roma won a 4 month months scholarship at the Washington Holocaust Museum; and finally, the actor Marsell Bendig won the Czech Lion for supporting actor for his role in the film Banger.
Well done!
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