Category Archives: News Eastern Europe

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Pologne

Polish Racism

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A book on Polish racism has been published and is reviewed in the Polish edition of Vogue. The book, called „Odejdź” [Leave] authored by Agnieszka Kościańska and Michał Petryk is insightful, written with exposing passion, painfully interesting and just as necessary. Because Poland is not a tolerant country, but rather a structurally racist one, and has been for many decades. Contempt for the Other is part of our culture.

Polish racism is doing well. It peeks out from almost every corner and withered bush. It is clearly visible on our border with Belarus, where people are dying as a result of the illegal decisions of the Polish government and the joyful consent of many Poles. It can even be seen in relation to some Ukrainians (it is not – so far – fashionable, but who knows what will happen in a moment)

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia Lunik IX

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An interview of the Roma mayor of the largest Roma settlement in Slovakia: Lunik IX.

Marcel Šaňa says that he experienced the biggest prejudices as a Roma when he wanted to buy a family home.

For the third time, he was sovereignly elected mayor of Lunik IX, where he has lived for over forty years. He graduated from university while working with his wife, and this year he also completed his doctorate.

“Maybe this whole thing was good for something. We stayed in Luník and were able to help the people here,” explains Marcel Šaňa, the mayor of the Košice district of Luník IX, who is also the vice-chairman of the Roma Coalition Party, in an interview with Postoj.

He took his children to school elsewhere because, according to him, the elementary school in Luník was weak. He explains why the education of the Roma is important, how they cleaned Luník, and also revealed whether he ever plans to move out of the Roma settlement.

Allemagne Moldavie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany, Moldova, and Refugees

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There is an ongoing controversy in Berlin currently where the Senate wants to send 600 Moldovan refugees back to Moldova before Christmas to make room for Ukrainian refugees. Some of those 600 are Roma so this is not good.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Ukraine

More on the Ukraine Killings

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More on the Ukraine Killings

This time in the Slovak Press, an article that cites the same sources as the Ukrainians regarding the execution of 28 Roma in Ukraine’s occupied territories by Russian troop.

Bad.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Pologne

Don Vasyl and Plagiarism

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Another article on the Roma musician who has recently been accused of plagiarism. Two Poles, whom Don Vasyl acknowledge helped him on the Polish words of some song claim he infringed on their rights. One of the songs they deposited in the Polish Author’s rights is the Roma National Anthem, in a part Polish version, with Romanes words that tey do not even understand …

Not the first such case.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Roma

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Another diatribe against Roma. Alone the title says it all: “Shooting, extortion, drugs… This is the reality of Roma settlements, but the state closes its eyes!”

The article requests that the  Robert Golob’s government should seriously tackle the “Roma problem”, especially in the area of ​​Dolenjska, Bela krajina and Posavije. The problems there have not been eliminated over the years, but rather they are intensifying due to the growth of the Roma population while at the same time maintaining harmful patterns.

No comments…

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Ukraine

More on the Russian Murder of 28 Roma

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In the occupied Ukrainian territory, the Russian military shot 28 Roma for poisoning a company of Russian soldiers with vodka. This was stated in an intercepted conversation of one of the Russian soldiers and was reported by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of the Ukraine.

A Russian soldier tells his wife about the lawlessness that is taking place in the territories occupied by Russia.

“Do you know what chaos is happening in the cities here? The military police recently shot 28 gypsies, put them against the wall and shot them because they gave vodka to our military and poisoned them, the whole company,” the Russian says in a conversation. The military of the Russian Federation adds that there were 96 people in the company, and now there are less than fifty left.

Bulgarie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Bulgaria, Roma, and Domestic Violence

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Over 200 victims of domestic violence have received legal assistance from mobile teams of lawyers and Roma mediators in the regions of Stara Zagora, Veliko Tarnovo and Varna, the Ministry of Justice informed.  A total of 40 lawyers, together with Roma mediators, tour the remote settlements and Roma neighborhoods in the three regions, so as to shorten the distance as much as possible with the people who need to protect their rights, but do not know how.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovak Roma Cookbook

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Peter Pollak, the former plenipotentiary for Roma in Slovakia published a cookbook of Roma cuisine. As Peter Pollák writes right at the beginning of the book, food should serve as a destroyer of even the biggest barriers. While preparing this book, he is said to have encountered the usual prejudice in Slovakia about how Roma cuisine mainly consists of eating dogs. According to him, he flipped through 2,000 pages of various Romani cookbooks and found no mention of “barking” food there.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Ukraine

Russians Kill 28 Roma

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A telephone conversation of a Russian soldier in the Donbas was intercepted by the Ukrainians. Apparently, Russians shot 28 Roma for having “poisoned” them with Vodka.

Another war crime.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czech Racism

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Seems that racism against Roma is difficult to eradicate. Latest case, a Czech Journalist who shouted abuse at a Romano Journalist was forced to apologise but still claims that “Cikan”, the Czech equivalent of “Gypsy” is not derogatory.

There is still work to do.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Pologne

Romani Rose and Auschwitz Council

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Romani Rose, the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma is a new member of the International Auschwitz Council. The Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki appointed him to the committee. The Council advises the Polish government on all matters relating to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. Other members include Yad Vashem Chairman Dayan and World Jewish Congress President Lauder. Rose warned that nationalists and right-wing extremists in many European countries were trying to deny and relativize the crimes of the Holocaust against six million Jews and 500,000 Sinti and Roma. Every form of Holocaust denial and falsification of history must be opposed. Education programs specifically for young people at historical sites of persecution and extermination are important “to counteract anti-Semitism, anti-Gypsyism and racism in our societies,” Rose explained.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia: Roma Spirit

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We know the finalists of the 14th Roma Spirit award! Among all the 138 selected applications for the award, the Roma Spirit Committee has chosen 21 exceptional organizations, employers, personalities, municipalities and actions that contribute to the construction of equal chances for all!

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Ukraine

Ukraine, the War, and Roma

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This is not good in any way: Articles in the Ukrainian press about Roma being arrested while trying to cross the border illegally to Hungary. In each of the cases at hand, this concerned young men or even conscripts. This is bad as it gives the impression that Roma are not pro-Ukrainian, which is far from the reality, and even in one case, that they help people fleeing conscription.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia and Roma Ghettoes

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According to the Atlas of Roma Communities from 2019, up to two-thirds of Slovak Roma (300,000) live in segregated settlements outside or on the outskirts of villages, but also on a single street, in an apartment building or in a housing development within villages. In general, those settlements that are further away from the villages are in a worse condition. According to some experts, the settlements must disappear if the Roma from this environment are ever to integrate into society. “There is a lot of scientific evidence that segregation and ghetto life are incompatible with social integration,” says Marek Hojsík, who monitors Roma integration policies in EU states at the Central European University in Budapest.

However, settlements are not actually disappearing, but expanding. If a municipality or city with a Roma settlement builds apartments for Roma, according to SME findings, this happens directly in the settlements.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Minorities

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The interesting story of a Slovenian village, Dobrovnik,  where Slovenes are the minority and where Hungarians and Roma are present. During the local mayoral and local elections, there are three electoral commissions, and as many as seven ballots were in front of the voters. Ironically, the village will have to elect a Slovene minority representative in the village administration, a unique case in Slovenia.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Ticking Bomb?

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An incendiary article about the “ticking Roma social bomb in Dolenjsko”. In Brief, the mayors of this region of Southeastern Slovenia complain that the central government is not doing enough, and that effectively, the situation deteriorates. So far so good, but these mayors also hold Roma responsible for a large part of the problem, saying they are not sending their children to school, do no efforts, and generally tend to be criminals. They had petitioned the government earlier in the year to harden the delivery of social help to Roma.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Extremism and Attacks Against Roma

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The most frequent victims of extremist attacks in the physical world in 2020 and 2021 were members of the Roma ethnic group. This is stated in the Monitoring Report on the State of Extremism in the Slovak Republic for the period of 2020 and 2021 and the update of the tasks of the Concept of Combating Radicalization and Extremism until 2024.

The material states that right-wing extremism is the most dominant form of extremism on the territory of the Slovak Republic, while it represents on average up to 97.4 percent of all cases of criminal prosecution for crimes of extremism.

The international Engage project consisting of a team of social psychologists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences and experts from partner organizations from Hungary and Spain presented ways to better the attitudes of the majority towards the Roma. In this regard, they recommend expanding mutual contact between the Roma and non-Roma populations.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est North Macedonia

Tetovo – North Macedonia and Multiple Languages

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In Tetovo, North Macedonia, it is better to be able to speak the languages ​​of its neighbours: Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, Romanes or Serbo-Croatian. This mutual knowledge is the basis of social and professional relations. And the Roma are, as often, the champions of multilingualism!

Tetovo is certainly one of the most multicultural cities in North Macedonia. According to the last census in 2021, it has 84,770 inhabitants, including 60,460 Albanians, 15,529 Macedonians, 1,885 Roma, 1,746 Turks, 256 Serbs, 189 Bosniaks and eleven Vlachs.

Many speak several languages ​​in addition to their own, so they can communicate with neighbours and friends from other communities. In the streets of Tetovo, one hears Macedonian, Albanian, Romanes, Turkish or Serbo-Croatian. The Roma community is the most multilingual, perhaps because its children cannot be educated in their mother tongue in Tetovo and have to attend lessons in Macedonian, Albanian or Turkish.

Nezir Huseini, for example, speaks the languages ​​of all the communities of Tetovo. In addition to Romanes, he speaks Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, but also English and German. “Romanes is my mother tongue, but I speak Albanian because I studied it in primary school. I always spoke Macedonian and Turkish and, as I studied in a military academy in Belgrade, during the time of Yugoslavia, I improved my Serbo-Croatian. Finally, I learned English and German, which I speak, read and write fluently,” he explains.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia: Roma Mayors

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A record number of Roma mayors won in the municipal elections. In the next election period, there will be 52 of them.

For comparison – in 2010, there were only 12 of them. Despite the growing number, Roma are only slowly getting involved in local government affairs.

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