The Slovak Entrepreneur of the Year Adele Vincze explains her approach to employing Roma.
The Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová was in Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia to commemorate the victims of the mass murder of Roma in the Dubnica detention camp in 1945.
May they rest in peace, and congratulation to the president for this participation.
The case of a teacher in a high school in Seneca, Slovakia, who has been making racist statements, especially against Roma. He also ranted against homosexuals and made facist statemens. Students are protesting now.
A meeting of representatives and workers of the local government and employees of the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma communities took place in the Partizanske city hall.
The reason for this meeting was the demolition of an apartment building where many Roma lived and was called by Roma residents of the town.
An interview with Barbora Botošová. She comes from a well-known Roma musician family. Her grandfather was the violinist Ján Berky Mrenica the elder. She has been playing the violin since she was six years old, but she had to build her career on her own. Although many think that talent was in her blood, she points out that Roma people also have to exercise and train a lot.
Slovaks do not spare hateful comments on Roma on social networks, but they often try to hide their identity. Hateful comments usually appear under anonymous pseudonyms, as research by the Institute for Human Rights and other organizations confirms.
It shows the stereotypes held by the general population, but also that they realise these comments are racist and could be sued against.
In western Slovakia, the project Better Future for Young Roma was born under the auspices of the non-profit organization Human in Danger. Roma children get a chance to go to school and work for a better future. The project is currently being developed mainly in Lozorn, Plavecký Štvrtek and Zlaté Klasy.
If necessary, the children’s parents also receive help and support. They have already worked with 94 children and their families. They provided counseling to more than a hundred children, while 46 of them got a job during the project.
A Roma settlement in Slovakia is being destroyed. Reason is, it became so run down that it cannot be saved. The article says it is the residents’ fault. Well, they did not do anything, but neither did the municipality nor the owners.
A reportage on Roma patrols, a project funded in part by the EU which sees Roma patrolling their neighbourhoods.
The case of David Scheffel, a Canadian university teacher, who was accused and convicted of the crime of sexual abuse concurrently with the offense of endangering the moral education of youth is being reopened.
In January 2024, the media reported that the case was being heard again at the District Court in Prešov, where two of the victims should testify that no abuse took place and deny their statements from the preliminary proceedings and previous court hearings. The defendant’s prominent lawyer, Daniel Lipšice (now a special prosecutor), said that Roma lie and are therefore untrustworthy…
Bad.
A recent study by the Human Rights Institute shows that on social media in Slovakia, there are many hateful and racist comments about Roma. People try to hide behind pseudonyms and post many disparaging comments on Roma.
Bad.
The Whirlpool factory employs 500 Roma in Spiš, Slovakia out of a total of 1’500 employees. It is the key for Slovakia, advises the American Chamber of Commerce. Instead of looking for foreign workforce, Whirlpool looked at the Roma community.
Good!
Slovak Prime Minister Fico’s Government has announced they will provide funds for camera systems. The goal is to increase safety. And how do they determine which localities will get those cameras? Solely on the number of Roma living in settlements there.
This is both populist and racist and stokes discrimination.
In the Slovak Parliament, Thursdays has a question hour. Normally, Fico’s party (SMER) dopminates the questions but there are exceptions. One such case happened last week. They randomly drew a question from the member of the Slovakia movement (former OĽaNO) Petar Pollák. He wanted to confront Prime Minister Robert Fico with his statement at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he made claims that it is difficult to force Roma to work. In addition, Fico used the term Gypsy in English to refer to Roma, which is considered racistic.
Pollák did not expect what followed. Instead of answering, he heard accusations from the prime minister that the Slovakian movement had corrupted the inhabitants of Roma communities before the parliamentary elections. Fico is said to do everything to let the public know how it was. The Slovakia Movement rejects any corruption and is considering filing a criminal complaint against the prime minister.
Fico’s party, Smer-SD commemorated the Holocaust as well as the Genocide and stated: “On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz – Auschwitz. It is time for reflection, to remember the memory of millions of innocent lives that were victims of the Nazi regime,” they said, adding that they will never forget the victims of the Holocaust.
Well, in view of Fico’s comments on Roma, there is a touch of doubt about this.
The Roma magazine is dedicated to the Memory of Ľudovít Didi. Teacher, dissident, participant in the anti-communist resistance and the first Romany writer of novels in Slovak literature. As well as memories of the victims of the Roma Holocaust.
Petr Pollák asked the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico about his statements at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where, according to him, he spoke about “gypsies in Slovakia”. According to Pollák, he about how difficult it is to get them to work despite the fact that nowadays in every community they tell him that they need work. According to Fico, the Roma cannot only have rights in Slovakia, they must also have obligations, and they could create jobs for people who cannot be employed in the long term, for example “cleaning streams”.
He also claimed in the parliament that someone from OĽANO “bribed, corrupted and made promises Roma” before the last elections.
Although he is only 16 years old, Samuel Bandy has already managed to perform in front of 3,500 spectators and win several music awards. “I started playing the violin when I was about three years old,” he recalls.
In addition to studying at the Košice Conservatory, today he is the leader of the family band Ďusi band – he leads both his father and his older siblings. They play Romani folklore, but also Jewish, Ruthenian, Hungarian and classical music. “Roma musicians have played at parties since ancient times and had to be versatile – they had to be able to play everything. And it’s the same today,” says Bandy.
The Slovak prime minister Fico against accused the OĽaNO opposition party of Matovič to have bought the votes of Roma in the settlements. The combination of the physical presence of the candidates of the OĽaNO Pačivale Roma platform (honest/responsible Roma) directly in Roma communities, extremely effective electoral mobilization, and thoughtful and believable communication on social networks caused the formation of a disciplined mass of Roma voters, who in the tens of thousands voted for one political party – the then OĽaNO movement, now Slovakia.
The new Roma MPs have now a difficult task ahead of them.
The new Slovak government commissioner for Roma communities, Alexander Daško defends the current prime minister Fico and admires Russian culture. He also wants to change the mindset of Roma in his country and his main goal is to eliminate the two shifts in schools and that 120 mio euros have been earmarked for this. In his recent speech, he also hinted that he doesn’t seem to mind if schools are nearly 100% Roma.
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