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!

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany and Roma

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Germany Antitziganism representative Mehmet Daimagüler, asks for the creation of a “truth commission” to deal with the persecution of Sinti and Roma during and after the Nazis. He explains why “reconciliation” lags why memorial events are a lie and why the minority cannot feel safe.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Don Vasyl

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Don Vasyl, one of the best known Roma musicians in Poland, is being accused of plagiarism by two Polish artists who claim he stole some of their music and works. The conflict is apparently not new, dating back 16 years (!). One of the pieces is the song Dželem Dželem where Don Vasyl is accused of having used the Polish words written by the artists. A first court ruling dismissed the case, but the lawyers of the Polish artists decided to appeal this decision.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Flight …

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The flight escape of a Sinti family from the Holocaust will be the focus of a book presentation on November 28 in the Neubrandenburg regional library. The opera and operetta singer Mirano Cavaljeti-Richter wrote the book together with the historian Annette Leo. It’s called “Fleeing across the Balkans. The childhood experiences of a Sinto boy during the Nazi era” and was published by Metropol-Verlag in Berlin.

The 89-year-old Cavaljeti-Richter grew up in a traditional extended family of comedians who used caravans to perform their variety programs in small towns and villages in the 1930s. In 1939 the family fled Germany via Italy, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria. The singer was six years old at the time and describes how the family gradually lost everything but were able to save their lives.

News Americas

Racial Profiling

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Unicorn Riot, a left wing media collective that originated online in 2015 and which is known for reporting on far-right organizations and sources of racial and economic injustice in the US uncovered several cases of racial profiling of Roma in the US. They also found an illegal database of Roma, held privately. Needless to say, Roma are all thieves and scammers.

This is bad.

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.

France Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

French Chronicle …

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Not much this week, which is always good. An extended family in Uzès, in the South is looking for a new place to stay after nearly 9 years in the same camp; a new camp being set up near Nantes and resulting protests; near Geneva, a mayor tries to find lodging for Roma; and finally, France being pointed out for racism by the UNO.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Germany: Condemned

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The district court of Neumünster sentenced the operator of a fitness studio to a one thousand Euros fine and thus agreed with Kelly Laubinger, a Sintica from Neumünster. She had suspected that she was denied membership of the fitness studio because of her last name – Laubinger which is a name that many Sinti bear. She hopes that her recent court victory will encourage others to take action against inequality.

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.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czech Republic and Forced Sterilisations

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The scandalous reluctance of the Ministry of Health to compensate victims of forced sterilizations is reflected in the still deeply rooted racism in Czech society.

The Association of Women Victims of Illegal Sterilization has been fighting for compensation for affected women for several decades. Romnja were sterilized because they are Romani. Compensation for this is hampered by some officials for the same reason.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czech Republic: Discrimination in Education

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Marek Tatar (28), a Czech Rom, is currently studying transcultural communication in his third year at the Faculty of Education in Hradec Králové and works as a programmer in IT. Hi path to higher education was not smooth. He faced bullying in elementary school, overheard a conversation between two of his teachers in the school corridor about the fact that they didn’t want a gypsy at school, which prompted him to stop his studies. Fortunately, he was convinced by his family to do at least the minimum, which allowed him later to start studies.

It shows how discrimination and racism early on can disadvantage children from minorities for their entire lives. Fortunately, there are also example like him.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest Espagne

Cadix: The Day of the Andalusian Gitanos

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The Delegation of Ethnic Minorities presented a program for the Day of the Andalusian Gypsies. The Andalusian Roma Day, is celebrated on November 22.

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