Tag Archives: Ghetto

The Šutka

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Swiss television definitively not at its best. 8-10 Mio Roma (the Council of Europe cites 12 to 14, but then, the Swiss must know it better), and now a capital: the Šutka in Skopje.

It is always amazing what people can write or say about Roma with total impunity.

Niš – Serbia

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or ten years, the 12 February Roma camp in Niš has been trying in vain to obtain a reliable electricity connection. Instead of a solution, the neighborhood was completely without electricity for six months – a record. The inhabitants decided to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Belgrade on December 6th. The authorities then promised representatives of the Opra Roma Srbija movement that the camp would be reconnected and that a lasting solution would be found.

Well, let’s see when this is done …

Bulgaria and Mahalas

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Another story of an “illegal” building, this time in a Mahala (Roma neighbourhood) in Plovdiv, with the police sealing the building waiting for bulldozers to destroy it.

Slovakia Settlements after 30 years

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After 30 years of Slovakia’s independence, poverty in Roma settlements remains. According to statistics, the situation in settlements is improving – people in them have better access to drinking water and sewage than 20 years ago. However, the gap between the majority and the Roma is increasing.

Montpellier Experiment

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The French city of Montpellier is carrying out an unprecedented experiment to try to integrate the Roma. The City evacuated the slum of Celleneuve, one of the largest in France, in favour of a “transition village”. Those who have agreed to go there benefit from intensive follow-up.

In April 2022, the slum in the Celleneuve district, west of Montpellier, was emptied and then destroyed after 10 years of existence. It was one of the biggest in France with 250 people. While slum dwellers are usually purely and simply expelled in France, without any alternative solution, the city of Montpellier and the prefecture of Hérault have opted for a different method. Thus, about fifty families agreed to be housed in a transitional village, on the edge of the highway, in a series of spartan but healthy bungalows equipped with water and electricity.

The numbers are interesting here: 250 people in a slum for 10 years …  And 50 families for 250 people means that families have on average 5 people. Not really the very large families that are reported to by the press.

From the Osada to Higher Education

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An impressive interview with Jana Zacharová, a Romni who grew up in an Osada, a Roma settlement. Thanks to her own efforts and small support from her teachers and the non-profit organization Divé maky, she managed to study, later even abroad. Today, she finances her studies of medical pedagogy herself.

She says:

I mainly remember the social side, which was very difficult. In the settlement, there were not many opportunities for development or people I could perceive as a role model. And my parents had problems with alcohol.

So I know what it’s like to have absolutely nothing. What is it like to be hungry because there is no money for food. Or not being able to go to school because there is no money for the trip. These are things I will remember for the rest of my life. The poverty was very crushing.

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.

Large Shantytown in Malmö

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Police is taking action against a large camp of migrants, mostly from Rromania (and thus assumed to be Rroma) in Malmö. This camp has been growing and residents are alarmed at having a shantytown on their doorstep.

Increasing Getthoisation in Bulgaria

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Interesting article about the situation of Rroma in Bulgaria and their increasing victimisation and isolation based on observations on the Rroma Mahala (neighbourhood) of Iztok in the city of Pazardjik.

Czech Police trains Rroma experts

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Forty Czech police officers, 4 of them Rroma, have been selected as Rroma experts to deal with Rroma in ghettoes. Let’s see what this brings, the Czech police has a track record that is far from clean when dealing with Rroma.

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