Tag Archives: Politics

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Serbie

Serbia and Minority Languages

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Serbia and Minority Languages

Živorad Ajdačić, a Serbian politician, said in a statement at the session of the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held on January 23, 2025 questionned whether it is possible for us to have a program in the Romani language and at 7 p.m.?

Opre Roma says that “this statement represents an unacceptable act of belittling the Romani language and culture, as well as open disrespect for the Romani community, which has been an integral part of Serbian society for centuries.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia: Support for Roma Communities

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Slovakia: Support for Roma Communities

The current system of support for marginalized Roma communities has serious shortcomings, auditors propose fundamental measures. According to the auditors, unclear competencies, excessive bureaucracy in approving subsidies, lack of transparency in the area of ​​human resources and a lack of internal control mean that the funds spent do not bring the expected results.

Allemagne Nouvelles d'Europe de l'ouest

Alice Weidel

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Alice Weidel

At first glance, there is nothing to suggest that Alice Weidel, the official AfD candidate once wrote an email in which she said, among other things: “These pigs [the German government under Angela Merkel] are nothing more than puppets of the victorious powers of World War II and their job is to keep the German people down (…).” Or that she described Sinti, Roma and Arabs as “culturally alien peoples” who “are inundating us”.

Well, we knew where we stand.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia and Minorities

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Slovakia and Minorities

A blog entry saying that politicians who would like to unseat the current prime minister Fico should reach out to the Hungarian and Roma minorities of the country, as they make up to one million people. And reach out to them not just two weeks prior to the elections…

Bulgarie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

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Bulgaria, Bango Vasil, and Politics

The leader of the MRF and the PG of “DPS – New Beginning” Delyan Peevski congratulated Roma for the Bango Vasil (or Vasilica), the old New Year according to the orthodox calendar, which is celebrated by all Roma in Bulgaria. He said: “I congratulate all Roma on the biggest Roma holiday Bango Vasil or also called Vasilitsa”. And he added: “Be healthy, be worthy Bulgarian citizens and know that you are not second-class people and I will continue to fight for a decent life for all people in Bulgaria. Believe in the new beginning and be confident that the best is yet to come! Happy Bango Vasil!”

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Klenovec, Slovakia

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Klenovec, Slovakia

A small town in the centre of Slovakia has a few prominent Roma. Ian Cibula, a doctor, was born there and then moved to Switzerland, where he was instrumental in the creation of the International Romani Union.

Ján Déme is a successful eye surgeon today, but the path to his dream as a Roma boy was not always easy. Some people still don’t want to believe that their top surgeon is a Roma man.

Other famous native from this town are for example the “Klenovský Oskar Schindler” Karol Paje who joined the French resistance during World War Two. He built a centre for the rescue of women and children from several countries with Czech professor Josef Fischer in the town of Vence. Helping rescue over five hundred children, and finally tragically died at the age of 25 in the fight against the fascists.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Racism in Czechia

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Racism in Czechia

Roma, Ukrainians, Jews, Muslims. Racism is not just the domain of one party, but is widespread in Czech politics. And this is not new. In the 1990s, the politician Miroslav Sládek already made an outrageous racist statement saying that “Roma should be criminally responsible from birth, because that is their greatest crime”. And with social media, this is not getting better.

Scary.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, the deputy mayor of Přívoz, Czechia, and member of the Moravian-Silesian Region council for the ANO movement (extreme right), made the following statement:

“The mentality of the Roma has not changed since the 13th century, because they are genetically equipped in a completely different way. They do not have an education as their life-goal. They have completely different goals. The nomadism that was planted in them somewhere in India persists in a certain way.”

Well, if that isn’t racist, what is…

She resigned from her job following the hefty criticism.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia and Racism

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Czechia and Racism

Alena Pataky, deputy mayor of the Ostrava-Přívoz municipal district and member of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Council for the ANO movement, found herself criticised for her openly racist statements about Roma in an interview with the Okraj.cz server. In the interview, Pataky suggested that the problems with the low success rate of Roma students in primary schools are due to the different genetic makeup and mentality of Roma, which she believes hinders their interest in education.

Montenegro Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Montenegro and Roma

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Montenegro and Roma

The representative of the Roma Council, Šejla Pepić, spoke at the session of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms about the current position of the Roma community in Montenegro. According to the Roma Council, there has been “no talk about Roma and their recognition as a national minority and later changes to the law concerning political participation.”

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Pologne

Poland, Roma Music, and PiS

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Poland, Roma Music, and PiS

A video emerged of two politicians of the ultra-conservative PiS party dancing on Roma music. Nota bene, the party is not particularly well inclined towards Roma…

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Roma and the Velvet Revolution

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Roma and the Velvet Revolution

On November 25, 1989, Emil Ščuka and Jan Rusenko spoke to a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Letná in Prague. They also reached most households through television cameras. At the same time, a Roma group unfurled the Roma flag on the Letne plain, and a huge crowd chanted “Long live the Roma”.

Prior to that, Czech Roma dissidents were practically inexistant. The only notable exception was Karel Holomek, a signatory of the Movement for Civil Liberties (HOS), established in 1988. Holomek, expelled from the military college after 1968 and expelled from the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, was detained and interrogated as early as 1981 for “subversion of the republic.”

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: Not Good

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Slovenia: Not Good

The now 40-year-old Bogdan Miklič, a Rom from the village of Stranska vas pri Novem mesto in Slovenia, had a promising career as a journalist at RTV Slovenia, and he is also active in his Roma Civil society. Among others, he was the president of the association Gypsies once – Roma today,  and still is the legal representative or president of the Roma Association for Dolenjska.

According to the article, he is nowadays most often seen in court for fraud and theft, and in this particular case, for threatening his farmer neighbour.

Whatever he did, this kind of articles does not further the Romani cause.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia: Interview

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Slovakia: Interview

An interviw with MP Viliam Tankó, who also represents Slovakia in boxing and, who in is own words says that had to live with my mother near a garbage dump. He also explains why he recently left the movement of Matovič who scored high within the Roma population in Slovakia. Since then, he worked as a non-affiliated member of parliament until, together with Michal Šimeček, he announced two weeks ago that he was joining the club of the strongest opposition party, Progresívne Slovensko.

République tchèque Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Czechia: President Visit

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President Petr Pavel visited the Museum of Roma Culture after he had already visited the place of commemoration in Lety u Písek twice. The first time was last year on the occasion of the traditional May memorial gathering to honor the memory of the victims of the local camp. The second time was in April of this year during the ceremonial opening of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust Memorial in Bohemia.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia, Poltics, and Roma

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Roma MP Viliam Tankó, a defector from Matovič’s Slovensko movement, joins the Progressive Slovakia parliamentary club. The progressives will thus have 33 deputies in the parliament. The leader of the progressives, Michal Šimečka, presented Tankó on the press as a “long-term sports representative of Slovakia in Olympic boxing”.This prompted discussions as to whether Matovič’s movement is merging with the progressive.

All politics …

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovaquie

Slovakia, Politics, and Vulgarity

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Rudolf Huliak was responsible for a recent vulgar incident that outraged a large number of Slovaks. At Wednesday’s (September 25) session of the parliament, the vice-chairman of the National Council, Andrej Danek (SNS), was bothered by the fact that deputy Lucia Plaváková (PS) had stickers on her computer. He was bothered by the fact that these were stickers with an LGBTI motif. Plaváková did not respond to calls to remove them and objected that she did not violate the rules of procedure.

Danko kicked her out of the hall. Huliak subsequently called Plaváková a “bitch who he does not consider a woman” at a press conference.

He also took the opportunity to insult Roma …

Croatie Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Croatia: Brawl

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A criminal complaint was filed against the member of parliament of the Roma national minority, Veljko Kajtazi, to the State Attorney’s Office in Zagreb for alleged violence against Suzana Krčmar, the president of the Association of Roma in the Republic of Croatia “Kali Sara”, of which he is the honorary president.

Apparenttly, the incident happened two months ago when Kajtazi allegedly physically assaulted Krčmar during an official trip to Beli Manastir, and then in the association’s office in front of several witnesses.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia: A Mayor Candidate

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The candidate for the office of the mayor of Kočevje, mag. Robert Tomazin was interviewed in Demokracija. Of course, he speaks about the Roma “Problem” and Roma “Crime”, and of the inaction of the government on the topic.

Same populists views about the situation in Slovenia on Roma.

Bad.

Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est Slovénie

Slovenia and Roma

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On September 18, 2024, Mayor of Novo mesto Municipality Gregor Macedoni hosted Minister of Internal Affairs Boštjan Poklukar, General Director of Police Senad Jušić and Director of Novo mesto Police Administration Igor Juršič at Rotovža. The central topic of the meeting was the security situation in the municipality of Novi Sad and the related Roma issue.

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