Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: Paroled

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In 2009, Václav Cojocara and Ivo Müller participated in an arson attack Roma on a home in Vítkov in the Opava region. They were caught and condemned to a prison sentence. Now, they have been conditionally released as they purged part of their sentence and showed good behaviour.

Whether this is a good idea remains to be seen…

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Judgement

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The staff of a cafe in Lučenec, Slovakia, made a mistake when they refused to serve a guest because he was  Rom. After almost six years of litigation, the Bratislava I District Court issued a judgement condemning the café to pay 1,500 euros and apologise.

In August 2017, a refused to serve Ladislav Rácz and his friend. He said it was because  he did not have a club card which costs 300 euros. Ladislaw said “When I asked him if it was by chance because we are Roma, gypsies and we are darker, he said that it is not for such a reason and that we should leave the area immediately.”

Ladislaw friend, non-Roma, went to the cafe. They served her without any problems. “She asked the waiter that she saw on the door that entry was only possible with a club card. The gentleman clearly told the camera that it is only for Roma, that they cannot serve Roma.”

Germany News Western Europe

Romno Kher

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Romno Kher (Roma House) sees itself as a place of learning, commemoration and encounter. Here, education not only means supporting children on their educational path, but also providing materials on the history and situation of the Sinti and Roma for schools and for the majority society. For example, based on the exhibition on the entire 600-year history since the Sinti were first documented in Germany in the 15th century: A history of discrimination that culminated in the Nazi genocide. But the exhibition also tells of survival strategies, of jobs, music, storytelling, right up to current topics such as the State Treaty and the Berlin Monument.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany Greens and “Secure States”

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The German Greens are against the proposal to qualify Moldova and Georgia as “secure states”,  a measure that would allow Germany a speedy dispatching of refugees from those countries back in their homeland.

Germany News Western Europe

Housing and Roma in Germany

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Two cases of houses in Berlin which are mostly rented by Roma, where the residents have been expelled and need to go, making space for newer constructions.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Integration

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907 Mio EUR have been secured from the next period of the integration of Roma in Slovakia. The money will contribute to improving the situation of marginalized Roma communities (MRK). The changes also strengthened the position of the plenipotentiary office, as well as the centralization of the entire agenda, which should lead to a more efficient use of funds. Slovak Government Plenipotentiary for Roma communities, Ján Hero, stated this in response to Wednesday’s (May 10) press conference of the member of the Slovak National Council for SaS Vladimír Ledecký, who criticized the state’s current actions in the area of MRK inclusion.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Discrimination

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The District Court of Bratislava ruled in the case of discrimination against a Rom, Ladislav Rácz, who was refused service in a cafe in Lučenec in 2017. The defendant must apologize to him for the discrimination and compensate him financially, the court’s decision is not final, as the defendant can still appeal.

France News Western Europe

Barvalo

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Several articles are devoted to the new exhibition in Marseilles in the museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisation entitled “Barvalo”

Germany News Western Europe

Brandenburg and Roma

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The chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani, praised Brandenburg as exemplary with regard to its minority policy. “By making the fight against antiziganism a state goal, the state government is showing its responsibility to history and outlawing antiziganism as well as antisemitism,” said Rose on Tuesday after a conversation with Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD). “It sets an exemplary signal for our democratic constitutional state.”

News Eastern Europe Ukraine

Ivan Korniyovych Bilashchenko

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On May 6th, 2023, Ivan Korniyovych Bilashchenko passed away at the age of 97. He was born in the village of Dmytrivka, Zolotoni district, Cherkasy region.

He was a lieutenant colonel and a veteran of the Second World War. He survived the famine when he was 7. When the Second World War began, he was 14 years old, and was sent to a concentration camp. He escaped, he was caught again and sent to forced labour – to build a railway in the Zolotonsky District.

In 1943, when he was already 17 years old, Zolotonishchyna was liberated by the Red Army, and Ivan Korniyovich joined it. He was sent to the front in Vitebsk, where he began his military service, and finished the War in the Baltics States as a commander of a platoon.

May he rest in peace!

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: Exhibition

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The District Museum in Nowy Sącz, Poland, is presenting an exhibition consisting of exhibits collected by Paweł Lechowski, an ethnographer who has been continuously interested in Roma culture since the 1960s. Thanks to his collection showcases the life of travelling Roma for those who know travels only from the stories of the older generation.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Spin the Wheel

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Ri Rock Association in partnership with the Roma Youth Organization of Croatia organised the second cultural and artistic event dedicated to Roma culture and art. The event, called “Spin the Inclusive Wheel” aims to promote Roma culture and identity through music and art.

Radio Roža is an internet radio program that is conducted as part of the Gyroscope culture project.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Ljiljjana Petrović Butler

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The story of a Serbian Romani singer, Ljiljjana Petrović Butler, born in 2944 in Belgrade, who died in 2010 in the Netherlands, having fled the wars in Yugoslavia.

Unfortunately, this story also reinforces many stereotypes: early marriage and children, no education, dirty, and so on. Sad, as it could have been told differently.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Patrick Banga

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Another article in the press about the Romano journalist Patrick Banga whose first book won the prestigious Czech Magnesia Litera award in the new author category.

It does not please certain people. According to the article, Patrik Banga now reads almost every day that he bribed the entire jury of the Magnesia Litera award. Many people cannot accept the fact that the book award went to Rom.

Bad

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Erdelezi in Croatia

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The Ri Rock Association started the celebration of its eighteen years of activity with Open House Days, which will culminate at the end of the year at the 45th Ri Rock Festival. The association, together with the Roma Youth Organization of Croatia they are organizing the second edition of the cultural and artistic manifestation dedicated to Roma culture and art: “Turning the Inclusive Wheel”. The goal of the event is to promote Roma culture and identity through music and art.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Not much about Roma in France this week. Two articles on the judicial system: One  where two Roma who were accused of stealing copper were freed for lack of proof; the other, the case of a child removed from her mother based on a wrong testimony. The usual story about the closure of camps in Bordeaux – they simply pop up again somewhere else. And finally, an intervention in the French senate about the lack of social care for Roma children, and the fact that the Roma population living in camps does not decrease. There are roughly 15’000 of them. Since at least 20 years.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria and Roma

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School games under the motto “Sports for everyone” are taking place today at Osogovo Stadium in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Children from schools that educate children of Roma origin in Kyustendil region, took part in the competitions.

The initiative is carried out under the project “Improving coordination and dialogue between the police and the Roma community”, financed under the program “Home Affairs” of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, and GDNP is a beneficiary of the project. The project envisages improving coordination and dialogue between the police and the Roma community.

The project envisages the construction of 20 stations or their renovation in ten regional directorates in which there are areas with a compact Roma population. “The police inspector is the closest to the people, and when there are no station desks in the Roma neighbourhoods themselves, it becomes difficult for people to access the law enforcement agencies,” the organizers also pointed out.

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