Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Olga Fečová: The day was short for me

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The icon of Romani culture, almost 80-year-old Olga Fečová, a woman with indomitable energy, presents her life in a book that tells the story of the Roma in Czechoslovakia on the basis of an individual destiny. The selection from the book is complemented by excerpts from an interview with the author, filmed for the non-profit organization Romea as part of the Roma memory project.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Ukrainians and Roma

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The town of Pilsen, Czechia, deployed joint patrols of Ukrainians and local Roma for crime prevention.

Sixteen thousand Ukrainians live in this city of 170,000, and there are no exact figures on the number of Roma. According to Tereza Schliková from the press department of the Pilsen city police,”Each community defends its own, they don’t need to meet each other. But when it comes down to it, we use combined patrols of Roma and Ukrainian prevention officers who can eventually calm the situation.”

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Settlements

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Šimon and his wife Romana only know life in a Roma settlement. They show their house in Hrušovce, which has only one, but cozy room. It serves as bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom all in one. Šimon says that they would like to move with the help of the organization DOM.ov.

The organisation helps Roma obtain a better home. They have to be employed, have an income to be able to pay the mortgage. At the same time, they must start saving a year in advance, at least 100 euros per month. The NGO then helps them getting and building a new home.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

The Roma Problem

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Another article about the Roma “problem” in Slovenia.

he mayor of Ribniška, Samo Pogorelc, said that in Ribnica, there are approximately 220 Roma who live in three illegal settlements. Half of them have registered permanent residence in Ribnica Municipality. Only two Roma are employed. Children attend kindergarten and school, but with high absenteeism, and they generally leave  school in the 6th grade. According to municipal employees, the situation is alarming.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

The Church and Roma

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The working group for Roma of the Ecumenical Council of Churches has published a letter in which it calls on the church community to be more open to Roma believers. “In practice, it is not the case that a Roma comes to a Christian community, where they throw him out ‘by the collar’, saying that he has no business there. But they will let him know that he is not desirable, often behind closed doors,” explains one of the initiators of the challenge, evangelical pastor Mikuláš Vymětal.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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Not much about Roma this week in France. Two articles about the expulsion of 50 Roma due to the Paralympics, their camp being on the trade of a competition. A judge has nevertheless put conditions on this expulsion. In Noisy-le-Sec, the evacuation of a camp has been delayed, due to an epidemic situation. Finally, two Romnja have been caught in a burglary and immediately judged.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Poland: A piece of history

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Thanks to the meticulousness of the authorities of communist Poland, we can learn not only when exactly the first Roma arrived and settled in Środa Śląska, but also thoroughly reconstruct the history of each Roma family, find out what jobs they undertook and how their superiors assessed the quality of their work.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Interview

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An interview with Jana Horváthová, director of the Museum of Roma Culture in Brno. She says that “Negative things [about Roma] are heard a lot, although lately it has been decreasing. But recently, during the opening of the monument in Lety, there was again an abundance of hateful comments on social networks dishonouring the Roma and their culture. That’s a real shame.”

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Roma Problem in Posavje

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The sad story of Roma two settlements in the South of Slovenia where less than 1’000 Roma live. According to the article, in spite of the work of the municipalities, the situation in those settlements is bad. They say that Roma destroyed the sewers and other infrastructure that has been installed, that in spite of schools being set up, not a single Roma child has completed primary school.

The blame is on the Roma in these kinds of articles. No one asks why this is happening…

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Roma, and Violence

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A long article following the recent beating of a child in a school by a 14-year-old Roma boy. The child is still in hospital. The article states that the government has done nothing, and worse, is de-facto condoning. The article speaks about the Roma violence against the majority population. This is bad.

The article says “We are witnessing the escalation of Roma attacks on the majority population of Southeastern Slovenia, with the ruling coalition rejecting measures that would stop this part of the country from sliding into lawlessness for ideological reasons.”

And is also seen in the other article on the same topic.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Volvo, and Roma

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The first stage of the construction of a new factory in Eastern Slovakia is complete and work is proceeding according to plans. Volvo is preparing to recruit employees at the end of next year. Volvo has committed to hire and train Roma for this new factory.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia, Roma, and LGBT

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The Slovenian government assessed that it is very important for the Roma community living in Slovenia to be educated in the field of the LGBT+ agenda. Thus, the Ministry of Culture financed a Slovenian-Roma LGBT dictionary prepared by the DIH Association and the Roma Academic Club. The translation is written in Prekmur Romanes. The dictionary of LGBTQ+ terms explains different sexual orientations and gender identities, and the personal experience of being gay in the Roma community is also added.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Interview with Dragan Ristić

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Dragan Ristić, producer, actor and member of the KAL group, talks to Danas about the position of Roma in Serbia, their inclusion that Europe insists on, how important education is when it comes to the minority population, prejudices that should be broken, as well as about Roma symbols.

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