Tag Archives: Discrimination

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Czech town wants the army to deal with migrants

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Czech town wants the army to deal with migrants

The city of Usti nad Labem, which is already known for issues with Rroma and general racism (they once built a wall around a Rroma settlement), has called for the army to deal with the problem of Rroma, be they locals or migrants, often from neighbouring Slovakia.

Are they totally out of their mind? The army is not there to deal with migrants, nor to improve security, this is the affair of the police and of the law.

News Eastern Europe

European Roma Right Center slams Slovak Government

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European Roma Right Center slams Slovak Government

The European Roma Right Center (ERRC) slammed the Slovak government on the second anniversary of the police raid in the Rroma settlement of Moldava nad Bodvou on June 19, 2013. The police violence and actions have not been investigated at all, especially the question of the necessity of such a raid.

News Western Europe Portugal

Portugal: First Rroma Survey

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Portugal: First Rroma Survey

Portugal just released the result of the first ever Rroma survey. Around 1’600 Rroma were interviewed as part of this survey. The results show a lack of education, poverty, but also among one group of people, some level of integration ad work.

Such studies are always problematic, as they usually only survey visible Rroma, i.e. the ones who conform to the stereotypes. One should therefore be really careful about extending the results to all Rroma in Portugal where 40 to 50 thousand live and to all Rroma in Europe. There are many who are integrated and who obviously did not make it to this study.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Council of Europe wants clear goals for the inclusion of Rroma and disabled

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Council of Europe wants clear goals for the inclusion of Rroma and disabled

While we certainly greet the fact that the council of Europe wants to advance its Human Rights Goals as well as the statements of its commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, the journalists should have taken care of his formulation in the title… The story is somewhat different if you are disabled or if you are Rrom in Slovakia.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Plovdiv Rroma ask for the resignation of the Bulgarian health minister

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Plovdiv Rroma ask for the resignation of the Bulgarian health minister

Rroma in Plovdiv asked for the resignation of the minister of health in Bulgaria because of his xenophobic statements. In one of these, he compared Rroma to “stock” and to “horses”.

Germany News Switzerland News Western Europe

Rroma Wedding in Switzerland

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Rroma Wedding in Switzerland

First news since a long time in the Swiss Press about “foreign travellers”, i.e. Rroma. 500 of them camped in a village in Thurgau, North East of Zurich, to celebrate a wedding. Finally they left as one of the members of the group die in a car accident in Germany and the wedding was cancelled.

The journalist was not particularly sensitive: He used the word “Sippe” [clan], said that people were afraid that the same issues as a fews years back in the French speaking part of Switzerland would occur, etc. In brief, he or she regurgitated the usual stereotypes. Shame.

Greece News Western Europe

Media promote stereotypes

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An article, mostly centred on the story of the blond Rroam girl in Greece, a story that was prominently featured in the press, shows that the press promotes stereotypes on Rroma.

Unfortunately the article itself is not devoid of stereotypes, calling Rroma “nomad”, which cannot be further way from the actual truth.

News Western Europe

Basic Racism …

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Basic Racism …

Another of these articles equating Rroma with criminals and poverty… This time on the houses where Rroma migrants are currently lodging in Berlin. No word, of course, of the fact that these are rented to them by unscrupulous owners at high prices, that poverty is prevalent, etc.

France News Western Europe

Meanwhile in France …

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Meanwhile in France …

In France, the summer is the season for expulsions. The reason being that the arguments that children are in school do no longer work due to the fact that the summer holidays have started.

Amnesty reports on this and the general issue of children in Ivry, and in Ris-Orangis in Evry, both near Paris. The last locality, Evry was the municipality that refused burial to a Rroma child a while back, something that is noted in Liberation as being an attack against Rroma. Other news contain the fact that Rosny and Montreuil, near Paris refuse the installation fo Rroma; that in Grenoble, on the initiative of the church and Rroma, a dinner was organised between the two communities; while in Wissous, the situation is getting tense a month after a judge ordered the expulsion.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria: Garmen tensions continue

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In the night of the 15th, a group of unknown people tried to storm the Rroma neighbourhood of Garmen. This is the latest escalation in a series of confrontations between Rroma and general population in that village. The confrontation centres on the will of the municipality to destroy “illegal” buildings, i.e. houses built without permits or landownership. This overwhelmingly affects poor Rroma.

This is dangerous, especially since there were until recently very few tensions between Rroma and the general population in that country.

News Eastern Europe

Miskolc Authorities violated Rroma Rights

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Recent inspections by the local Miskolc authorities that can be qualified as raids against Rroma living in the North East of the city are violating the rights of the Rroma – the ombudsman in charge of minority affairs said. These raids were meant to “instil fear” among Rroma, very much in line with the recent policies of evictions of Rroma in other parts of this town.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Council of Europe condemns Hungary

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Council of Europe condemns Hungary

Hungary has been chided by the Council of Europe due to the common and open racism against the Rroma minority of Hungary. According to the report, racism is not restricted to the extreme right party Jobbik, but is commonplace in the country and in the press.

It is really bad.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Integration of Rroma important to Serbia

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Integration of Rroma important to Serbia

Rroma integration will be a key aspect of the discussion of Serbia with the EU for eventual accession talks. Rroma in Serbia are often discriminated against, they are disadvantaged in the education system, and very often unemployed.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Rroma houses to be torn down near Stara Zagora in Bulgaria

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Rroma houses to be torn down near Stara Zagora in Bulgaria

The municipality of Stara Zagora is planning to tear down up to 60 buildings in the local Roma Mahala of Lozenets as the buildings are deemed illegal. This is the case for many Rroma houses in Bulgaria as land ownership is often uncertain following the fall of communism.

This destruction of houses is a source of tension in Bulgaria and has already resulted in riots. This is also a way to get rid of unwanted people. It has to be stopped and Rroma have to be given a chance to register their buildings.

Bulgaria News Eastern Europe

Bulgaria Kyustendil’s mayor calls a referendum – without Rroma

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Bulgaria Kyustendil’s mayor calls a referendum – without Rroma

The mayor of Bulgaria’s Kyustendil is calling a referendum to ask whether he should run for a third term. This referendum explicitly excludes Rroma from taking part, officially as there have been too many instances of vote buying from Rroma.

Shame !

France News Western Europe

Meanwhile in France …

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Meanwhile in France …

Usual stories in France: An expulsion in Limeil; an upcoming one in Pau; the results of one in Strasbourg where some found a home whereas other did not; another back an forth in the North in Hellemmes; a police action to count Rroma in a camp near Grenoble prior to an upcoming expulsion; an the tragic death of a child in a camp in Lille following a fire. Finally, some Rroma from Montreuil, close to Paris, were present at the vote in the French assembly on the anti-discrimination law.

News Western Europe

No one is a Gypsy

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No one is a Gypsy

A new book by a German historian, Wolfgang Wippermann, entitled “No one is a Gypsy” [Niemand ist ein Zigeuner] is a personal plaidoyer against prejudices and pre-conceived ideas on Rroma as well as giving an overview of their origins in the late middle ages. In this, this book is an addition to an increasing number of books on this topic such as “Europa erfindet die Zigenuer” – Europe invents the Gypsies, from Klaus-Michal Bogdal.

News Eastern Europe

Film on a Rrom who wants to become a teacher

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Film on a Rrom who wants to become a teacher

An Al-Jazeera film shows the quest of a 30 years old Rrom from a ghetto who, after a beating by the police, decides to finish high school and to become a teacher. While the story is definitively worthwhile and the man’s determination is to be really admired, the film and the article on it serves all the commonly held stereotypes. Broken families, criminality, drugs, etc. A more differentiated view is seldom presented in the press.

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