13 members of the Czech Philharmonic will play together with Rroma children in Slovakia as part of the actions from Ida Kelarova, a Rromani singer who is engaged in helping children and Rroma integration.
The situation in Garmen is still making the headlines. A reportage and overview of the current situation in that village and of the increasing ethnic tensions.
Local opposition is stiffening against the planned establishment in Toulouse of a second insertion village, a settlement where 32 Rroam families will find place to facilitate their integration.
We hope that the project will go ahead, as the first such village has proven to be a success.
An interesting report on an integration project in the district of Neukölln in Berlin. Many migrants, among which quite a few Rroma have settled in recent years in that part of town.
The project MigRom, started by the University of Manchester in collaboration of with the city has already made significant inroads in helping the city to engage with its Rroma community. It is now entering a new phase. The new group “Roma Voices of Manchester”, which was set up with the help of the project is now recognised as the principa channel of communication with the Rroma.
Switzerland just signed an agreement with Bulgaria providing 8 Mio Swiss Francs to the municipalities of Burgas, Ruses, and Sliven to further Rroma (and other minorities) inclusion, centring on education and basic health care. In view of the more and more extremist views of the general population towards minorities and Rroma in particular, this in a country that used to be tolerant, one wonders whether this is the right approach.
A statement of a Bulgarian political scientist is totally off … Rroma are not a century old problem in Bulgaria. Nationalism is. Rroma lived fully integrated in Bulgaria for centuries before nationalists declared them and other minorities unwelcome.
Shame.
The UN rapporteur on minorities, Rita Izsak, highlighted the continuing struggle of the Rroma communities around the world and stated that more should be made to integrate and to further social inclusion.
According to the European commission, EU member countries have made some progress on Rroma integration in the last year. We really do wonder where… Certainly not in Bulgaria, in Hungary, in Romania, all countries where the pendulum is swinging the other way around. And Western Europe is not much better, see France, England etc.
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.
The Turkish government named a Rroma advisor to the PM in order to further their existence, integration and to launch a series of reforms.
In view of the prevalent very negative views on Rroma in that country, and in view of such examples such as Sulukule, we hope that this will be successful.
Özcan Purçu is a candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Part (CHP) in Izmir for a parliamentary seat and stands good chance of being elected. As such, he will be only the third official Rroma representative in Europe’s parliaments. For such a large minority, not an acceptable representation. We wish him all the luck!
A new project in collaboration between the city of Manchester and the EU aims at reducing prejudices against Rroma as well as to break their “dependency on others”. The project coordinator is Yaron Matras, professor at the University of Manchester and a specialist of Rroma. The project aims to increase the Rroma access to public services, education and employment.
While we greet the first part and the goals, the second subtitle, the one on the dependency, leaves a bitter taste. This is definitively a paternalistic view of the world, and is ascribing an ethnic trait to what is simply a social and poverty problem.
An nice article on a young Rrom from Romania who managed to get out of the camps, get a job, a flat, and a nearly normal life.
It shows that in spite of Mr. Valls’ statement that Rroma cannot integrate that they do, given the chance.
Short portrait of a successful Rroma businessman in Britain …
Meanwhile, a small number of Rroma in France continues to grab the headlines. In the north, in Roubaix, Rroma and NGOs are fighting against eviction, while in St. Ouen, near Paris, some Rroma will be relocated in an “insertion village” a project meant to integrate Rroma.
In both cases, the press continues to portray Rroma as poor migrants from South Eastern Europe, travellers (see the pictures), and as difficult to integrate. This generalisation, as we have always said is actually racists. This concerns a small minority of the Rroma population in France.
The Czech government issued a statement in great fanfare a new strategy on Rroma geared towards helping the Rroma minority in the country to “better integrate in society”. Somehow we do hope that this time it won’t be like the Roma Decade of numerous other programs that effectively changed little if anything till now.
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