Tag Archives: Racism

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Survey on Roma

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Slovakia: Survey on Roma

The Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities commissioned a survey on the attitudes of the Slovak Population towards Roma.
Well, the results are not surprising: 74% of the respondents stated that they would not rent a flat to Roma; 82% think that the social system favours Roma.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: Political Rant

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Slovenia: Political Rant

Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, known for his controversial statements, harshly criticized the government and the European Union on social media for their approach to the Roma community. In his post, he used an offensive term for Roma and expressed dissatisfaction with current regulations, which he believes favor the Roma community at the expense of the safety and well-being of the majority population.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: 5 years

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Germany: 5 years

Five years ago, on February 19th 2020, a gunman with far-right views killed 9 people in Hanau, Germany. There were Roma among them.

In view of the upcoming elections where the AfD candidate once said that immigrants and Roma have no place in Germany, one should maybe remember to what this leads.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: 33%

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Slovakia: 33%

Another article on the recent survey in Slovakia stating that 33% of the populatio9n holds negative views of Roma and only 5% positive ones.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: An Opinion

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Slovakia: An Opinion

A Rom activist, Marian Gunar from Slovakia comments on the recent survey where 33% of Slovaks openly express negative attitudes towards Roma.

Gunar says that it is not all the fault of Slovaks, but that Roma need also to show they can work. He also criticises some of the elected Roma mayors (in places where Roma have a majority) for often not knowing the laws and not knowing how to make a town work.

He also criticises Roma for not pushing parents to educate their children, and feeding on a cycle of poverty and social care. Finally, he says that Roma leaders draw funds for festivals, music, and culture, but that these events are useless in bettering the fate of Roma overall.

Harsh, but with some truth to it.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Roma

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Slovakia and Roma

A third of those surveyed in Slovakia openly express negative attitudes towards Roma, while only five percent have the opposite attitude. Another 61 percent expressed neutrality. Residents of eastern Slovakia and the Bratislava region are particularly critical. This is according to a December survey by the Focus agency for the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK).

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Restaurants, and Roma …

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Slovakia, Restaurants, and Roma …

Roma activist Viktor Duda, an employee of the Sabinovský municipal office, was unable to sit in the restaurant with a friend and two other members of the civil order service on Friday evening. The waitress told them that all the tables were occupied.

They were supposed to meet with the city councilor there. He arrived at the restaurant after them with two other friends – and a table was found for them.

The restaurant owner claims this was not discrimination ….

Austria News Western Europe

Vienna: Desecration

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Vienna: Desecration

The desecration of graves in Vienna continues. The graves of Lovara as well as Sinti in several cemeteries are particularly affected. Investigations are ongoing. So far there are no concrete clues as to the group of perpetrators. The relatives hope that the crimes will be solved quickly.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Racism in Slovakia

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Racism in Slovakia

Marek Badžo and Darina Berková, a Roma couple, bought a house in the centre of the village of Nižná Myšla in the Košice-okolie district. Some residents didn’t like it, so they wrote a petition. They mentioned the Roma origin of the new owners and their concerns that they might be unadaptable people who would cause problems in the village.

The residents justify their position by the mayor’s long-term failure to resolve the situation in the Roma community, and they also have reservations about the way the house was sold. Meanwhile, several politicians have been involved in the events in the village, who see discrimination and segregation in the behaviour of the locals.

Well, you don’t need a Ph.D. to see that.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma In Slovakia

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Roma In Slovakia

To be a Rom in Slovakia is not easy. The stereotypes are  hard to overcome: poor, with many children, uneducated, not willing to work and integrate, dirty, etc.

Lana, a 28 years old Romni from a small town in eastern Slovakia who now lives abroad, founded the Instagram profile “Kamiben” to counter these stereotypes and told about her experiences as a Romni iN Slovakia. Scary, for example, a customer refused to pay for groceries because a Romni touched them. It says a lot.

Germany News Western Europe

Racism in the Church

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Racism in the Church

A Protestant pastor in Hamburg who was suspended for racist statements against Sinti and Roma (he used the Z-word) has been back on duty since the beginning of January. The man had filed a lawsuit against his suspension before the church court, the disciplinary chamber of the Evangelical Churches in Germany (EKD) and was successful at the end of last year on labour law grounds.

Shame …

Germany News Western Europe

Hamburg: Graves Desecrated

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Hamburg: Graves Desecrated

Unknown perpetrators have desecrated graves of Sinti and Roma in a cemetery in the Altona district of Hamburg. Graves were damaged and materials such as copper were stolen. According to the Sinti Association of Hamburg, a gravestone was even sawn into pieces. In a joint statement, all parties in Altona City Hall, except for the AfD, (surprise?) condemned the acts. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Quite a few articles this week in France about Roma. First, the mayor and five inhabitants from Volleron, near Paris, had to appear in front of a judge, being accused of destruction of property and racist violence. They had violently dispersed a Roma camp two years ago. We have omitted another article on the subject, as this was clearly biased.

Several articles about the evacuation of a Roma camp in Verneuil, and of another one in Persan, both near Paris. An upcoming debate on the movie “A bras Ouverts”, a movie that panders to racist stereotypes about Roma. Finally, in Nantes in Western France, the arrestation of 6 Roma teenagers who apparently are behind the burglaries of  around 15 pharmacies in the region.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia: “Incident”

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Slovenia: “Incident”

Another article on the case of a social worker who was apparently attacked by a group of Roma and was sentenced to a fine of 250 Euros for having qualified a Roma as a “Monkey”.

Andrej Brečko from Mihovice near Šentjernej said “After 11 years of volunteer work in the village community and in a local initiative to solve the Roma problem, which the state should have solved long ago, I have now even received a fine for violating public order and peace – even though I was the victim of an attack by a group of Roma. “Now in the eyes of the police, I am the violator”.

Well, treating people of being monkeys casts a doubt about his view on Roma …

Germany News Western Europe

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.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: Murder in School

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Slovakia: Murder in School

A sad story of a young blond Slovak who attacked classmates with a knife. Apparently everybody,  teachers, students, ignored the aggressivity of this boy, and the fact that he hated “Gyspies”, boasting having beaten some of them up.

Sad, and bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Restaurants, and Discrimination

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Slovakia, Restaurants, and Discrimination

Another article about the survey of discrimination of Roma in restaurants in Slovakia. The survey came out last year, with a flurry of articles, but it is still “news” in Slovakia. Here, more on the fact that this could happen nowadays.

Well, it does.

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