Tag Archives: Racism

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Germany, the Administration, and Roma

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Well, if you are Rom, you will be confronted in racism in the administration, or at least to discrimination.  Milena Ademović can come up with a long list: unnecessary documents that are required, letters that get lost in the administration or child benefit applications that the parents who come to her have to wait a year for to be processed. “That’s why we’re here,” says Ademović, who, as a social worker at the Kulturen im Kiez advice centre in Wedding, also supports Sinti and Roma in their dealings with the authorities.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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The United Nations is concerned about “the racist political discourse held by political leaders”, as well as the proliferation of hateful and discriminating words in the media in France. This is not new if one think what Manuel Valls, a former Prime Minister said about Roma while in power. But it is good that it is being highlighted.

Other news are more usual: A group of Roma and volunteers cleaned the garbage in a wood. Police arrested Bosnian Roma specialised in stealing power tools.

News Americas

A Reminder

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An article that is not about Roma, but is a reminder of what the truth about Hitler and his racial policies are. This is addressed to Ye (formerly Kayne West) who repeatedly has been praising Hitler.

Well, he, like many of the Nazis admirers, should better inform themselves first.

News Eastern Europe Poland

Polish Racism

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A book on Polish racism has been published and is reviewed in the Polish edition of Vogue. The book, called „Odejdź” [Leave] authored by Agnieszka Kościańska and Michał Petryk is insightful, written with exposing passion, painfully interesting and just as necessary. Because Poland is not a tolerant country, but rather a structurally racist one, and has been for many decades. Contempt for the Other is part of our culture.

Polish racism is doing well. It peeks out from almost every corner and withered bush. It is clearly visible on our border with Belarus, where people are dying as a result of the illegal decisions of the Polish government and the joyful consent of many Poles. It can even be seen in relation to some Ukrainians (it is not – so far – fashionable, but who knows what will happen in a moment)

Europe

Roma in Europe

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The Roma and Sinti are the largest minority in Europe – and the worst off. This is proven by a new report, which extensively documents the situation of Roma communities in Europe. This report was published by the ERGO network (European Roma Grassroots Organization) and was recently presented by the Swedish politician Soraya Post. The prominent Roma activist was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and is a board member of the network, which unites Roma organizations from more than 30 countries. The current ERGO report testifies, among other things, to a clearly unequal treatment of the Roma, in terms of health care. For example, 22 percent of people from the Roma community have chronic diseases and one in four does not have health insurance. The data comes from studies in the relevant countries and confirms that Roma find it more difficult to access healthcare in some EU countries.

These figures, says the Post, show that the situation has not improved since the adoption of the new EU framework for Roma political participation in 2020. On the contrary, we can talk about a deterioration, caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. And this despite the urgent appeal of To the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during the presentation of the strategic framework for the Roma in the EU: “Where is the essence of humanity, when the Roma are excluded from society and oppressed every day?”

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Racism

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Seems that racism against Roma is difficult to eradicate. Latest case, a Czech Journalist who shouted abuse at a Romano Journalist was forced to apologise but still claims that “Cikan”, the Czech equivalent of “Gypsy” is not derogatory.

There is still work to do.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Roma

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Germany Antitziganism representative Mehmet Daimagüler, asks for the creation of a “truth commission” to deal with the persecution of Sinti and Roma during and after the Nazis. He explains why “reconciliation” lags why memorial events are a lie and why the minority cannot feel safe.

News Americas

Racial Profiling

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Unicorn Riot, a left wing media collective that originated online in 2015 and which is known for reporting on far-right organizations and sources of racial and economic injustice in the US uncovered several cases of racial profiling of Roma in the US. They also found an illegal database of Roma, held privately. Needless to say, Roma are all thieves and scammers.

This is bad.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany: Condemned

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The district court of Neumünster sentenced the operator of a fitness studio to a one thousand Euros fine and thus agreed with Kelly Laubinger, a Sintica from Neumünster. She had suspected that she was denied membership of the fitness studio because of her last name – Laubinger which is a name that many Sinti bear. She hopes that her recent court victory will encourage others to take action against inequality.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic and Forced Sterilisations

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The scandalous reluctance of the Ministry of Health to compensate victims of forced sterilizations is reflected in the still deeply rooted racism in Czech society.

The Association of Women Victims of Illegal Sterilization has been fighting for compensation for affected women for several decades. Romnja were sterilized because they are Romani. Compensation for this is hampered by some officials for the same reason.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czech Republic: Discrimination in Education

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Marek Tatar (28), a Czech Rom, is currently studying transcultural communication in his third year at the Faculty of Education in Hradec Králové and works as a programmer in IT. Hi path to higher education was not smooth. He faced bullying in elementary school, overheard a conversation between two of his teachers in the school corridor about the fact that they didn’t want a gypsy at school, which prompted him to stop his studies. Fortunately, he was convinced by his family to do at least the minimum, which allowed him later to start studies.

It shows how discrimination and racism early on can disadvantage children from minorities for their entire lives. Fortunately, there are also example like him.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Ljubljana’s Mayor and Racism

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Zoran Janković, the current mayor of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is trying to be re-elected for the fifth time in a row and also to get a majority in the city council to govern. He is however involved in a controversy about the burial of Roma from Ižan, victims of the Nazis and of the Partisans in Ljubljana’s cemetery. He is opposing the burial and has now been officially accused of racism by the Assembly for the Republic who published a harsh statement: By not burying the Roma from Ižan, he showed a level of racism hitherto unknown in Ljubljana, that he despises the sanctity of life by abusing cemeteries, that he incited intolerance and hatred with his political appearances.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Slovenia and Discrimination

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Discrimination of the Roma community is still present in Slovenia according to  Jerica Lorenci, the researcher of the Epeka association who presented the report of the project Promoting Roma Equality in Slovenia and Slovakia. She also drew attention to the lack of statistical data related to the Roma community.

Since there are no reports of discrimination, their level is higher than that perceived by the Defender of the Principle of Equality, she stated. Every one of the 50 people who were interviewed as part of the research had experienced discrimination, Lorencijeva told STA on the side-lines of the presentation, which took place in the premises of the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Discrimination

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A week ago, the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Roma communities published the results of the most comprehensive research on the life of Roma in recent years.

According to the study, the direct experience of Roma with discrimination is decreasing. Twenty-one percent of Roma said they had experienced some form of discrimination because of their skin colour or ethnicity in the past year. In a similar survey from 2016, it was 30 percent of Roma.

Reality is somewhat different:

As a Roma, social worker Tomáš Ščuka encountered discrimination all his life, most often in restaurants and bars, but also at the doctor’s office or in offices. “Now that I’m older, it’s less, but you can still see the signs. For example, in a restaurant they make me wait longer, or they serve me later than the person who came after me. That is such latent discrimination,” he says.

Discrimination against Roma is apparently gradually changing its form and becoming more hidden somewhere, but it still hasn’t disappeared. Ščuka compares it to the Kotlebo people in the parliament, who gave up open racism years ago, but still send racist signals to their voters when they talk, for example, about maladaptive fellow citizens.

Germany News Western Europe

Germany and Extremism

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A new study in Germany, the Leipziger Sudie zürich Extremismus shows improvement since the last one tow years ago. However, racism isn’t sill a problem, against Jews, Moslems, and of course Roma. In Eastern Germany, more than 50% of respondent would have a problem if Roma would move into their neighbourhood, while in the Western part of the country, it is still around 30%.

Bad.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia and Extremism

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The most frequent victims of extremist attacks in the physical world in the period of 2020 and 2021 were Roma, while the most frequent targets of extremist attacks in the virtual space were Jews.

This is stated in the Monitoring Report on the State of Extremism in the Slovak Republic for the period of 2020 and 2021 and the update of the tasks of the Concept of Combating Radicalisation and Extremism until 2024, which was approved by the government today.

News Western Europe Spain

Spain: Discrimination Report

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Spain: Discrimination Report

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) presented its 18th Annual Report “Discrimination and the Roma Community” today in Seville. The focus of the report is the Discriminatory bias in the use of artificial intelligence and its impact on the Roma community.

The report presents 554 cases of discrimination and antigypsyism reported and assisted by the FSG in 2021, in its capacity as coordinator of the Service of Assistance and Guidance to Victims of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination and the Calí programme for the Equality of Roma Women. In addition, the report includes the most recent advances, good practices, jurisprudence and strategic litigation in the field of discrimination led by the FSG.

Czech Republic Europe News Eastern Europe

Gabriela Hrabaňová: Interview

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An interview of Gabriela Hrabaňová, head of the European network of Roma organizations known by the acronym Ergo Network, which promotes issues related to the social inclusion of Roma, poverty reduction and the fight against antigypsyism in European institutions. The organization works closely not only with the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and the UN, but also with members of the European Parliament. For a long time, he has been trying to help the Roma not only in the European Union, but also in Ukraine.

She says that “Anti-Gypsyism is not a problem of the Roma, but of the majority society,” and she is right.

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