A bakery from the Canton Zurich sells a saussage and cheese salad as “AZ’-Salad. They were asked by the young socialists from the region to drop the name, as this is insulting.
Well, in Switzerland, it is still acceptable, it seems …
“They live on benefits.” A statement that has been repeated in Slovakia for years. Most people associate it with poor people and especially Roma communities. Almost always, when the living standards of the majority population deteriorate, this sentence becomes a shorthand description of the social system in political debates and on social networks.
This is a myth. “When people talk about the social system, they usually mean benefits for the unemployed. However, they forget that the largest part of it is pensions and healthcare,” pointed out Viliam Páleník, a researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and president of the Employment Institute.
A sad story from Bulgaria. A 15-year-old girl was admitted to the emergency room with severe pain and suspected acute kidney crisis. After the examinations, however, the doctors established the surprising cause of her condition – the teenager was nine months pregnant and already had a dilation.
The medical team immediately took action and the birth began almost immediately. Not long after, little Emilia cried in the maternity ward. Both the mother and the newborn are in good general condition and under medical supervision.
An interview with Sára Kaplanová on prejudice, her job as a nurse, and on her social media presence.
The book “Pueblo Gitano. 600 años de historia y cultura en España” [The Gitanos People: 600 Years of History and Culture in Spain] coordinated by Gonzalo Montaño, Joan M. Oleaque, and Arnau Vilaró, dismantles six centuries of silence, prejudice, and official narratives about Roma history.
Too bad they used the Gitanos name and not the endonym, “Cale”.
A “Gypsy” restaurant opened its doors in downtown Budapest, on Váci Street, at the end of July this year.There have been a few attempts to run a such a restaurant in Budapest, but none of them have lasted long. On Vaci utca, the main touristic thoroughfare might be more suitable.
An article full of stereotypes and folklore… A few excerpts:
In the village of Săpânța, near the Ukrainian border, two women recall: “If a boy was jealous of another, his mother would cast a spell on the girl to make her feel bad and prevent the marriage from taking place.” Next to her, her friend adds: “When my niece left home, we had a falling out. A woman at the market offered to cast a spell on her to bring her back, by the heavens. I refused, of course.”
Almost nothing about Roma this week in the French press. Just an article about a camp near Paris that was left, but with tons of garbage in its place, and an article in Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper about Bulgaria, unfortunately with lots of French based clichés on Roma.
Nick Ferenc is an actor and musician who breaks stereotypes about Roma in the Czech public space. He studied alternative and puppet theatre at DAMU, dubbed the character Tibor in the English version of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and is heading to the new series Oddíol B, directed by Petr Kolečko. “We Roma are not portrayed as characters, but as Roma,” he says in the podcast Režim neršit.
There was very little news in the French press about Roma this week. Charlie Hebdo, one satirical French paper published an article about Stolipinovo, the Roma Mahala in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. As usual in France, unfortunately not well informed. Other than that, In Nantes, a collective is trying to help Roma.
Dr. Joanna Talewicz, president of the “W Stronę Dialogu” [towards Dialogue] Foundation, has been fighting for years to stop the Roma community from being perceived through the prism of folklore and romantic yet harmful notions. In a conversation with Andrzej Grupa, she discusses why the label of “expert on Roma issues” began to bother her, how the foundation’s new campaign, “Rozprowadzemy stereotypy o Rom(k)ach,” exposes prejudice, and how building community and alliances is the safest “insurance policy” for uncertain times in Poland.
The first article in the French press, in a renowned women’s magazine is titled “Report from Romania: Witchcraft as a tool for women’s emancipation”. While there may be such cases, this is by far not the only tool and is definitively pandering to stereotypes. In Verdun and in Metz, two conferences and meetings to better the views of the French on Roma, albeit with a focus on Romania. The rest of the news is standard. Near Paris, 300 Roma camp in a village of 400 inhabitants; and a death following a fire.
The opening of the exhibition “The Great Wagon. A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan at a Stopover Near Łomża” will take place on Friday, November 7, 2025, at 6:00 PM. The gathering will be an opportunity to discover a world that has almost disappeared.
It focuses on the more stereotypical aspects of travellers, and showcases the poetry of Papusza, a Romani poet.
With 24-hour patrols by the Greek Police in Roma camps and the announcement of the recruitment of 50 gypsy police officers, the Ministry of Citizen Protection is attempting to present a new policing and mediation plan. It started all with a claim that effectively, Roma are basically criminals.
Roma in Greece are protesting against those measures and say that those measures will not build trust.
The Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis clarified that “the police will hire approximately 50 uniformed police officers, unarmed, with special duties, who will be close to the Police Departments of the areas where these vulnerable groups live and will play the role of social mediator, this will be their mission.”\
So basically not really police, and not a role that can be sustained.
According to the article, in the small town of Maglenča, Slovenia, stands the Roma Ethno-House, a unique cultural and tourist facility of the indigenous Croatian Roma – the Lovari. Well, Lovara are not indigenous to Croatia. They came in the late 19th ad early 20th century following the abolition of slavery in Romanian lands.
The exhibits unfortunately push stereotypes.
Tyson’s fury daughter was officially engaged at her 16th birthday. With all the stereotypes that it entails for all Roma …
A scandal currently seems to be on the front pages of several Austrian newspapers. The case of a wedding of 12 years old who, according to the press was no longer a virgin.
As usual, this is being described as common practice among all Roma. This is not the case, and concerns mostly a minority of all Roma communities.
The “Breaking Stereotypes” Integration Picnic will take place this Friday (September 26) in Suwałki, Poland.
The event aims to build bridges between cultures and generations and to break down stereotypes. During the picnic, participants will have the opportunity to sample traditional Roma dishes prepared during culinary workshops, participate in educational activities exploring the history, culture, and language of the Roma, and have fun together during activities and integration competitions.
Unfortunately, all pictures here are stereotypical …
Greek Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis announced the installation of specialized police officers inside the Roma camps. This will start happening in 1.5 months, while the police officers in question will be subordinate to the Greek FBI.
“This tolerance that existed for years -decades- and which for me is incomprehensible, must come to an end”, he stressed.
Basically, he is saying Roma are criminals that need to be monitored…
“The Great Wagon. A Wanderer’s Belonging. A Roma Caravan at a Rest Stop near Łomża” is the latest cultural offering from the North Mazovian Museum in Łomża. The opening took place on September 12th in the Cultural Hall. Currently, photographs by Zygmunt Dudo are on display in the Old Market Square; the exhibition will later move to a new location.
Unfortunately, quite stereotypical.
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