A Discriminated Minority
Most European Roma live in the countries of Eastern Europe, where they have drawn little benefit from the collapse of communism. They live in ghettos, their children receive very little schooling and they experience discrimination in everyday life.
Opinions
Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Saturday, 13. January 2007
In many eastern European states, citizens of Sinti and Roma origin suffer discrimination, despite the fact that they are living within the EU, says the ... » more
In many eastern European states, citizens of Sinti and Roma origin suffer discrimination, despite the fact that they are living within the EU, says the president of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose. In a conversation with Angelika Kuzniak and Lidia Ostalowska, he says, "The commissioners overseeing minority affairs in the EU have assumed that the new member states are striving towards equality of all citizens in education, financial and legal matters. But that is not the case. Where have things improved for the Roma? Only in Poland and Hungary, as far as I can see. Whereas in Bulgaria and Romania, prejudice against the Roma is part of the course. Politicians do not reject racism and segregation clearly enough... In united Europe, there are ten to 12 million Roma. Don't you understand that it's our home, too?"
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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Minorities, » Eastern Europe
Népszabadság - Hungary | Thursday, 11. January 2007
"The new parliamentary party will bring more money and publicity to right-extremist parties, but hardly any more political influence," concludes Brussels correspondent László Szőcs. "Aside from salaries and benefits, the new party with the commanding name of 'Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty,' (ITS) will get a total of one million euro. With 20 members in parliament, they have reached the bare minimum. The fraction's founding was made possible by the new members from Bulgaria and Romania. The five members of parliament from the Greater Romania Party, PRM, are well known in Hungary for their anti-Semitism and their derogatory remarks toward the Hungarian minority in Romania. Nor does Dimitar Stojanow of the Bulgarian Ataka (Attack) Party have a good reputation: » more
"The new parliamentary party will bring more money and publicity to right-extremist parties, but hardly any more political influence," concludes Brussels correspondent László Szőcs. "Aside from salaries and benefits, the new party with the commanding name of 'Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty,' (ITS) will get a total of one million euro. With 20 members in parliament, they have reached the bare minimum. The fraction's founding was made possible by the new members from Bulgaria and Romania. The five members of parliament from the Greater Romania Party, PRM, are well known in Hungary for their anti-Semitism and their derogatory remarks toward the Hungarian minority in Romania. Nor does Dimitar Stojanow of the Bulgarian Ataka (Attack) Party have a good reputation: he insulted the Hungarian Romany member Lívia Járóka with racist and sexist remarks when she was nominated European Parliamentarian of the year in 2006."
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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Europe
Tribune de Genève - Switzerland | Thursday, 31. August 2006
The journalist Antoine Maurice ponders the history of Romany people and their way of life. "Their way of life reposes on a highly structured clannish ... » more
The journalist Antoine Maurice ponders the history of Romany people and their way of life. "Their way of life reposes on a highly structured clannish organisation that crosses borders and justice systems. Some characteristics are as limiting as their precarious, nomadic rag'n'bone status. In what is a transitional phase for Europe, plunged at once in historical grouping and 'deterretorialising' globalisation, traveller communities express both archaic and the most modern of European culture. Archaic, because of their minority enclosure. At the same time the Tzigans inhabit the music, languages, cultures and religions of Europe. Lacking a national aspiration of their own, they are able to slip, like genuine globalized people, into a number of them without ever losing their Tzigan identity."
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Magyar Hírlap - Hungary | Tuesday, 20. December 2005
The ten million Roma living in Europe constitute one of its largest minorities. Founded last year, the ERTF (European Roma and Travellers Forum) has held ... » more
The ten million Roma living in Europe constitute one of its largest minorities. Founded last year, the ERTF (European Roma and Travellers Forum) has held its first conference. The Hungarian sociologist Angela Kocze takes stock. "Under the Copenhagen Criteria, countries that have applied for EU membership are required to respect minority rights, yet older members are not doing so. The EU has introduced a 'Roma Day' but the mass murder of European Roma during the Second World War has yet to be given its rightful place in European history books. EU member states haven't even reached a consensus on how to define the term 'national minority', or whether immigrants with a common cultural background, for example Arabs, Kurds or Roma, belong to one."
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Roma Culture and Art
Népszabadság - Hungary | Wednesday, 8. August 2007
At this year's Venice Biennial for the first time there's a pavilion dedicated to the art of a minority - the Roma, who live in ... » more
At this year's Venice Biennial for the first time there's a pavilion dedicated to the art of a minority - the Roma, who live in several European countries. Among those whose work is on display is British artist Daniel Baker, who in an interview with Agnes Bihari talks about his identity and his art. "I am a Roma, there's no doubt about that, but at the same time I'm an Englishman. But that's the way it is for everyone, isn't it? Our identity is composed of several elements, one of which pushes itself to the fore... I paint on mirrors, not canvases. The mirrors point to an imaginary place which society has allocated to the Roma. We're never seen as we really are. We're perceived either as a social problem or as romantic, slightly mysterious figures holding violins or some other such prop."
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More from the press review on the subject » Fine Arts, » Migration, » Minorities, » Europe
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Magyar Narancs - Hungary | Friday, 23. February 2007
Ferenc Snétberger comes from a Roma family and is now one of the world's best-known jazz guitarists, performing with stars like Al di Meola and ... » more
Ferenc Snétberger comes from a Roma family and is now one of the world's best-known jazz guitarists, performing with stars like Al di Meola and Bobby McFerrin. In an interview with Zoltán Végső he explains that the fact that Roma have difficulties with integration is precisely what makes their music so international. "The music of the Roma is developing in a strange way - it's becoming too pop-like. Real Roma music, ballads like the ones we sing at home, are seldom heard nowadays. The advantage, however, is that the music of the Roma has become increasingly experimental. It mixes Flamenco with Cuban rhythms and makes jazz out of the combination."
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More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Integration, » Minorities, » Hungary
La Stampa - Italy | Saturday, 4. August 2007
In an interview with Ketty Aredia, the composer Goran Bregovic, who has just given several concerts in Italy with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, discusses ... » more
In an interview with Ketty Aredia, the composer Goran Bregovic, who has just given several concerts in Italy with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, discusses one of his works, 'Karmen with a Happy Ending'. "There is a tendency to consider gypsies as humanity's dustbin. I tried to save the gypsy soul and its taste for freedom by giving it a happy ending. ... My Karmen, as opposed to Bizet's, ends with a big marriage, because life is too heavy a suitcase to be carried single-handed. ... I want my work to be really popular and open. And with this in mind I intend to post my musical scores on my website, so that all orchestras can use them if they wish."
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More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Public Culture, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Ketty Aredia, » Goran Bregovic
Woxx - Luxembourg | Friday, 30. March 2007
The exhibition 'Watch out Gypsies! History of a misunderstanding' at the museum of history in Luxembourg aims to denounce prejudices against this people. However it ... » more
The exhibition 'Watch out Gypsies! History of a misunderstanding' at the museum of history in Luxembourg aims to denounce prejudices against this people. However it did not receive the approval of all of the Rom community, explains Luc Caregari. "Exactly a week ago, the press received a communiqué from the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF). The latter does not mince its words. It accuses the museum of organising the exhibition without any participation from Rom organisations and their representatives and considers that the title of the exhibition is a provocation to the Roms who in 1971 at their first world congress after the Second World War demanded to be called Roms. .... It still remains to be seen what lesson is to be drawn from this conflict. Is it simply another misunderstanding? Or the bad will of the ERTF, annoyed at not being involved at the beginning of preparations for the exhibition? Or has the history museum made a gaffe? The answer is perhaps in the gap which separates the Gadjes from the travelling people."
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More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » Minorities, » Luxembourg, » Europe
All available articles from » Luc Caregari
Le Temps - Switzerland | Tuesday, 18. July 2006
As the Paleo World Music Festival gets underway, Arnaud Robert takes a look at the Romanian group Taraf de Haïdouks ('orchestra of viceless bandits'), which ... » more
As the Paleo World Music Festival gets underway, Arnaud Robert takes a look at the Romanian group Taraf de Haïdouks ('orchestra of viceless bandits'), which kicks off this edition devoted to Eastern Europe. "This is Taraf as it is meant to be. The Rolling Stones of Roma marriage, a recurrent theme in World music social gatherings. ... The music of funerals, christenings, engagements ... Bandits of the universal - like all Roma, with a dash of class added to the mix. We are not talking about World music, nor sono mondiale, and even less about some pretentious ethno-music fest. Discovering this musical ensemble is to recognise the influences from this nomadic East that we have made our own. India, Spain, the Arab world, klezmer. The Roma are the creoles of our continent. Capable in a single generation of assimilating another culture. Clearly, thieves. But thieves who return the plunder - and then some."
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Bulgaria
Dnevnik - Bulgaria | Friday, 24. August 2007
Bulgaria is currently debating how to deal with its Roma minority. Last week, after skinheads attacked a group of Roma, a group of Roma attacked Bulgarians in one of Sofia's suburbs. The Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinow writes: » more
Bulgaria is currently debating how to deal with its Roma minority. Last week, after skinheads attacked a group of Roma, a group of Roma attacked Bulgarians in one of Sofia's suburbs. The Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinow writes: "There are many stereotypes about the Roma - they have a bad reputation. Although we've been living in the same country for decades, we have always looked down on the Roma, they were always pushed aside... Stereotypes rob others of their past, deprive them of their right to a biography, to their children, to their mothers, their mourning, their toothaches and their childhood... It's easier to beat up someone who's different and about whom one knows virtually nothing."
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All available articles from » Georgi Gospodinov
Polityka - Poland | Wednesday, 8. November 2006
The newspaper's correspondent in Bulgaria examines the situation of the Roma and the Turkish minority in Bulgaria: » more
The newspaper's correspondent in Bulgaria examines the situation of the Roma and the Turkish minority in Bulgaria: "Criminality among the Roma is increasing and people are scared. Nowadays the Bulgarians are afraid of the Roma. The prejudiced view that the Roma don't want to change their ways and that the Bulgarians will soon become a minority in their own country is gaining popularity... According to a report on minorities, poverty and unemployment are becoming an ethnic problem. The problem is exacerbated when it comes to those who are already poor – mainly the Roma and Turks. Bulgaria has always been a multicultural country, but now there are divisions. The Roma are increasingly radicalised for social reasons, and a growing number are falling under the influence of radical Islam. Among the Turks, too, the fundamentalists are gaining popularity. The education of the young among these groups is mainly financed with Arab money, and later they try to introduce strict religious norms. This worries Bulgarians."
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Der Standard - Austria | Tuesday, 8. August 2006
According to official figures, 370,000 Roma currently live in Bulgaria – 90 percent of whom live on state benefits, receiving 75 euros a month per family. In view of this depressing situation, Adelheid Wölfl expresses her doubts about whether Bulgaria is ready for EU membership and also about European policy on this issue. "Paradoxically, Bulgaria's push for EU membership is making the situation even worse for the Roma, because according to Mihail Georgiev, president of the Roma organisation Baht, Western Europe is sending the message: » more
According to official figures, 370,000 Roma currently live in Bulgaria – 90 percent of whom live on state benefits, receiving 75 euros a month per family. In view of this depressing situation, Adelheid Wölfl expresses her doubts about whether Bulgaria is ready for EU membership and also about European policy on this issue. "Paradoxically, Bulgaria's push for EU membership is making the situation even worse for the Roma, because according to Mihail Georgiev, president of the Roma organisation Baht, Western Europe is sending the message: 'Take back your Roma!'. He criticises 'police methods' like those in Austria, as a result of which Bulgarian Roma children are sent back to Bulgaria. Because EU Europeans perceive Roma as a threat, Roma are also perceived as a potential obstacle to EU membership by Bulgaria's majority population. Last year the Ataka party, which adopts a hostile stance towards minorities, won eight percent of the vote."
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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Minorities, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Adelheid Wölfl
Romania
Cotidianul - Romania | Tuesday, 21. August 2007
Four children of Roma origin died on August 11 in a fire at a camp based near the Italian port of Livorno. The Romanian press has voiced suspicions that the fire was the work of extremists. Corina Dragotescu comments: » more
Four children of Roma origin died on August 11 in a fire at a camp based near the Italian port of Livorno. The Romanian press has voiced suspicions that the fire was the work of extremists. Corina Dragotescu comments: "It's a well-known fact that the Roma are primarily a Romanian export product. But not only are those who set the fire responsible for the tragedy in Italy; the parents of the children and the Romanian authorities are also to blame. Italy is full of Romanian gypsies who go begging: not only adults, but also the children who are forced to do so by their parents... While the West has already invested a lot of money and many years in social programmes aimed at combating this phenomenon, the Romanian authorities have spent their time looking about uselessly."
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All available articles from » Corina Dragotescu
Cotidianul - Romania | Thursday, 24. May 2007
Romania's President Traian Basescu has referred to a female journalist as a "stinking gypsy". She recorded the president's remark on her cell phone while he was travelling in his private car. Now the country's press association plans to bring charges against Basescu. Costi Rogozanu sees this as hypocritical: » more
Romania's President Traian Basescu has referred to a female journalist as a "stinking gypsy". She recorded the president's remark on her cell phone while he was travelling in his private car. Now the country's press association plans to bring charges against Basescu. Costi Rogozanu sees this as hypocritical: "Even a president has the right to make silly and rude comments during a private conversation in his own car. What bothers me is the outburst of hypocrisy his remark has caused - as if cultured people and intellectuals never use the word 'gypsy' pejoratively in texts and discussions. As if the word used by Basescu isn't constantly being used in public, in businesses and even in institutions... This hypocrisy is only intensifying the fear that one must constantly behave correctly towards minorities. The correct attitude towards minorities can only be taught through better education in schools."
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All available articles from » Costi Rogozanu
Italy
La Stampa - Italy | Tuesday, 14. August 2007
The debate goes on in Italy after a fire that caused the deaths of four children last week. Mario Marazzati, the Sant'Egido community's spokesperson, considers that "the west has not paid its dues to the gypsy Holocaust. And yet 300,000 of them were swallowed up into the Nazi extermination camps (The very doubt concerning the exact figures goes to show the indifference of historians). The West hasn't developed the antibodies that would stop the spreading of anti-gypsy feeling. There has been no compensation, no collective guilt, no shame. ... In Italy, the life expectancy of a Romany gypsy is 45. This is not because they are burnt alive in their caravans, but because of their living standards: » more
The debate goes on in Italy after a fire that caused the deaths of four children last week. Mario Marazzati, the Sant'Egido community's spokesperson, considers that "the west has not paid its dues to the gypsy Holocaust. And yet 300,000 of them were swallowed up into the Nazi extermination camps (The very doubt concerning the exact figures goes to show the indifference of historians). The West hasn't developed the antibodies that would stop the spreading of anti-gypsy feeling. There has been no compensation, no collective guilt, no shame. ... In Italy, the life expectancy of a Romany gypsy is 45. This is not because they are burnt alive in their caravans, but because of their living standards: illness accidents, malnutrition. ... The problem doesn't lie in the number of crimes they commit, because a normal country knows how to punish the guilty. The crimes are caused by poverty and marginalisation, not by 'gypsy culture'.”
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All available articles from » Mario Marazziti
La Repubblica - Italy | Monday, 13. August 2007
The journalist Gad Lerner ponders the situation of the Roma in Italy. "The Roma are not 'politically correct': » more
The journalist Gad Lerner ponders the situation of the Roma in Italy. "The Roma are not 'politically correct': their high level of alcohol consumption, their nomadic existence, unemployment and criminality cannot be denied. All of this is frightening and causes generalisations that would be unthinkable if applied to anyone else. They are all considered guilty, because of the way they act, their cultural tradition. ... But one thing needs to be made quite clear: Roma cannot be considered like human detritus. They cannot be wiped out without, that is, resorting to the idea of extermination. This isn't such a far-fetched notion. Our moral code is step by step leading us in that direction, as we accept sweeping generalisations. Who, at the beginning of the XXth century, would have imagined that hostility towards the then 'guilty' people would escalate into the 'final solution'?"
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Hungary
Beszélő - Hungary | Thursday, 1. June 2006
According to sociologist Janos Barsony, the Hungarian majority of the population in Hungary is very prejudiced against the country's Roma minority, and although Hungary never had any colonies it has been influenced by Europe's post-colonial identity. Barsony asserts that many Hungarians regard the Roma as a "subordinate and fundamentally inferior section of the population." He explains that this attitude is the result of the "false myth of Europe's cultural superiority over oppressed peoples with a different skin colour, culture and traditions." Barsony suggests teaching the history and culture of the Roma at Hungarian schools: » more
According to sociologist Janos Barsony, the Hungarian majority of the population in Hungary is very prejudiced against the country's Roma minority, and although Hungary never had any colonies it has been influenced by Europe's post-colonial identity. Barsony asserts that many Hungarians regard the Roma as a "subordinate and fundamentally inferior section of the population." He explains that this attitude is the result of the "false myth of Europe's cultural superiority over oppressed peoples with a different skin colour, culture and traditions." Barsony suggests teaching the history and culture of the Roma at Hungarian schools: "People should be made aware of the fact that the Roma have managed to preserve their culture and traditions over thousands of years without the aid of their own state or army. There are numerous prominent public figures with a Roma background who have made great contributions to Hungarian and European culture."
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Népszabadság - Hungary | Tuesday, 7. February 2006
A few days ago, opposition leader Viktor Orban said in a speech that he understood parents who didn't want to send their children to schools attended by Roma children. Laszlo Kallai, a civil rights activist for the Roma, protests in an open letter to Orban: » more
A few days ago, opposition leader Viktor Orban said in a speech that he understood parents who didn't want to send their children to schools attended by Roma children. Laszlo Kallai, a civil rights activist for the Roma, protests in an open letter to Orban: "If the children of poor families or Roma families are forced to attend separate classes, they will receive a lower standard of education. Segregated schools have lower standards regardless of whether it's because of skin colour or their parents' social background that the children are separated from the rest of the children. Children in segregated schools have little opportunity to acquire the knowledge that will enable them to survive in a competitive society. They end up without jobs and become dependent on social welfare."
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Kosovo
Der Standard - Austria | Thursday, 22. February 2007
Stephan Müller, former advisor on minority affairs for the OSCE mission in Kosovo, draws attention to the precarious situation of minorities in Kosovo: » more
Stephan Müller, former advisor on minority affairs for the OSCE mission in Kosovo, draws attention to the precarious situation of minorities in Kosovo: "Up to 100,000 Serbs and around 100,000 Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians, Turks, Bosnians, Gorani and Croats still live in Kosovo. The fact that during the seven years of UN administration the number of members of minorities who have left Kosovo is greater than the number of displaced persons who have returned should make us think. Why and how is an independent Kosovo going to improve this situation?... This subject was not brought up during the status negotiations and is not mentioned in Ahtisaari's [the UN envoy's] proposal. This is because according to the twisted logic of the team of negotiators, Kosovo is to be first and foremost for the Albanians and then for the Serbs (because the country belongs to them now). Only those who have no interest in seeing things change in Kosovo can believe that the situation will improve now."
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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » South East Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Stephan Müller
The Czech Republic
Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic | Wednesday, 20. December 2006
The Czech nation is discussing whether Jiří Čunek, mayor of the town of Vsetín, was guilty of racial discrimination when he had a Roma family that had not paid the rent evicted to a Portakabin on the outskirts of the city. To add to the controversy, Čunek has now been nominated party leader of the Christian Democrats and hopes to be given a ministerial post in the future government. Author Petr Prihoda warns about false moralising: » more
The Czech nation is discussing whether Jiří Čunek, mayor of the town of Vsetín, was guilty of racial discrimination when he had a Roma family that had not paid the rent evicted to a Portakabin on the outskirts of the city. To add to the controversy, Čunek has now been nominated party leader of the Christian Democrats and hopes to be given a ministerial post in the future government. Author Petr Prihoda warns about false moralising: "'Political correctness', in the guise of a moral imperative, has taken hold in the Czech Republic. But will it help our Roma population if we talk about them in a way that is considered politically correct but continue to marginalise them socially.? No, 'political correctness' is just a euphemism for not knowing how to handle a situation."
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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Minorities, » Czech Republic
Culture et art roms
Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic | Thursday, 7. September 2006
One third of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in closed ghettos, according to a study by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social ... » more
One third of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in closed ghettos, according to a study by the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "This figure has surprised even the experts, who had previously assumed the existence of a dozen such ghettos," Vojtech Blazek comments. "Now it is clear they exist in almost every big major city... Roughly 90 percent of the Roma are jobless. They have no idea how to help themselves, and have already given up the struggle for a better life. They live on welfare. Sociologist Ivan Gabal warns, 'The problem is, there is already a second generation of Roma growing up in the Czech Republic who don't know anything else except being dependent on welfare. Disbanding these ghettoes will take up to thirty or forty years.' Although the EU will make two billion Czech crowns [70 million euros] available between 2008 and 2013, it is not yet clear what kind of concrete help the Roma should get."
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Mladá fronta Dnes - Czech Republic | Monday, 10. April 2006
This weekend, customers at a mall in Prague experienced what Roma gypsies often suffer in the Czech Republic: » more
This weekend, customers at a mall in Prague experienced what Roma gypsies often suffer in the Czech Republic: discrimination. "All those visiting one store," Lucie Frydecka explains, "had to pass through a security check after their purchase. It was primed and indicated with a loud beep that the customer must have stolen something, which gathered great crowds. 'People who had been wrongly charged had to suffer through uncomfortable moments,' said Jarmila Balazova of the Roma organisation Romea, justifying the action. It was well received by 'white' Czechs, which surprised the Roma."
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Lidové noviny - Czech Republic | Wednesday, 29. March 2006
The newspaper notes that the more than 300,000 Roma living in the Czech Republic will have no representation in the new Czech parliament to be elected this summer, as none of the parties has placed a member of this discriminated minority in a promising position on their lists. Petr Honzejk criticises the country's politicians: » more
The newspaper notes that the more than 300,000 Roma living in the Czech Republic will have no representation in the new Czech parliament to be elected this summer, as none of the parties has placed a member of this discriminated minority in a promising position on their lists. Petr Honzejk criticises the country's politicians: "The politicians say they are acting on the wishes of the Czech people who don't want to have Roma as neighbours. But this is nothing more than a shameful excuse. Who, if not the parties, is going to combat the current climate of xenophobia? The Roma need recognition and the knowledge that they are respected by the social majority. In this respect, all the talk of integration and multiculturalism is ridiculous. Any party leader who goes to the Roma ghettoes to win or even buy votes should be ashamed of himself."
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Kulturní týdeník A2 - Czech Republic | Thursday, 2. February 2006
On the site of a former concentration camp for Roma in southern Bohemia, which was administrated by the Czechs during Nazi times, an obscure ultra ... » more
On the site of a former concentration camp for Roma in southern Bohemia, which was administrated by the Czechs during Nazi times, an obscure ultra right-wing party has tried to win votes with a dirty campaign over the past few weeks. The campaign has been successful, as Alexandr Budka observes critically. "Over the past two weeks, a total of 366 articles, some of them on the title pages, have appeared in the press. The campaign has also received plenty of TV coverage. Yet not once has there been any attempt to throw light on the party's extremist views. Do our journalists seriously share the National Party's beliefs that the Roma themselves were to blame for their own deaths because they didn't wash themselves often enough? That the Czech nation never did anything wrong or that homosexuality can be cured, as the party claims? The media is only concerned with profit... Xenophobia and hate of foreigners obviously sell just as well as sex in their opinion. Otherwise, 'reports' like those on the National Party wouldn't appear at all."
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Právo - Czech Republic | Friday, 13. January 2006
A nationalist group is planning to erect a special kind of memorial stone on the site of a Nazi concentration camp for Roma in south ... » more
A nationalist group is planning to erect a special kind of memorial stone on the site of a Nazi concentration camp for Roma in south Bohemia. On the stone will be written that this was merely a labour camp, thereby denying that it was once a concentration camp. Paul Verner agrees with those expressing outrage. "The project is aimed at testing how many racist provocations the Czech state is willing to put up with... Unfortunately, this means that influential politicians such as President Vaclav Klaus and the communist EU representative Miloslav Ransdorf act as chief witnesses for the neo-Nazis. They too once denied that the concentration camp had been anything more than a labour camp. In doing so, they gave racists an ideological alibi."
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All available articles from » Pavel Verner
Slovenia
Dnevnik - Slovenia | Friday, 24. November 2006
"It comes a little too late," Samo Trtnik comments on the new law for protection of Roma as an ethnic minority proposed by the Slovenian ... » more
"It comes a little too late," Samo Trtnik comments on the new law for protection of Roma as an ethnic minority proposed by the Slovenian government on Thursday. The law foresees special rights for Roma regarding protection of their language and culture, and would guarantee them a seat in the Slovenian parliament. Up to now only the Hungarian and Italian minorities had been granted this special status in Slovenia. "The law will make its way through parliament and, according to the government, will be passed by the end of this year... However, it's more likely to take until the end of next year." Trtnik speculates on whether the law would have helped a Roma family that was forced out of a town in eastern Slovakia last October. "Perhaps it would have, perhaps not. But it certainly would have been a lot easier to find a solution to the problem."
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All available articles from » Samo Trtnik
Dnevnik - Slovenia | Thursday, 23. November 2006
At the end of October, the Slovenian government resettled a family of 35 Roma after residents of the east Slovenian town of Amrus attempted to ... » more
At the end of October, the Slovenian government resettled a family of 35 Roma after residents of the east Slovenian town of Amrus attempted to storm the Roma settlement on the outskirts of the town. Slovenia's Human Rights Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek not only informed the EU about the incident but publicly denounced the Slovenian government. "There are different approaches to the task of being Human Rights Ombudsman," Ranka Ivelja writes, and goes on to criticise Hanzek's offensive tactics. "You can either adopt a diplomatic, carefully engineered approach without making a big 'fuss' in the media but with maximum effect or appear on all the talk shows criticising the government without any consideration for the reactions of politicians and therefore risking having all the doors slam shut on you." Ivelja concludes that Hanzek has done his cause a disservice. "He could have been what an ombudsman is supposed to be – the voice of those who have no social power."
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Večer - Slovenia | Thursday, 5. January 2006
In a primary school in the Slovenian town of Novo Mesto, Roma children are now being taught separately from the other children in maths, Slovenian ... » more
In a primary school in the Slovenian town of Novo Mesto, Roma children are now being taught separately from the other children in maths, Slovenian and English classes. For Jasna Snezic, this represents a "compromise in the conflict between the school and Slovenian parents who were threatening to change schools and boycott lessons." Now all the children can learn under one roof without compromising their education. "Education minister Milan Zver repeatedly ensured that this separation was not ethnically motivated but based solely on the differing knowledge levels of the children."
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Switzerland
Tribune de Genève - Switzerland | Friday, 3. November 2006
The editorialist Jean-Noël Cuénod deplores the way the traveller community is treated in numerous Swiss districts. "Systematically, the creation of parking areas and camp sites are refused by cantons, local authorities and above all the community. Because it is indeed the community that pushes these authorities to discriminate against travellers. It is a strange situation where citizens use their democratic power to prevent others from benefiting from their rights. This marks out the limits of our direct democracy and poses this disturbing question: » more
The editorialist Jean-Noël Cuénod deplores the way the traveller community is treated in numerous Swiss districts. "Systematically, the creation of parking areas and camp sites are refused by cantons, local authorities and above all the community. Because it is indeed the community that pushes these authorities to discriminate against travellers. It is a strange situation where citizens use their democratic power to prevent others from benefiting from their rights. This marks out the limits of our direct democracy and poses this disturbing question: are the sedentary Swiss morally legitimated to impose their way of life on the nomadic Swiss? And yet the freedom of cultural expression is recognised by the European Court of Human Rights. The continent's higher decision-making body underlined in a ruling in 2001 that 'life in a caravan is an integral part Tzigane identity'".
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Estonia
SL Õhtuleht - Estonia | Wednesday, 22. February 2006
In its report on the situation of minorities in Estonia, the European Commission did not criticise the treatment of Russians living in the country, as expected, but rather the treatment of the Roma. Around 500 Roma live in Estonia. The newspaper is appalled: » more
In its report on the situation of minorities in Estonia, the European Commission did not criticise the treatment of Russians living in the country, as expected, but rather the treatment of the Roma. Around 500 Roma live in Estonia. The newspaper is appalled: "Reading the EU commission's report you would think things were worse here than they were in South Africa in the times of Apartheid... The report was written by a Romanian and a Slovak; both come from countries in which discrimination against Roma is widespread. They've automatically ascribed this problem to our country, too, so that the real situation here in Estonia is not reflected in the report. ... What are we supposed to make of the report when the incompetence of those who wrote it is revealed like this?
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Latvia
Delfi - Latvia | Wednesday, 25. January 2006
Fifteen years have passed since the "Barricade Days" during which Latvia's roads and bridges were prepared to fend off a Soviet invasion following the country's ... » more
Fifteen years have passed since the "Barricade Days" during which Latvia's roads and bridges were prepared to fend off a Soviet invasion following the country's declaration of independence. Ansis Dobelis takes stock. "Since those times, Latvia has suffered great economic hardship, but thanks to our hard work we can claim to have become competitive both within Europe and at an international level. Latvians, Russians, Lithuanians, Poles and Roma have all contributed to this progress... Thanks to an attitude of mutual tolerance, up to now we've managed to avoid major conflicts and there is no ethnically-motivated violence in everyday life."
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