Romano voďi

UN Committee: Racial discrimination against Romani people persists unabated in Slovakia

7.9.2022 8:13  full story

Oksana Marafioti: Writing is a constant discovery for me

2.4.2017 10:28 The author Oksana Marafioti considers the creative process to be one of discovery. For me it was a discovery to meet her - she is a beautiful, charismatic woman who is resolute in her opinions and thoughtful as well.  full story

First issue of Romano voďi magazine features Romani author Oksana Marafioti on the life of Roma in Georgia

29.3.2017 10:56 Whether we like it or not, since time immemorial stories have wielded great power over our lives. They can be legends, myths, or the narratives of political regimes and religions.  full story

Foster families of Romani children help them find their roots again in the Czech Republic

12.10.2016 17:17 Martina Vančáková, organizer of an annual meeting of foster families caring for Romani children as part of the "Our Romani Child" program, has just sent me a message: "I'll pick you up at the station in a big yellow car." She is a psychologist and Romani Studies scholar as well as a co-worker of the Center for Foster Family Care, which is organizing the experiential education trip.  full story

Jitka Hatinová: All children must get the same chance to be educated

16.9.2016 6:35 Even though Jitka Hatinová is a special needs educator today, her first desire was to become a nurse. In fact, she even graduated from nursing school.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court to review town's forced relocation of Romani residents

17.8.2016 12:14 The almost decade-long dispute between the Czech town of Vsetín and the Romani residents whom the town evicted and then forcibly relocated into villages entirely outside of the Zlín Region will now be reviewed by the Czech Constitutional Court. The town of Vsetín has filed a constitutional complaint in the matter.  full story

Czech Republic: White supremacist group launches "Anti-Multikulti Watch"

5.8.2016 12:13 In the era of online social networking it is easier than ever before to automatically collect and store data and to analyze the opinions, political convictions and values of large numbers of people simultaneously. Frequently this concerns numbers of people exponentially larger than those on the list of persons called the "Anti-Multikulti Watch" that is part of the racist website of the Czech-language White Media organization, an extremist website run anonymously from servers located outside the Czech Republic.  full story

The online hoax phenomenon and how to address it

29.6.2016 8:05 Modern media and communications technology are connecting people across the global village, facilitating the dissemination and sharing of information without any of the
previous obstacles posed by space and time. The demand for open communications and the concurrent flood of information, however, increasingly require us to be able to
think critically and verify the information we receive.  full story

Most Czech regions uninterested in subsidizing lunches for impoverished children, some because they would be Romani

26.6.2016 20:37 For some time the numbers of children living in families who are in material distress has been rising in the Czech Republic, including the numbers of families who cannot afford to sign their children up for lunch at school. Even though ministries, nonprofit organizations, and Regional Authorities are aiding such children financially, the available money is not reaching all who need it.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani author and journalist Gejza Demeter has passed away

9.12.2015 17:28 The eminent Romani author and journalist Gejza Demeter has passed away; his funeral will be this Friday, 11 December, at 13:00 in the ceremonial hall of the cemetery in Neratovice. Jan Červenka, head of the Romani Studies Seminar at Charles University in Prague contacted news server Romea.cz on behalf of Mr Demeter's family last week with the news.  full story

Mastermind of Paris assassinations was killed during police raid on Wednesday

20.11.2015 16:08 The alleged main organizer of the terrorist attacks in France, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed during a police raid on Wednesday of the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, according to the Paris Prosecutor. "Abdelhamid Abaaoud was formally identified. He was killed during the police raid," reads the prosecutor's press release.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum asks Pope to revise his rhetoric on Roma

6.11.2015 17:52 In a letter addressed to the Pope today, the President of the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF) Mr Gheorghe Raducanu welcomes the Catholic Church's recent initiatives to combat discrimination against Roma, Sinti and Travellers, but regrets that some of the Pope's well-intentioned remarks are likely to instead promote the sentiments that promote such discrimination by the majority population. “Asking the audience to be good Christians 'avoiding all that is not worthy of this name: lies, frauds, swindles, altercation', is excellent advice to be addressed to all Christians but, in the context of an audience with Roma and Sinti, this advice seems to be addressed exclusively to them," the letter notes.  full story

Eva Clarke, born at Mauthausen when the Third Reich collapsed

11.5.2015 10:58 Eva Clarke and her mother Anka Bergman escaped the gas chamber at the Nazi concentration camp of Mauthausen in the nick of time. Eva was born there on 29 April 1945 when the Third Reich collapsed.  full story

Romani camp on alert in Pisa: Community mobilizing against evacuation

Italy, Pisa, 4.11.2014 12:14, (ROMEA) The situation for 120 Romani people living in Bigattiera camp in Pisa, Italy, is starting to become really complicated.  full story

Czech intelligence: Protesting the ultra-right makes you "extremist", pro-Romani activists are "biased"

Prague, 27.10.2014 16:48, (ROMEA) Increased interethnic tensions in several regions last year represented the most significant risk factor to the democratic order of the Czech Republic, according to the Security Information Services (Bezpečnostní informační služby - BIS). Anti-Romani sentiment among certain segments of the public could become an even more significant problem for state security than the more extreme but less numerous right-wing radical groups.  full story

Documentary film review: "All My Children"

Prague, 17.7.2014 20:00, (ROMEA) "All My Children" (Všetky moje deti), a documentary by Slovak director Ladislav Kaboš, captures the charismatic priest Marián Kuffa and the unusual aid he provides to Romani people. His aim is not to give them what they lack free of charge, but to teach them to help themselves.  full story

Demons of the Czech internet: Complexes, hatred, and frustration

Prague, 14.7.2014 20:00, (ROMANO VOĎI) "I want to show how absurd it is for anyone to claim to be a 'decent Czech' while simultaneously making some of the claims that turn up in the online discussions beneath news articles," says Jan Jablunka. His recent online video series, "Decent Czech" (Slušný Čech), which draws attention to the "demons of Czech online discussions", has recently poked thoroughly at more than one hornet's nest here.  full story

Hate violence and Romani people in the Czech Republic

Prague, 4.7.2014 16:34, (ROMANO VOĎI) According to research by the European Commission, 32 % of Romani people living in the Czech Republic have been physically assaulted or threatened with such an attack because of their nationality. Almost two-thirds of Romani assault victims never reported the attack.  full story

Adoption and foster care: "We had room at the table"

Czech Republic, 4.7.2014 0:46, (ROMANO VOĎI) "My children used ask me, when they were little and we were out shopping, 'Mom, why does that weird man keep walking behind us?' The minute we entered a department store, the security was on our backs. By adopting Romani children, we had become a Czech-Romani family. I used to tell them: 'Well, you know, we are important customers, so we have our own VIP protection.' Today we just laugh when it happens - sometimes I repeat my explanation out loud, and if the security guards are even a bit decent, they leave us alone and stop following us, but of course we encounter greater mistrust everywhere we go," says Martina Vančáková, a mother of four children - two Romani- of her experience in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech project on local politics shows importance of discussing Roma issues with students

Prague, 30.6.2014 20:10, (ROMANO VOĎI) As part of a project called the "Local Politics Role-Playing Game", we have once again been encountering anti-Romani sentiment among students in Czech high schools. Are these genuinely racist attitudes these students hold, or is this about a lack of communication?  full story