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Czech Romani Studies scholar says that when Roma do well, so does all of society

27.3.2015 22:25 "The values held by Romani people are basically the same values as those held by the majority society," Mgr. Zbyněk Andrš, Ph.D., an ethnologist and Romani Studies scholar from the Social Sciences Department at the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Pardubice said in an interview for news server EuroZprávy.cz. Andrš says the reason that a large number of Romani people perform unskilled labor and enjoy lower standards of living is that their access to the authorities and to education is comparatively worse.  full story

Commentary: European Roma Institute will use the power of culture

27.3.2015 21:49, (Frankfurter Rundschau) The German Sinti and Roma can look back on some good weeks: Recently, Federal Supreme Court President Bettina Limperg signaled the readiness of the court for a historical investigation into its "unreasonable jurisdiction" concerning Sinti and Roma. As a result of a discriminatory Supreme Court ruling from 1956 victims of National Socialism had been denied the compensation of their suffering for decade  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel owner fined CZK 550 000 over shocking conditions

27.3.2015 21:31, (ROMEA) Pavel Mirga, the operator of a troubled residential hotel on Dluhonská Street in Přerov, has been fined CZK 550 00 (EUR 20 000) because his residential hotel facility was never properly registered. Kamila Navrátilová, spokesperson for the Regional Authority, told the Czech News Agency that the decision has yet to take effect and could be appealed.  full story

Why we are setting up a European Roma Institute

27.3.2015 20:23, (European Voice) For more than four decades Europe’s Roma community have wanted to establish an institution that would give their music, art and unique traditions their own stage. Across the continent, such bodies exist to celebrate an array of cultures, nationalities and identities. Yet, there is nothing of this kind for Roma. Many feel this absence, particularly among Romani campaigners, educators and intellectuals. It compounds a sense of exclusion and denies all of us the opportunity to celebrate the Roma influence on our shared cultural life. We are joining forces to help put this right.  full story

Czech ombud responds to critics about Romani discrimination findings: Test cases are a serious approach

27.3.2015 19:57, (ROMEA) The Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, issued a press release about discrimination against prospective Romani tenants on 22 December 2014. There was no greater response to her findings at that time.  full story

Documentary shows Roma from Slovak settlements singing with non-Romani musicians

26.3.2015 19:41, (ROMEA) Hundreds of ancient Romani songs have been collected by the ethnomusicologist Jana Belišová during her long-term research in Slovakia. Her meetings with Romani musicians there inspired her to undertake a new project bringing non-Romani and Romani musicians together.  full story

Czech News Agency produces biased, stereotyping report about Janov housing estate

25.3.2015 20:51, (ROMEA) In its 24 March report about the events around the Janov housing estate in Litvínov, the Czech News Agency, an independent public wire service, has committed some serious infractions against the "objective" reporting that is its mission under the law. The criticism levied by media analyses showing that Romani people ("inadaptables") are depicted stereotypically by the Czech media applies to this wire service to a great extent .
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Czech ministers of human rights and labor to review situation at Janov housing estate

Litvínov, 25.3.2015 19:07, (ROMEA) The situation at the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov, according to Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, will be reviewed by his fellow Social Democrats in the cabinet, Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová. The PM has written as much to the initiators of a petition who complained of their allegedly impossible coexistence at the housing estate with socially vulnerable residents, primarily Romani ones.
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Slovakia: Number of extremist crimes drops

Bratislava, Slovakia, 25.3.2015 18:55, (ROMEA) The number of crimes connected with extremism and racial motivation has fallen in Slovakia in recent years. The Slovak Interior Ministry announced these findings on 20 March.  full story

Internet discussions: To delete, or not to delete?

25.3.2015 17:23, (ROMEA) The vast majority of democrats are advocates of the broadest possible freedom of speech, because no democracy can exist without it. Those who back an absolute freedom of speech, however, are most frequently recruited, paradoxically, from the ranks of those who disseminate pornography or racism, people whom it may difficult for the rest of us to consider democrats.  full story

Greece: Neo-Nazi boss released from custody awaiting trial

Athens, 24.3.2015 18:34, (ROMEA) On Friday a Greek court decided to release Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the head of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, from custody. Greek media report that he has been transferred to house arrest.  full story

Czech Republic: 17.5 years for two counts of attempted murder of homeless people

Prague, 24.3.2015 18:04, (ROMEA) A court has sentenced Jan Mokrý, a college student, to 17.5 years in prison for two counts of attempted murder against homeless people in Prague. The young man told the court that he admires Adolf Hitler, confessed to the crimes, and said he regretted that his victims had survived.  full story

Czech Republic: NGO director says young educated Roma must enter politics

23.3.2015 23:15, (ROMEA) The main aim of the Roma Leadership Program of the nonprofit organization Slovo 21 is for 16 chosen young Romani people to learn how to become leadership figures and eventually get involved in local or even national politics. Educated Roma people who are currently studying or who have already graduated from college have been selected to participate.  full story

Karel Holomek: We cannot reconcile ourselves to segregation

23.3.2015 19:32, (ROMEA) The term "inclusive education" (inkluzívní vzdělávání) is turning up at a high frequency now and as a matter of course in all circles in the Czech Republic, both among experts and among lay people. We have all accepted it, whether we feel negatively or positively about it, without realizing that we have much more apposite, precise words already in Czech for what we might mean when we use this phrase.  full story

France: Director makes action film with itinerant Roma

22.3.2015 21:28, (ROMEA) French director Jean-Charles Hue has long been involved in making films about an itinerant Romani family in the south of France. His third feature-length film once again features several time-tested representatives of this community in a movie that combines the action thriller genre with stylistic elements of film noir.
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videoWorld Water Day: Let's talk about Roma in Europe

22.3.2015 18:42, (ROMEA) Most of us take clean water for granted. It is abundant, provided directly in our homes, and checked continuously to ensure it meets quality and safety standards. Images of long treks to access water, sometimes through difficult or dangerous terrain, are associated in our minds with other continents, where we imagine that this time-consuming and labour-intensive task is a part of daily life for some people. Yet all across Europe there are people living without access to clean water and many of them are Roma.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Romani charity ball raises money for children's home

Ústí nad Labem, 22.3.2015 1:25, (ROMEA) The second annual Romani Charity Ball took place on Friday, 20 March 2015 in the House of Culture in Ústí nad Labem, raising CZK 50 000 (EUR 1 820) for children living in a children's home there. Mayor Josef Zikmund gave his auspices to the ball and contributed CZK 10 000 from his own fund, while those in attendance collected the remaining CZK 40 000.  full story

Ukraine: Roma in Transcarpathia fear hunger, mobilization and the police

21.3.2015 23:59, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz has interviewed Romani studies scholar Michael Beníšek about the everyday life of Romani people in the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod and its environs, their concerns, identity and language, their relationship toward the gadje, their love of Bollywood films and the new wave of Romani refugees from Transcarpathia now entering Britain with Hungarian passports. Beníšek studied Indology and Romani Studies at the Philosophy Faculty of Charles University in Prague, where he then remained at the Romani Studies Seminar as an educator  full story

Czech Republic: New book transforms views of Romani literature

21.3.2015 21:05, (ROMEA) The Czech literary monthly Host (Guest) has reviewed a collection of stories called "The Sun Sets in the Morning" (Slunce zapadá už ráno), the Romani authors of which won a 2014 Roma Spirit award. The Host review focuses on the authorial experiences to date of Eva Danišová, Irena Eliášová, Jana Hejkrlíková and Iveta Kokyová, saying that they focus on "women's" themes because their works discuss the issues of family and partner relationships, generational change, the position of Romani women in their community and outside it, or recollections of childhood.  full story

Fedor Gál: Czech President should not go to Moscow

21.3.2015 20:06, (ROMEA) In an interview for the Czech News Agency, Slovak sociologist and former dissident Fedor Gál, who celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday, said that nostalgic recollections of the communist era 25 years after the fall of the regime are incomprehensible to him. The founding member of the "Public against Violence" movement said he also does not understand why people hate the politicians them themselves elect.  full story