News

Slovakia: Fascist Marian Kotleba in runoff for regional governor

Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, 11.11.2013 17:50, (ROMEA) A surprise result in recent elections for regional governor and regional council representatives in Slovakia is the success of right-wing extremist Marian Kotleba, who is an organizer of marches and other actions targeting Romani people. Kotleba made it into the second round of direct elections for regional governor and council chair in the Banská Bystrica Region, coming in second out of 11 candidates.  full story

Czech military intelligence: Extremism could grow into terrorism because of the economic crisis

Prague, 10.11.2013 22:27, (ROMEA) A report released on Thursday by the Military Intelligence services of the Czech Republic (Vojenské zpravodajství - VZ) for 2012 claims that because of the protracted economic crisis, either left or right-wing extremism could grow into the threat of terrorism, especially if the economic and societal situation in Europe does not improve. The Czech Republic and its allies are also at risk of terrorist attack by fundamentalist groups.  full story

OSCE conference on Roma inclusion

Strasbourg, 9.11.2013 19:24, (ROMEA) The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights held a two-day conference on the implementation of the 'OSCE Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti' in Vienna. In her keynote speech, MEP Lívia Járóka reminded that due the economic and social upheaval following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe had left the majority of Roma practically detached from national economies and sinking ever deeper into poverty.  full story

Join the open letter to the Board of Czech Television on the depiction of Romani people

Prague, 9.11.2013 19:07, (ROMEA) Documentary filmmaker Lukáš Senft, who has previously written an open letter to the creators of the "Sanitka 2" television serial, has decided to contact the Board of Czech Television about his concerns. "I would like to know: Will Czech Television soon be taking a clear, decisive step toward more fair and socially sensitive productions that will present the complexity of our world through the language of images in a way that does not simplify or trivialize it, but that reveals contexts, carefully making and analyzing important connections?" Senft writes in his open letter.  full story

Commentary: No surprise Czech MP Schwarz is being called a racist

Lom, 8.11.2013 21:50, (ROMEA) Who is newly-elected Czech MP Bronislav Schwarz? He is the director of the municipal police force in Most, a regional representative, and a councilor in the town of Lom who has loaned his name to the ANO 2011 political party which, as he has said, paid for his recent election campaign in exchange for his devotion and loyalty.  full story

Commentary: Romani actors play only primitive criminals in Czech tv serial

Prague, 8.11.2013 20:31, (ROMEA) A few days ago, Lukáš Senft, a documentary filmmaker and student at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, published an open letter to screenwriter Ivan Hubač and director Filip Renč, the creators of the tv serial "Sanitka 2", which is known to everyone from the time of the previous regime. In his letter, the author criticizes primarily the eighth episode of this serial and its depiction of the Romani minority as a dangerous, foreign, and incomprehensible group.  full story

Czech Christian Democrats: Ethnic origin must never be a parameter for judging anyone

Prague, 8.11.2013 1:02, (ROMEA) In a recent interview for the anti-Romani tabloid periodical Parlamentní listy, Czech Senator Jiří Čunek has once again expressed his peculiar approach toward Romani people. Čunek told the tabloid that he would like to be appointed by the party to a cabinet post so he could address the issue of Romani people.  full story

Czech Republic: Gypsy Spirit 2013 jury announces finalists

Prague, 8.11.2013 0:13, (ROMEA) On 1 November 2013, out of 87 nominations for the Gypsy Spirit award in the Czech Republic, finalists were selected by the nominating jury, comprised of members Jozef Baláž, Darina Batyiová, Jiřina Bradová, Jana Horváthová, Gabriela Hrabaňová, Magdaléna Karvayová, Renata Köttnerová, Petr Polák, Jelena Silajdžić, Andrea Šenkyříková and David Tišer. The nominating jury evaluated the proposals according to the following criteria:  full story

Greek PM promises to fight politically motivated violence

Athens, Greece, 7.11.2013 21:05, (ROMEA) Greek Prime Minister Antoinis Samaras made a television appearance Tuesday in which he announced that the Greek Government will fight tirelessly against political violence and will not permit violent crimes to influence the country's democratic order. Agence France-Presse reports that his remarks were made in response to the September murder of a human rights activist and singer by right-wing extremists and the subsequent murder of two members of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn last Friday in Athens.  full story

Czech intelligence service warns political parties may adopt extremist opinions

Prague, 7.11.2013 17:50, (ROMEA) In its annual report released today on its website, the Czech Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služba - BIS) warns that standard political parties in the country may start taking up extremist opinions, especially at municipal level. BIS says that while the extremists themselves are becoming attenuated, political parties might exploit their opinions in order to earn the votes of people who are dissatisfied and frustrated, for example, because of the economic crisis.  full story

Greece: Police intensively searching for murderers of right-wing extremists

Athens, Greece, 6.11.2013 23:35, (ROMEA) The Greek Police are intensively searching for whoever it was that shot two members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party to death last Friday in Athens. Two people were killed and a third seriously injured in the drive-by shooting.  full story

Czech tabloid seizes on critique of tv show view of Roma to stir up trouble

Prague, 6.11.2013 21:51, (ROMEA) Director Filip Renč has allegedly begun responding with vulgar abuse to the rising criticism of his depictions of Romani people in the television serial "Sanitka 2" as completely racist and unrealistic. Attorney Klára Samková referred to Renč as an "idiot" in a post to her Facebook profile discussing the serial, and according to the editor of a Czech tabloid, Renč then called Samková a "gypsy cow".  full story

Daily Mail criticizes Romani living conditions in Slovakia

Košice, Slovakia, 6.11.2013 17:40, (ROMEA) The British newspaper The Daily Mail has sharply criticized the living conditions of Romani people in Slovakia's second-largest city, Košice, which was also chosen by the EU to be this year's "European Capital of Culture". The paper reports that the town won more than GBP 51 million worth of grants as a result of the designation and asks why "Romani children are still living in such horrible squalor" there. (For the original article, see (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2486333/Kosice-won-51million-grants-named-Europes-Capital-Culture--thousands-Roma-children-living-slums.html).  full story

Four Czech citizens imprisoned for welfare fraud in Britain

London, 6.11.2013 17:18, (ROMEA) The Nottingham Post has reported in its online edition that a court in that northern English town sentenced four members of a family from the Czech Republic yesterday to between two and five years in prison for systematically abusing the British welfare system and defrauding it of GBP 750 000. One of the family members received a suspended sentence.  full story

Czech director defends his depiction of Romani people in tv serial

Prague, 6.11.2013 0:17, (ROMEA) Lukáš Senft, a documentary filmmaker and student at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague has written an open letter to the creators of the television serial "Sanitka 2", screenwriter Ivan Hubač and director Filip Renč. In his letter, which was also published by news server Romea.cz, Senft takes the serial's creators to task for lying about Romani people and depicting them as a bloodthirsty, dangerous, foreign and incomprehensible minority.  full story

The Romanes language celebrates its international day today

Prague, 5.11.2013 22:53, (ROMEA) Aspirated sounds and an eighth additional case - those are just some of the differences between the Czech and Romanes languages. As part of the International Day of the Romani Language, we reflect on these differences today.  full story

Austrian court convicts seven men of neo-Nazi activity

Vienna, Austria, 5.11.2013 17:31, (ROMEA) An Austrian court convicted seven men of neo-Nazi activity today, ranging from an 18-month suspended sentence to six years in prison without parole. The Austrian Press Agency reports that the trial was accompanied by strict security measures.  full story

Open letter to the writers of the Czech television serial "Sanitka 2"

Prague, 5.11.2013 17:04, (ROMEA) Mr Hubač, Mr Renč,  full story

Czech activist and journalist Emil Szirmai has passed away

Prague, 5.11.2013 16:23, (ROMEA) Emil Szirmai has passed away. Many people knew him better than I did. His colleagues and friends of many years can write about what he worked on his whole life, what his interests were. For my part I can say that Emil was intensively involved, for more than 10 years, in questions of equality and justice for national minorities. In connection with Romani people he developed and worked on activities both in nonprofit organizations and in state institutions that were sometimes just amazing.  full story

Roma evictions right in the heart of the European capital

Brussels, 5.11.2013 11:01, (ROMEA) More than 220 people, including 90 children, will be doomed to live in the street after they were ordered on Thursday, 31 October to leave the building where they used to reside for more than four years. After many days of pressure and not knowing, the house is (on Monday 4, November) full of the police ready for the eviction. The police turn up 5:45 this morning!  full story