News

Commentary: How to learn hatred for poor Romani people

Prague, 1.11.2012 18:04, (ROMEA) The title of this article might make some readers angry. Why not - for years we have been hearing all around us how Romani people drive their Mercedes to get their welfare money - which can be any amount they like, as much as they are able to shout down the authorities for - how their purchases in pharmacies are free of charge, how non-Romani people who commit the same crimes get stricter punishments than Romani people do, etc. Imagination knows no limits.  full story

Commentary: Czech domestic intelligence reports short on intelligence

Prague, 1.11.2012 0:50, (ROMEA) The activities of the Security Information Services (Bezpečnostní informační služby - BIS) here in the Czech Republic and their reports to the public are truly amazing. More than once, without exaggeration, I have compared their "reports" on extremism to ninth-grade composition exercises. The "information" their latest report provides us about developments on the extremist scene during the third quarter of 2012 unfortunately just confirms my previous descriptions (the report is available in Czech only at http://bis.cz/2012-3q-zprava-extremismus.html).  full story

Michaela Marksová-Tominová: The strange Czech practice of "inclusion"

Prague, 31.10.2012 3:05, (ROMEA) I am very involved in advocating for inclusive education in the Czech school system. For a year and a half I had the opportunity to work at the Education Ministry as the director of its Equal Opportunities in Education Department, which was involved in introducing inclusive education and collaborating on transforming the special - or rather, today the "practical" - schools. I will use the original name, "special schools", in this piece, even though that name is no longer used in practice, because that term corresponds best to what these schools still are in reality.  full story

Czech Police say attack on Romani minor, hospitalized with bleeding of the brain, was a "misdemeanor"

Ostrava, 31.10.2012 1:46, (ROMEA) Ladislav N., a 14-year old Romani boy from Ostrava-Přívoz, was hospitalized recently with bleeding of the brain. His mother, Jana Fišerová, says he was assaulted and beaten. Police officers initially said that was the case, but then began to investigate the matter as a misdemeanor only.  full story

Hundreds of videos inciting racial hatred available on YouTube

Prague, 31.10.2012 0:23, (ROMEA) Hundreds of videos inciting racial hatred are freely available on the YouTube website, including videos of songs with Czech-language lyrics, but police do not know how to intervene against their authors. Allegedly the perpetrators cannot be prosecuted because the website belongs to an American company and is not subject to Czech law.  full story

Many questions, few answers for Toronto’s Roma: Fiorito

Toronto, 29.10.2012 23:02, (The Star) There is more to know as a result of the Roma Health Forum held a while ago. As you recall: the purpose of the forum was to discuss the problems faced by Roma refugee claimants in Toronto.  full story

Life through a Lens with Roma children

Kosice, 29.10.2012 22:16, (Creative Boom) A photographer and lecturer from Cambridge is hoping to stage a photography project which will run for two weeks at the Roma community, Lunik IX in Košice, Slovakia.  full story

Commentary: How should Romani representatives be appointed?

Prague, 29.10.2012 21:42, (ROMEA/Romano hangos) During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy - who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by Ondřej Klípa, who has been entrusted with representing the management of the Office of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs.  full story

Greek Metropolitan Bishop says neo-Nazis are the people's hope

Athens, Greece, 29.10.2012 19:23, (ROMEA) A leading representative of the Greek Orthodox church, Metropolitan Bishop Ambrosios of Kalavryta, shocked the public yesterday by calling the neo-Nazis in the Golden Dawn party the "sweet hope" of the people. Online Greek news server newsit.gr called the statements of the clergyman symptoms of insanity.  full story

Exhibition shows Czech hypocrisy on education of Romani people

Prague, 29.10.2012 18:24, (ROMEA) The Open Society Justice Initiative has supported the creation of an exhibition of photographs of Romani parents, accompanied by their stories, entitled "Failing Another Generation" (in Czech, "Jak vztratit další generaci"). The exhibition will open on 13 November 2012 at 19:30 in the arcade of the Lucerna Palace in Prague.  full story

videoCzech hockey club apologizes to Canadian player for fans' racism

Chomutov, 29.10.2012 16:56, (ROMEA) The management of the Chomutov Pirates Czech Extraliga hockey team (Piráti Chomutov) has publicly apologized to Wayne Simmonds, a forward for the Liberec hockey team, for the racist insults aimed at him by several Pirates fans during yesterday's game. Simmonds, a Black Canadian, became the target of the insults toward the end of the game, which Chomutov won 3:2 in overtime.  full story

Jerusalem gypsies want Israeli citizenship

Jerusalem, 28.10.2012 20:29, (The Jerusalem Post) The 2,000 members of Jerusalem’s Muslim gypsy population want to become Israeli citizens, Mukhtar Abed Salim told Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat on Sunday. Barkat visited the capital’s small and impoverished gypsy population on Sunday to wish them happy holidays for the Eid al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice], one of the most important Muslim holidays of the year. The gypsies, in turn, celebrated the mayor’s 53rd birthday last week with a special cake featuring the mayor’s face.  full story

Open ‘CONTEST 2012: Make a Change'

Brussels , 28.10.2012 15:57, (ROMEA) RomaReact.org announces Make a Change: Open Contest 2012, a video and photo contest made possible by a donation from European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes. The contest is individuals above the age of 16 who live in European Union countries or in Albania, Macedonia or Turkey.  full story

Commentary: Czech organizations leech off of "gypsy subsidies"

Liberec, 28.10.2012 0:24, (ROMEA/Romano hangos) During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy - who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by Dušan Kotlár, a staffer with the Romský život (Romani Life) association in Liberec.  full story

Commentary: Romani ideologies include radical nationalism

Děčín, 27.10.2012 22:53, (ROMEA/Romano hangos) During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy - who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by the head of the Děčín branch of the Counseling Center for Citizenship and Civil and Human Rights (Poradna pro občanství, občanská a lidská práva), Drahomír Radek Horváth.  full story

Czech Republic: The fatal catastrophe of the Předlice ghetto

Ústí nad Labem, 27.10.2012 21:58, (ROMEA) The Předlice neighborhood in Ústí nad Labem is probably the worst, perhaps even the largest, impoverished ghetto in the Czech Republic. News reports have run recently that the residents of some buildings in the neighborhood will be evicted and will probably be re-housed in residential hotels charging usurious rates. What is happening in Předlice?  full story

The First Roma Journal of Turkey: Rom-ca

Ankara, 27.10.2012 21:48, (ROMEA) The first Roma journal of Turkey Rom-ca is the sign of the development of Roma in Turkey. Many Roma journals were published in Europe since 1900s. However there were no periodicals prepared by Roma in Turkey until 2012. Rom-ca which is published by Abdullah Cıstır, who is a Roma entrepreneur and activist, became the first example of periodicals focusing on Roma in Turkey.  full story

Roma Woman Wins Case against Bulgaria at Strasbourg

Sofia, 27.10.2012 21:45, (ROMEA) Bulgaria has been found guilty of failing to protect the right to life and of discrimination against a female Roma citizen, who filed a case at the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights.  full story

Lívia Járóka: The situation of the most disadvantaged communities must be dealt with on the upcoming Council Summit

Brussel, 27.10.2012 21:37, (ROMEA) In her one minute speech MEP Lívia Járóka welcomed the European Council's commitment towards boosting employment and social inclusion and expressed her hope that the upcoming summit in November would reinforce the proposals aiming at the most disadvantaged communities.  full story

Commentary: Romani people who won't take a look at themselves harm everyone

Prague, 27.10.2012 21:00, (ROMEA/Romano hangos) During discussions on the website of the Romea news server (www.romea.cz), the debates between pro-Romani and Romani activists have often returned on various occasions to the topic of legitimacy - who can and should "speak on behalf of Romani people" or "represent Romani people" in the Czech Republic? The Editor-in-Chief of the Romano hangos periodical, Pavel Pečínka, has reached out to a circle of his regular contributors with questions that can all be summarized under the basic question of: Who can speak "for Romani people"? News server Romea.cz is gradually publishing the responses submitted to him by selected authors. Below is the translation of the response submitted by iDNES.cz editor Patrik Banga.  full story