antigypsyism

Romania: 900 protest recent violence against Roma in Italy and Ukraine, more demonstrations in other European countries to follow

29.7.2018 13:34 As many as 900 people assembled on Saturday, 28 July 2018 in Bucharest, Romani in front of the Italian and Ukrainian embassies to express their disagreement with many violent anti-Romani crimes and to protest antigypsyism in Europe. The assemblies were the first in a series of protests that are being realized in nine European countries.  full story

Romani NGOs around Europe ask why the OSCE is researching alleged radicalization of their communities in Serbia

18.7.2018 15:16 Representatives of Romani organizations from around Europe have contacted the head of the OSCE's mission to Serbia to express their alarm over the 10 July 2018 announcement of a search for a “Researcher on Radicalization among the Roma Community in Serbia”. The Romani representatives say they are deeply concerned about the growing insecurity of Roma in Europe as a result of extremist antigypsyism in a number of OSCE participating States.


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Belgium: Roma Travellers evicted from caravan site in Anderlecht neighborhood of Brussels

5.7.2018 15:38 The Brussels Times reported on 29 June that Romani families, including families with minor children, were eventually forced by Anderlecht municipality to move away from a privately-owned caravan site. News server Romea.cz reported on the impending eviction on 26 June.
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Belgium: Roma Travellers to be evicted in EU capital, fire reported at their halting site

26.6.2018 13:47 The European Roma Grassroots Organizations network reports that Roma Travellers living in the Anderlecht neighborhood of Brussels, Belgium are scheduled to be evicted on 28 June and that part of their camp has been set on fire. All are reportedly Belgian Roma whose ancestors have lived in the country for centuries.  full story

Albania: Romani people left without citizenship anywhere

20.6.2018 8:18 A new report by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), and the Tirana Legal Aid Society (TLAS) finds that discrimination is subjecting Romani people to the danger of statelessness in Albania. The report was launched on 8 June in the Albanian capital at an event attended by Government ministers, Romani people who are stateless, and UN officials.  full story

Jonathan Lee: Antigypsyism is a cancer at the heart of Europe

15.6.2018 14:57 Jonathan Lee, who is of Traveller origin, works for the European Roma Rights Centre as their Communications Coordinator. In this interview, Nigel Smith interviews him for the "Deep Dive" program on YouTube's network67society channel.
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Nationalists desecrate Czech memorial to genocide of the Roma

8.6.2018 8:26 The memorial to the genocide of the Roma at Lety u Písku has been desecrated with insulting anti-Roma messages on several signs posted there by the nationalist group "Us Against All" (My proti všem). According to the police who have begun to investigate the incident it could be one of felony disorderly conduct.  full story

RESPEKT: Czech EdMin considering amendments that could undo inclusive education

1.6.2018 8:52 Václav Krása, a former MP who has long been the chair of the Czech National Disability Council, recently called for an immediate meeting with acting Czech Education Minister Robert Plaga (ANO). Krása has gotten wind of the proposed amendments to a ministerial decree about educating children with special educational needs (better known as the "inclusion decree").  full story

Czech Civic Democrats may exclude member who called Meghan Markle a "gypsy"

22.5.2018 7:12 News server Aktuálně.cz reports that the chair of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala, has called on René Franěk, a member of the party council for the Nymburk area who is also director of the zoo in the Central Bohemian town of Chleby, to apologize for a recent post he made on social networks about Saturday's Royal Wedding of Britain's Prince Harry to the American actress Meghan Markle. Franěk posted that "the heir to the throne is marrying a gypsy woman", a remark that Fiala says he considers distasteful, insulting and racist.  full story

videoMEP Soraya Post for ROMEA TV: Antigypsyism exists everywhere in Europe

29.4.2018 8:51 According to Romani MEP Soraya Post, antigypsyism and discrimination against Romani people are a problem in every European country. In Sweden, where she comes from, the general living conditions for Romani people are, in her opinion, much better than in Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.

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videoRoma Week at the European Parliament: 40 young Roma discuss antigypsyism with MEPs

27.4.2018 8:07 Activists, experts, organizations working to combat persistent hatred of Romani people in Europe, and politicians have finished the third annual Roma Week at the European Parliament and other EU institutions, which began on 8 April 2018, International Romani Day. According to the organizers, the aim of Roma Week is to bring together Romani activists, experts and youth from the European states in order to contribute to developing a European strategy against antigypsyism and to discussing options for addressing the situation of Romani people throughout Europe.  full story

Alliance against Antigypsyism: EU Roma Week is an opportunity to focus on tackling antigypsyism in Europe

21.4.2018 7:24 The third annual EU Roma Week at the European Parliament was launched on International Roma Day (8 April) this year. The annual advocacy event is an important opportunity to put the fight against antigypsyism – the specific form of racism faced by Roma, Sinti and Travellers – at the forefront of the European Union agenda, and to highlight the need to uphold the fundamental rights of Roma in Europe.  full story

Italian police forcibly evict yet another Roma camp

31.3.2018 13:40

According to Italian news site La Stampa, Italian police in Beinasco demolished a Roma camp on 7 March, forcing five families to leave their homes. Almost all the camp’s inhabitants had already left the location in recent days, complying with an ordinance issued on 20 December 2017 by the municipality. One elderly woman remained in her home, only to be driven out by bulldozers.

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Analysis: Czech Fascists and fascisizing politicians, yesterday and today (Part One)

25.3.2018 17:47 The Czech Republic is heading toward authoritarian government. The prime movers in this respect are Czech President Miloš Zeman, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš,
Czech MP Tomio Okamura and his "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD), supported by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM).  full story

Antigypsyism on the agenda at EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance

17.12.2017 7:24 The EU’s High-Level Group on combating racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance, which brings together representatives of EU Member States and civil society, put a special emphasis on discussing antigypsyism at their 4th High-Level Meeting in Brussels on 5 December 2017. Vera Jourova, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, expressed deep concerns regarding the widespread social acceptance of antigypsyism in Europe.  full story

Czech Republic: International student conference on "European Roma Identity in the 20th Century"

11.12.2017 6:41 From 7-9 December 2017 a student conference entitled "European Roma Identity in the 20th Century" took place in Prague at the Scout Institute. The event was organized by Antikomplex and the Terezín Initiative Institute in collaboration with other partners in a project of the same name.  full story

European Parliament: Roma in the EU face antigypsyism and everyday discrimination that must stop

27.10.2017 10:47 According to most members of the European Parliament (EP), Romani people throughout the European Union (EU) are being denied access to education, employment and health care. Some are forcibly displaced and racist assaults on them are investigated very slowly.  full story

Ivan Kandráč: Roma seeking rentals are out of luck in the Czech Republic

12.10.2017 12:15 If you live in an excluded locality in the Czech Republic and you want to move away from it, you will obviously seek a rental elsewhere. You will look for one in a classified advertisement, call the manager, personally view the property, sign the contract and move in.  full story

Czech Internet parody about Roma allegedly getting free butter backfires - online hysteria as thousands believe it

12.10.2017 9:37 In recent weeks the Facebook social networking site has been disseminating an avalanche of Czech-language rumors alleging that Romani people do not have to pay for butter. The initial allegation read as follows: "I was in a shop to buy my children salami, spreadable cheese, etc. The minority were ahead of me, they chose some butter and then they got out a paper from the social welfare office... the sales clerk confirmed it for them and they left. I asked what it was and she told me they are socially vulnerable so the state pays for their butter."  full story

Czech Republic: Head of ROMEA receiving threats against his family, antigypsyism on the rise

11.10.2017 10:32 According to Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of the Romani media agency ROMEA in the Czech Republic, hate speech against Romani people is reviving after a brief lull and is even more intensive than it was before. He also believes that the boundaries are being pushed in terms of the content of such hate speech and tolerance for it.  full story