Drugs, alcohol and gambling are major problems that have already destroyed many families in the Czech Republic. Their stories are so tragic. This is an issue that also touches Romani families. It reached the point when a mother informs a police that her son uses and possesses drugs. I already wrote about it in a reportage called Time bomb for Roma.

The mother was hoping that her son would get rid of his addiction in prison. This kind of a decision is rare in Romani communities as relationships among all family members are emotionally very deep. For this reason Czech families living with drug addicts were shocked when the government partially decriminalized but not legalized drugs. Possession of even a small amount of drugs is since January this year still against the law but only as a minor offence.

In short, this did not help families to fight a battle against drug addiction but, on the contrary, the new law pushed them into a dead end. The media have analyzed whether this is a solution to a problem or only a justification for those who have chosen drugs as a lifestyle. I was shocked when I heard some leading Czech political figures say that they actually tried this or that drug and that in general it is not terrible at all. But when I look around, I see how alarming the situation is! I am not sure whether I want and would be able to bring up my children in the Czech Republic. I may try to lead my son or daughter in the right direction but he or she will once return from school as a different person. Because their friends will take drugs as an acceptable and common pleasure, so why should one resist?

The government warns that drugs are still illegal. But because the possession of drugs under set limits is not a criminal offence any longer, but rather a minor offence, the majority of Roma who I talked to interpret it as a permission.

There is a civic association whose leader is a local Romani woman in Mlada Boleslav. She has been trying to solve the devastating drug addiction of the Romani youth for several years. She creates various activities with them trying to discover their hidden talents and abilities. She simply tries to offer these young people a chance for their self-fulfillment. Unfortunately, there is not much success but saving at least one life means a lot to her. She does not talk much but understands the issue well as both her sons are drug addicts. Change of the law made her upset and sad. According to her, almost every Romani family has a child who takes drugs and once they start there is only a little chance that they will stop. She knows children whose drug addiction is so bad that they take drugs directly in front of their parents. But sadly, also older Roma have started to like drugs.

The situation is much worse in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia. Here you suddenly enter the world of which drugs are an integral part. Wherever you look, you see a weirdly walking person with a dimmed look as if floating somewhere in clouds. It suddenly gives you goose bumps because what you see is a lost human life. Those people are sons and daughters of loving parents. Their children became zombies. Ghosts you are afraid of , with no future. But what you also clearly see are desperate parents and hopeless families.

I have a friend whose brother is a drug addict who went so far that he would rob his own mother just to be able to purchase dugs. So, the mother now is storing her jewelry at her daughter’s house. When you hear such stories you have to ask whether the new law makes any sense. Of course, there are fewer inmates in Czech prisons and therefore state expenses are lower.. But while prisons might be emptier, won’t cemeteries be fuller? Or drug treatment centers? Actually, if those could be filled, I’d see it as a step forward. The Czech youth needs a remedy. But whether the step which Czech politicians made was a step to a remedy is hard to tell.

Here are above mentioned possession limits:

Marijuana 15 grams
Hashish 5 grams
Heroin 1.5 grams
Methamphetamine 2 grams
Cocaine 1 gram
Ecstasy 4 tablets
Amphetamine 2 grams
LSD 5 tablets
Hallucinogenic mushrooms 40 pieces

Growing of cannabis is also illegal but people can have up to five plants at home growing in pots without committing a criminal offence.

– Mária Hušová

BRATISLAVA – It started out this morning as a café breakfast with the press, for the European Roma Rights Center to introduce its range of litigation, advocacy and research to the handful of Slovak media even interested in Roma issues.

The chat, though, led inexorably to the role these reporters themselves – and especially, their less-empathetic colleagues – play in shaping harsh Slovak attitudes toward Roma, a.k.a. “the Gypsies.” For me, it also revealed the need here for what some call “human rights-based journalism.”

One reporter opened eyes with his calculation that of the 15 journalists in his office, “13 are racist.” Another admitted, “We live in a racist world, and my company is absolutely racist.”

This is no surprise to anyone living in Eastern Europe, where you’re hard-pressed to find any minority on the entire continent more harassed than the estimated 8 million to 12 million Roma.

Yet this is relevant today in Slovakia, on the eve of June 12 elections. Following in the footsteps of neighboring Hungary and its elections last month, the Roma question is once again an irresistible platform for parties pandering to a public ready to scapegoat minorities for their frustrations with the whole post-Communist transition. And oh, by the way, both countries are now members of the European Union — an exclusive club of European democracies.

Several Slovak parties, for example, are advocating the “voluntary” placement of Roma schoolchildren into new boarding schools – which smacks some as ethnic segregation.

More notoriously, the ruling coalition’s far-right partner, the Slovak National Party, produced billboards featuring a bare-chested, obviously Romani man, heavily tattooed and gold chain draped around his neck. Underneath, the slogan: “So that we don’t feed those who don’t want to work.”

Defending the billboard, one SNP official creatively – but unconvincingly – accused critics of being the real racists: they were the ones who assumed the man was a Gypsy.

Beyond the campaign, the Slovak public is fed a steady diet of reports on Roma criminality, joblessness, violence and welfare abuse, not to mention seamier stories, like the trafficking of women.

Over breakfast, ERRC staff appealed for “fair” reporting.

“There’s some balanced reporting, but the really biased, sensational reporting is what gets most of the attention,” says Tara Bedard, the ERRC programs director. “Reporting should reflect both sides of an issue, a voice from the community itself, a rights-based perspective – to counter what’s out there.”

The assembled reporters, though, described how tough it can be to make the case to editors for why to approach stories with greater sensitivity, or also pursue positive Roma stories, or report more critically about far-right demonstrations. Or even why the majority should care about the state of its Roma minority – as a “litmus test” for Slovak democracy, values and respect for human rights.

This discussion had me thinking back to the first training I did in this region, almost four years ago: with the Romani journalists of the Roma Press Agency in Kosice, the postcard-perfect city in eastern Slovakia. The eastern half of the country is also where most of its half-a-million Roma reside – about 10 percent of the entire population.

At RPA, I watched a bare-bones staff work to get out coverage of their community, in Slovak, English and Romani. I also saw them do something that opened my mind to the Roma reality. It was their feature program on television, “So vakeres?” – or in Romani, What are you saying?

At first I thought it might be a “fair and balanced” program on Roma issues, to offer the public an alternative to the generally one-sided reporting that perpetuates some of the worst Roma stereotypes. Wrong. This was a half-hour program that portrayed Roma unfailingly in a positive light.

My very American take on this was: Wait, if you’re only showing the other side, isn’t that, um, nothing more than pro-Roma propaganda? I’ll never forget what the RPA chief, Kristína Magdolenová, told me. I don’t remember verbatim, so I’ll paraphrase:

You don’t understand. The hatred has been planted so deep, there’s no space for high-minded, Western-liberal, even-handedness in broadcasting. The Roma are so beaten down by society’s perception of them, many have themselves developed low esteem for their own identity and peoplehood.

With that in mind, said Magdolenová, the RPA target audience was primarily the Roma themselves: to remind them of their humanity. But the second target audience was equally striking: the ordinary Slovaks genuinely curious about Roma culture, and those who in fact have some warm feelings for the Roma – or, at least for their Roma neighbor or colleague, past or present.

In a battle for Slovak hearts and minds, it was hard to argue with her rationale. It made sense.

Back at the breakfast, everyone understood there is no “magic wand” to resolve any of these issues. However, I suggested the possibility of some sort of journalism training that would invite Slovak reporters and editors to a workshop, explain the need for historical context, region-wide context, exploration of root causes, fairness and balance, etc. – then show them how to produce all these things.

No, of course not every editor would show up. And there’s no way to force them to. But I had one possible response – name and shame: “Then you could also write about the training itself, including those publications that declined the invitation. That would say something about their values.”

- Michael J. Jordan (http://jordanink.wordpress.com)

The small mountain town of Vurbitsa is situated to the west of the heart of the Stara Planina, the Bulgarian Balkan mountain range. Vurbitsa is famous as the “factory” of talented Roma clarinet players. The Roma musicians from this place are famous all over the country. Vurbitsa is a rural town and constitutes the center of the region of Gerlovo. During the communist regime, the town was a well-developed tourist center that attracted visitors from the whole country. Despite the picturesque nature and several historic sights, today the town’s economy is straggling.

Varbitsa Musicians

The town is an excellent example of a multi-cultural society. Roma, ethnic Bulgarians, Turkish, and Bulgarian Muslims live in Vurbitsa. The Roma are about 2000 people. They live in two quarters: Troshka and the Musicians “mahala”. The Roma constitute the majority of the population, but so far that hasn’t helped them to participate in the management of the town nor to solve their problems. So far, there are no Roma employed at the local administration. Only one Roma is employed in the agency for social assistance. He is also a municipal councilor. For many years, unsuccessful attempts have been made to employ young Roma in the police department. Nor are Roma represented in the high school Board of trustees, where the pupils from Troshka and the Musicians Mahala are the biggest in number.

Five Roma Councilors

During the local elections in 2003, things seemed to improve. Five Roma were elected as municipal councilors. Each represented a different political party, so they never acted in unity. As a result, problems of the Roma community were hardly addressed by the local government.

The main reasons for the inefficient work of the Roma councilors for the benefit of the Roma community in Vurbitsa, were the lack of lobbying power, different political orientations, inexperience, a low educational level, and leadership ambitions of the municipal councilors. Many of them just did what the mayor told them to do. Others cared only for the betterment of their own families, as often happens in Bulgarian political life. In addition, the Roma who had voted for them did not hold them accountable and never scrutinized their work. Therefore, an excellent opportunity to promote Roma interests was lost.

During the 2007 local elections, larger parties represented in the Bulgarian Parliament, succeeded in dividing Roma leaders—and the Roma vote—by offering money and promises for posts. The number of Roma councilors decreased from five to three. Again, Roma newcomers entered the municipal council without much clue why they were there.

Talking to the Mayor

In 2007, the Bulgarian Roma grassroots network ‘GORD’, supported by Roma NGO Integro from the city of Razgrad, decided to promote its positive experiences with establishing activist groups of Roma at the municipal level, which are able to address and negotiate for Roma rights with local authorities. Thus, a member of the GORD Network, Nikolay Yankov from Shoumen, went to Vurbitsa to meet with the local Roma and with the town’s mayor.

During the meeting, the mayor of Vurbitsa pointed out that according to him, one of the major problems of the Roma community was the dropping out of school of Roma children, after they have finished their primary education. Another issue, according to him, were the early marriages among young Roma. “The mayor is good, but definitely he lacks the will to work on resolving Roma issues. He does not know the national documents on Roma policies and the programs for Roma support. The municipal councilors should cooperate with him to resolve the problems in the Roma quarter”, concluded Nikolay Yankov after the meeting.

He continued: “During my meetings with some of the Roma people in Troshka, I found out that almost the whole quarter is lacking a sewage system. To reach the quarter, you have to climb 200 meters of stairs or to use the road which is only suitable for cars. The majority of the people from the quarter use the stairs, which have not been repaired for the past twenty years. Besides, there is no lighting at night”, said Yankov.

Trying to Constitute a Grassroots Initiative Group

According to him, the Roma in Troshka should constitute a grassroots group in order to negotiate for the solution of the Roma problems. “For some time I was in contact with Sylvia Mastikova, one of the few Roma students from the town. I gave her small tasks, such as to gather the youngsters from both quarters to discuss which useful things for the town they could do as young people”, said Nikolay. A couple of months later he arranged a meeting with Hristo Tatarov and Anton Hristov, two of the Roma councilors and leaders in Troshka. Only Tatarov came to meet Nikolay. Later it turned out that the two of them disliked each other and because of this they didn’t want to cooperate, not even for the benefit of the quarter.

Traditional Bathing in the River With Music in Varbitsa

According to Nikolay Yankov, only Hristo Tatarov has indicated willingness to work. “The youth group that we tried to form did not exist for long, because one of the leaders in the quarter asked him “Why do you listen to Nikolay? Let him fix the problems of the Roma in Shoumen first, and then he can come here”. A few weeks after the dissolution of the youth group, Yankov again headed for Vurbitsa. “I wanted to explain to them how important it is to establish a grassroots initiative group. Thus, they would be able to apply for funding from various institutions. With funding, they would be able to improve the living conditions in the quarter. With funding, they could also enable their children to go to various trainings where they would learn not to stop their education and not to marry early”. Yankov’s visit was, however, unsuccessful. He met only with Tatarov, who explained that he couldn’t do much alone.

Roma Should Not Be Divided

According to Yankov, Vurbitsa is typical for the level of Roma integration in many places all over Bulgaria. “Definitely, the Roma posses human resources. They only need will and willingness to work. The Roma should avoid to be divided during elections. In the quarter, I heard how the present municipal councilors had been going around with food, shoes and money to buy votes for a particular party”, said Yankov. He insisted that Vurbitsa needs a uniting figure, to stop the scattering of the Roma votes. As a divided community, the Roma will not be able to address their problems.

According to Yankov, the local Roma leaders in Vurbitsa did not have any idea about national policies and documents on Roma inclusion. “In Vurbitsa the situation is the same as in many other places. Regretfully, in Vurbitsa, too, the Roma issues are in the hands of the wrong people. The Roma themselves are not interested in the solution of their problems. I heard that at a certain moment lamps had been erected on the stairs. But after a couple of months, some Roma broke them”, noted Yankov sadly.

So even today, the problems of Gerlovo’s capital remain the same. The Roma from Troshka continue to climb the stars in darkness on their way home. The stairs turn into an ice rink during winter. When it rains, the area looks like a swamp. The acid stench from septic pits that flow out in the pine tree forest near the quarter is accompanying the path both in summer and in winter. In the meantime, the clarinet players from the Musicians’ quarter where many Roma live, travel to the boulevards in Western Europe where they play to earn some money for food. A light in the tunnel are the few Roma students, who, besides being positive role models, serve as a link between the Roma pupils in town and the various programs targeted at them.

–by Ognyan Isaev

“I was working in the car factory for twelve years and they let me go already during the first wave of dismissals. I lost my income and old friendships. What is left are incredible debts. I would get paid up to twenty-three thousand Czech crowns per month, so my girlfriend and I were not afraid to take a mortgage for a house and furnish our home. But it’s now been a year since I’ve been without a stable job. I can’t be not working; it frustrates me. Losing work had changed my whole life. And people look at me differently now. As if I am a thief. If you’re unemployed, for some people it means that you’re not the same human being as they are. You lose your dignity amongst people when you lose your job, even though you didn’t cause it. When they informed me that I was fired, I suffered a shock. I didn’t expect it. I rehearsed how I should tell it at home. It was so hard. I have worked since I turned seventeen…” This is how 30 year-old Ivan from Vranov region in the east of Slovakia describes his desperate situation.

He started working in the car factory in Mladá Boleslav when he was only seventeen. Roma, as well as others, didn’t only lose regular income but also years-long friendships and social attachments. They suddenly found themselves in isolation. “Out of the blue I was without acquaintances that I had lived with for ten years. We helped each other, shared our experiences – knowing about each other’s sorrows and joys. Suddenly we lost it all as we dispersed in different towns and countries in search of work. It’s like losing a family member or leaving a family,” explains Beáta, a 38-years-old woman originally from Košice, who has been living and working in Mladá Boleslav for ten years. “I remember those times when we were helping each other to look for accommodation – we would share flats and could always rely on each other. Those were amazing years. Many of us even got married here…,” adds Beáta.

The financial crisis that struck the car industry in Boleslav didn’t only mean an end to important friendships. Some marriages between Czechs and Slovaks broke because they were not able to deal with financial difficulties. 

Even the social life of the town was infected by the crisis. According to some Slovak Roma, bars and discos that used to be packed are now empty. But “hospodas” (traditional Czech bars) are full of people who come to drink away their troubles. And you can see the homeless on every corner. Slovak Roma and non-Roma are amongst them – after losing their jobs they have ended up on the street. They have nowhere to return to and no-one to return to. So those once working citizens, turned into forlorn stinking people sleeping on benches.

Until recently, before it got struck by the financial crises, Mladá Boleslav’s car factory was offering work to many Roma, especially from east Slovakia. But nowadays, the number of unemployed is on the rise not only in the Czech Republic but also in Slovakia. Czech Republic used to be a “working sanctuary” to many Roma from Slovakia as the language and geographical proximity were an advantage for them. But the Czech Republic itself is fighting with high unemployment and therefore opportunities for Slovak Roma to find work there are  fewer than before. It seems the Czech Republic is only now having to fight growing unemployment, a situation that Slovakia was in immediately after 1989.

– Mária Hušová

The European Commission estimates that over 10 million citizens of the European Union are Roma. But how many of them live in Romania?

According to the 2002 census, 535,250 citizens officially declared themselves as Roma. That’s about 2.5 percent of the country’s population.

In 1980, the then communist regime announced that, officially, there were 260,000 Roma in Romania, although the 1977 census had registered 227,000 Roma people.

Carts near Botosani

But it was even then often thought that the real number of Roma was much higher and that it had reached one million. Yet, at a World Roma Congress, held in the early 1970s, the Romanian government representatives argued that there were no Roma in Romania.

Currently, nobody knows the real number of Roma citizens. Some NGOs estimate that up to 2.5 million of Romania’s citizens are Roma. Former president of the National Agency for Roma, Gruia Bumbu, argues that in Săcele, in the Brasov county, only 300 Roma are officially registered as Roma, while the real number is closer to 10,000. “When I asked them why they had not declared themselves Roma, they said it was because they didn’t speak the [Romani] language. Not because they aren’t Roma, but because they believe it is the language that determines their ethnic affiliation and not their ethnic origin. This is why they say they are Romanian. However, we can talk about 1,5 - 1,8 million Roma in Romania. These are the figures accepted by the European institutions.”

–Petru Zoltan

Huddled at the foothills of the Pirin Mountain, the town of Bansko attracts both Bulgarians and foreigners. This place has preserved the equilibrium between ecology, flora, fauna, and national character, combined with unique folklore and Old Bulgarian architecture. The inhabitants of this winter resort town number some 8 500 people. More than 500 of them are Roma. Until the autumn 2006 and just like the Roma in other Bulgarian towns, they had to cope with insufficient housing, poorly-maintained infrastructure, limited access to services, and discrimination.

In November 2006 however, Lilia Makaveeva and Milena Ilieva visited them for the first time. Lilia is the Executive Director of Association Integro, and Milena had just started work as a coordinator at Integro. In the first three hours the Roma they talked to only complained, and described various problems: the lack of adequate housing for the families, the need for sports grounds for the children, the need for computers and internet access for the youth, bad infrastructure in most of the neighborhood. Unlike in other places, however, the Roma in Bansko worked and unemployment was not the foremost issue.

“After this first meeting, my head swell as a balloon from their complaints”, Lilia Makaveeva said. “For Christ`s sake, Lili, how do you manage to endure all this? They only complain. They don’t want to think that they also have a responsibility to resolve their problems!” Milena told Lilia. This was their first meeting with the Roma community in Bansko.

After their 3-hours of complaining, Lilia asked the Roma: “OK, I understand that you have many problems, but what have you done thus far in order to resolve them? Have you ever visited the mayor to present your problems and to insist that they be resolved?”

COMPLAIN AND BLAME

According to Lili, at these first meetings people always complain and blame others for their problems. In addition, when you ask them this question, they usually answer: “Who are we, who will pay us any attention?!” Then Lilia and Milena asked them how exactly they have presented their problems at the municipality, but they could not answer. Sometimes somebody had said something to the mayor, but exactly what and when—that wasn’t clear. It became clear, however, that they had never visited the municipality to state their problems as an organized group. Usually, before elections, when the mayor went to see them, they have mentioned their problems, but more or less chaotically, with yells and shouts, and after the mayor went away, the problems just remained.

When asked why they did not go to meet the mayor as a group, the Roma answered that they couldn’t unite, that everybody looks after his or her own interest and is not interested in the others. “And even if we succeed to get organized and arrange a meeting with the mayor, usually at the meeting we cannot manage to say what we want”, said the Roma present at the meeting. It became clear that the Roma of Bansko did not have the skills to help them of formulate their own interests in order to unite around them. Also, they stated that they do not know how to formulate the questions and issues in which they are interested, how to arrange and express these questions and issues. “They even did not know how to arrange an official meeting. The people had neither the skills and knowledge nor self-esteem as citizens, to go to see the mayor”, according to Lili.

After a long analysis of the meeting and the community, during 2007 Association “Integro” included the Roma community from Bansko in its programme “Strengthening the Roma Voice”. Sheker Tyumbelkchi took charge, the coordinator for South Bulgaria, a well-educated Roma with appropriate experience. He organized a second visit to the community and met only with the Roma who were showing interest and willingness to cooperate in a group and learn together. From the 40 people, who were present at the first meeting, only 10 young people showed such interest, but later only Sasho Manov, Slavcho Kostadinov, Atanas Mitrev, and Tzvetomir Mihailov continued to work actively. The coordinator Sheker built close relationships with them, gained their trust and inspired confidence. Integro’s team elaborated a special programme for increasing the local activists’ capacity, taking into account their individual qualities and needs.

ACTIVE COMMUNITY

This programme is far from being only about the traditional few days’ trainings. Integro’s experience shows that no matter how good such type of trainings might be, they are not enough to change the people’s skills and their understanding about their own role as citizens.

“Much more is needed than 3-day trainings even if interactive. In fact the truth is that it is very difficult to make somebody come to a three-day training as every day out of work is fatal for the family’s budget”, shared Lili Makaveeva. And for the Roma who do not have permanent and secure work, one day of absence from work to attend a training means one day without wage to feed the family. Thanks to the preliminary motivation work of the coordinator, however, the activists from Bansko attended a series of such trainings. “The trainings that we have organized were related to how to make them understand what a community is and what makes them a community. Then, to determine themselves what type of community they are – active or passive one”, shared Kadrin Hasanov, one of “Integro”´s coordinators. In his opinion, the coordinators should not decide alone what the problems of one community are, nor give readymade recipes for their solution. Patience is needed, as well as skills how to involve people in a process in which the Roma themselves alone assess their community and outline steps for seeking solutions.

Another important step in the development of the Bankso activists is leadership-related training. “For us it was important that the Roma understood what a community responsible leadership means. We did not aim to create grand leaders, but rather people with skills and qualities, who apply team principles and improve their relationships with each other and who involve their peers when addressing their common problems and interests”, Lilia said.

TALKING TO MAYOR

After these trainings, more training followed on communications with the local authorities, advocacy, NGO management, project planning and management and much more… Between these trainings, Integro’s coordinators provided continuous support to the group of activists from Bansko, by sending them appropriate information, helping their written communications. They also went together to the first meetings in the municipality, and elaborated together the first plan that was submitted to the mayor. In parallel with all these activities, “Integro” hired experts for on-the-spot visits and to give practical advice on how to negotiate with the local authorities and to advocate for their requests.

This was the programme for capacity building of the young Roma from Bansko who expressed willingness to work. Nobody paid them to participate in these trainings. They spared their free time to raise their social skills, because they understood their own role for the improvement of their own position. According to Kadrin, this is the correct work method, because the people themselves build their self-esteem as citizens, who exercise their right to request that to have asphalt-paved streets, children playgrounds built and maintained, computer rooms, etc.

After trainings and consultations, the moment came to apply the learned in practice. Sheker Tyumbelekchi, Sasho Manov, Slavcho Kostadinv, Atanas Mitrev, and Tzvetomir Mihailov organized themselves and went to meet the town mayor. Bansko’s mayor was pleasantly surprised with the constructive ideas of the young men and their will to work. The good thing in this case was that Bansko is a rich resort municipality and can afford to allocate funds for the improvement of the Roma position. Step by step, the Roma’s concrete ideas began to be implemented, as the Roma participated in this implementation. During the whole period, Integro continued to provide support, ensuring expert assistance to the young men.

Today, the Roma neighborhood of Bansko has a sports and children playground, all streets are asphalted, there is a computer room, as the municipality bought the computers and one of the local activists, Slavcho Kostadinov, provided the room. The most important gain is that the municipal council decided to give regulated land plots to the Roma, where they can build their dwellings. At present, Bansko has elaborated a municipal programme for integration of the Roma population, which is to be approved at a municipal council’s session in the nearest future. Thus the problems of the Roma will be included in the municipal long-term plans and the Roma themselves will learn how to follow up their implementation.

Of course, not all of the problems of the Roma in Bansko have been resolved, but one substantial step in the right direction has already been made that certainly gives them the sense and the understanding that they are also citizens of their municipality. The progress is a result of efforts over a number of years which have now proved worthwhile.

–by Ognyan Isaev

Czech Roma, as well as other democratically-oriented citizens, eagerly awaited the outcome of the Czech government’s effort to outlaw and dissolve the extremist Workers’ Party or Dělnická strana (DS). The Party had tried to gain political power through parliamentary elections. It gained notoriety through violent marches and attacks in 2008 and 2009.

According to the long awaited verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court from the 17th of February this year, the Workers’ Party professed xenophobia, chauvinism, racism and national socialist ideology modelled on that of Adolf Hitler’s ideology. Workers’ Party thus used violence and wanted to knock over the present constitutional order of the country. The court agreed with the government that the party should be banned and dissolved.

This is the first ban of a political party’s activity because of its ideology in the modern Czech state.

The verdict brought a relief to the Roma people of in the Czech Republic. But not only to them as the Czech Republic is home to many foreigners of different nationalities and skin colours who experienced racist attacks.

However, a struggle for democracy in the Czech Republic has not yet ended. Voices have not quieted down even after the Workers’ Party was banned. The government hopes to win this battle despite the fact that the DS plans to file an appeal to the Constitutional Court. If the Constitutional Court does not come up with a final decision until the parliamentary elections (schedule for May this year), the DS will be able to continue its activity even though the Supreme Administrative Court’s verdict about banning the party already came into effect.

But the appeal brings risks to the DS as well. If the Constitutional Court manages to answer before the parliamentary elections, then to endorse or promote the party becomes a criminal offence. Yet, there still is a chance that the Constitutional Court’s reply will come late and in this case the Supreme Administrative Court’s verdict will be frozen. That would mean that the Worker’s Party could still become part of the election process and a threat to the democratic order of the state once again. Then many people would rightly fear to go out in the streets. They certainly did not expect this from EU accession. On the contrary, what they expected was protection and safety. Nevertheless, they believe that the Constitutional Court will proceed promptly to rule on this issue, taking into consideration how little time is left before elections.

In any case, this is the first great victory in a battle against extremism. As Josef Baxa, the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court stated for the media, it is important to abolish activity of extremist groups but it is also necessary to solve causes of these problems. Otherwise these groups will spread through the society like a mould.

It is no secret that the DS will continue its activity through other organizations of similar nature. The DS proudly announced to the media that its membership opted for a mass transfer to Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti or Workers’ Party of Social Justice and take part in upcoming elections under its lead. They announced this with a smile on their faces. Still, they have a right to gather as other citizens of the democratic society. This party could be banned too, but legally that could be a more difficult matter. Unfortunately, it looks like extremists are protected more by the law than a decent citizen.

I think we are not prepared to solve these kinds of issues yet, even though so many years have passed since the Second World War. Are we sleeping on the success of our predecessors? Should the democratic society handle extremists like a fragile glass? When will we stop tolerating their offences?

Still, the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision is a little light in the darkness for the Roma. They believe this is the beginning of an end to extremism in the Czech Republic. Will the Roma in Slovakia celebrate the same victory?

For more information, visit:

http://www.rozhlas.cz/zpravy/spolecnost/_zprava/696552

http://domaci.ihned.cz/c1-40600010-soudce-o-zruseni-delnicke-strany-resme-priciny-jinak-to-tu-vyroste-jako-plisen 

http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/192375-nejvyssi-spravni-soud-rozpustil-delnickou-stranu.html

– Mária Hušová

Through no fault of their own, Slovak Roma have become a key topic in campaigns for both communal and parliamentary elections. As if nothing else matters, debates revolve around pro and against Roma arguments and whether there are more citizens who support the Roma and understand their precarious situation or whether those who simply hate them are in majority.

The Roma have become involuntary “hostages” of election campaigns. Some political parties opt for anti-Roma approach, perhaps because they are not able to come up with good solutions and good programs based on knowledge and clarity. Roma undoubtedly feel like being pushed between two mill stones in every election. Either politicians rouse the whole nation against Roma or they buy out Romani votes. But in neither case can the Roma benefit. When they support a party that other voters do not want to win, the majority blames them.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 10 June and anti-Roma sentiments have again become prominent.

Many bring in “new” ideas of how not to look at the real problem of the society. Politicians, instead of looking at how they have failed the Roma in the past, point their finger at the Roma in a bid to win more votes. Anna Belousovova, the vice-chair of the Slovak National Party (SNS), decided to bet on the anti-Roma card lately, proposing that crime statistics should include ethnic and national background of perpetrators.

The Roma are the most vulnerable group in the country in times of high unemployment and social hardship. Therefore they become very easy target for political parties bidding for parliamentary seats. But actions of some political actors depicts their immorality. So, what is their point? Well-being of society and peaceful co-existence which is the inevitable factor for good functioning of society? Or is their only target to get into parliament? Hunger for power does not take into consideration the well-being of the society. Prejudice against the Roma and other minorities is on the rise. Some politicians think this gives wind into their “voting sails.”

Today’s Europe, with such sentiments, strikingly resembles the pre-war Europe. Actually, should such political parties, the ones promoting intolerance, have the right to put up their candidates for parliamentary seats, from which they can then rule to our society? How this kind of society will evolve? A society in which ruling parties support intolerance among citizens? In these difficult times, when the financial crisis influences lives of millions, it is very easy to arouse hatred against scapegoats. In Slovakia, the Roma are increasingly seen as culprits.

Statistics on crime and ethnicity will only pour oil onto the fire. Fortunately, such ideas have triggered reactions from human rights organizations. Read them here.

– Mária Hušová

SIBIU, Romania – It’s not often you get a chance to interview royalty. Especially when that king inherited the throne from a father who anointed himself king. So, I’m blogging about him twice. (See below: “The King and Carrie Bradshaw.”)

Saturday afternoon, the self-proclaimed King of the Gypsies, Florin Cioaba, graciously sat with us for two hours. (I brought a modest box of chocolates, as a token of appreciation.)

Sure, he barely stifled his yawns during our chat. But he also tolerated us, as we peppered him about early-teen marriage among the “Kalderash” Roma. Including, his own daughter’s media circus of a wedding in 2003.

What we were especially curious about, even more than the king’s opinion, was his daughter’s. After all, Ana-Maria is now a young woman of 19 or 20, married nearly seven years. (With one son, aged 4.) What does she think today about teen marriage? About her own marriage? And what about pressure on her community, from both Bucharest and Brussels, to change this tradition?

Our team – Romani journalist Petru Zoltan, our spirited Romanian interpreter, Lavinia Gliga, and I, the journalism trainer – dropped in on the king without warning. This was Petru’s idea, as he assumes the role of guru of all things related to the so-called “Gypsy mentality.”

Petru had interviewed Cioaba once before, as an investigative reporter for Romanian newspaper National Journal. He predicted that if we pre-arranged a meeting, the king would dodge us somehow. I trusted Petru’s take, so we drove four hours to historic Sibiu, banking on this gamble that he would for sure be home when we came a-knockin’. Then, talk to us.

Yet this is exactly what happened.

We walked through his open driveway gate, into his home compound. The king saw us from inside a large, glass-enclosed dining area, his wife chopping vegetables nearby. He shook hands with Petru, then ambivalently led us into a gilded hall, complete with two large portraits of himself. (Or were they of his father? I ran out of time to ask.) In one portrait, like a museum piece, he sat nobly atop a white mare, in 17^th-century garb.

Toward the end of the interview, we asked to speak with Ana-Maria. No, the king said, she’s out of town. Back tomorrow morning for the Sunday church service, which he himself would officiate as a pentacostal minister.

Eventually, he shooed us away. In the courtyard outside, I briefly glanced at his main house. One room glowed yellow in the twilight. Inside, two women carried out a domestic chore, maybe cooking. As we turned to walk onward, Petru said, “Ana-Maria is in there. I saw her.”

When we returned the next day around 1, fully expecting to speak with her, we found the church closed and empty. King Cioaba’s gate was also closed – a sure sign he and the family weren’t home, said Petru.

“I knew he would do something like this,” he added with a grin, pleased to be proven right.

We waited a bit longer, as I shot a few more photos of his abode. I also kicked myself that I’d let him convince me that I could photograph him “tomorrow, tomorrow.” Next time, produce like it’s my only chance.

When an unknown young man crossed the courtyard, Petru called out to ask when the king and his family would be home. “Maybe 8 o’clock,” came the answer.

We gave up, then hurried to begin our five-hour drive back to Bucharest … half a mission accomplished.

-Michael J. Jordan (http://jordanink.wordpress.com)

In the Roma neighbourhood of “Iztok” in the Bulgarian city of Kiustendil in the southwest a team of youth volunteers with the LARGO association raised the sum of 412,57 leva ($290) to aid the children of Haiti. The initiative was spearheaded by Botselin Mitkov, a local activist.

Volunteers in Kiustendil

On February 3, the volunteers, equipped with collection boxes from the Bulgarian Red Cross, set out hopeful and in good faith that the Roma will not be callous to what happened in Haiti. In five days they had covered all cafes and local stores in the neighborhood. They also visited a number of schools. The team of the LARGO association, the staff of the Labor bureau in the Roma neighborhood, as well as those running the culture club “Vassil Levski” all made a contribution. The neighborhood’s churches also provided support.

At 11 am on February 8 the volunteers opened the boxes at the Burlgarian Red Cross office and counted the raised funds under the supervision of local media. They had gathered 412,57 leva.

Funds collected for Haiti

The executive director of the LARGO, Stefan Lazarov, said that what the volunteers did is a good deed. “If we can, we help, regardless of whether we are helping a Roma person or a German or a Bulgarian…it is not important how much money we raise, what matters is the gesture. The volunteers acted in good faith and for a good cause, to help the children in Haiti.” He added that “some people not only donated money, but took part in the mobile messaging fund to promote the campaign.”
According to the national labor bureau, 96 percent of the inhabitants of the Roma Neighbourhood “Iztok” are unemployed.

“We all watch TV. Over the last few days the suffering children of Haiti have become leading news. Everyone knows about them and about the tragedy that happened to them. We hear how many countries have raised funds in concern for the children’s fate. This is why the volunteers and we decided to undertake this initiative and to try and help,” says Botselin.

He shared that they did not have big expectations because so many people do not have money to spare. But he does not hide that he is moved by the fact that people did give their last cent out of compassion.

–by Ognyan Isaev