Politics

The hidden constituency: Will Roma voters decide next month’s European elections?

The celebration of International Roma Day this month took place under particularly grim circumstances. Two weeks ago in France groups of teenagers attacked Roma communities after a rumour spread on social media that they were kidnapping children.

Not long after in Italy, neo-fascist group Casa Pound and the far-right Forza Nuova held violent protests against the transfer of Roma people, including 33 children, to a reception center in a Rome suburb.

Despite all attempts of extermination in European history, we Roma have kept our language, traditions and culture. This is the spirit of forty-seven years ago this month—April 8, 1971—when we decided at a meeting in London that we no longer would tolerate being described as “gypsies.”

We were Roma: one people across Europe, who, through our rights in a democratic and open Europe, could travel freely between countries to meet with others who shared the same culture and identity. Symbolically, we marked our newly-found unity by adopting the Roma flag and the Roma anthem.

Since then, Roma have continuously supported the European project, and in the past decade, the European Union in its turn has drawn attention to the plight of Roma and urged governments to do more to include Europe’s largest and most disadvantaged ethnic minority.

Link: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/roma-eu-elections-european-parliament-france-italy-bulgaria-hungary?fbclid=IwAR0pdMAYLSZlpMytIh-_k91clp319g8_nhYu7_kZC2Mhb6xnEXz7zZohGMU

PM Tsipras Meets with Greek Roma, Says There Are No Second Class Citizens

The effort to raise citizens’ awareness on issues relating to Greece’s Roma communities should be constant, stated Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during his meeting on Monday with representatives of Greek Roma at the Maximos Mansion, on the occasion of International Romani Day.
Tsipras expressed his pleasure at the meeting, noting that there are no second class citizens and adding that, in Greece, significant steps have been taken by the current government to support Roma citizens in a period of fiscal difficulty.
“We proceeded with a substantial programme to mobilise communities and for their integration into economic life,” said Tsipras, adding that the government had drawn up maps to see “how the 371 communities, the 110,000 Greek Roma citizens, are living”.
He noted however that some of those 371 communities “do no credit to the country… which wants to defend human rights and that’s why we have launched a strategic plan on the axis that ‘no Roma without help in the crisis’.”
Tsipras clarified that a prerequisite for the social integration of Roma communities is that their children go to school as “education is basic right but also a condition for these communities to acquire rights in the future”.
In parallel, the prime minister referred to the support of schools and provision of school meals to ensure all children are properly fed, as well as adult education programmes and programmes to support employment and fight joblessness implemented in recent years by the government. A top issue was also the access of Roma communities to healthcare, including the impact of a government decision to remove barriers to public health for a large part of the Roma community that is uninsured.
“There are no first, second or third class citizens. We are all children of the same God,” Tsipras said.

Link: https://www.thenationalherald.com/238657/pm-tsipras-meets-with-greek-roma-says-there-a

Ten thousand Roma with specific requests to presidential candidates

The Citizens' Initiative "AVAJA" promoted the campaign "We Vote, We Decide".

The initiative is composed of young Roma activists and intellectuals who through the campaign want to articulate and promote the interests of Roma citizens in front of all stakeholders in the Republic of Northern Macedonia.

The campaign aims to mobilize 10,000 Roma citizens in 14 municipalities to unite the Roma voice to advocate common interests of the community, as well as encourage Roma voters to participate in the upcoming presidential election and exercise their right to vote, which will contribute towards raising the political culture of the Roma community and the democratic processes in the Republic of Northern Macedonia.

A new political party on the Macedonian scene, President Aksel Ahmedovski, was formed

A founding assembly of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of the Roma (PDRP) was held in Vinica, which will act mainly among the Roma population in the eastern region of the country.

Aksel Ahmedovski, a law graduate from Delchevo, was elected chairman of the party, who until recently was a minister without portfolio in charge of the implementation of the Strategy for Roma. Five members of the larger cities in the region entered the party leadership.

- Finally, after many decades, the Roma from the East self-organized and agreed to form their own party, which will work to protect their interests and rights. Our commitment is to act independently of other parties, with the possibility of a later coalition co-operation with one of the major party structures. For us, we have a solid electoral body of over tens of thousands of citizens who gave us support for the establishment, and we already have a member of the municipal council in Vinica - said Ahmedovski.

At the founding assembly of the DPRD, it was decided that the seat of the party should be in Delchevo, while party affiliates will be formed in all municipalities from the three constituencies in the eastern region.

For the upcoming presidential elections, the candidate will be given support, and in the next period, the main task for the party leadership will be field work to present the action program.

FaLang translation system by Faboba

Од 5 Ноември 2022 достапен документарниот филм на СП БТР „Небо, Точак, Земја„ на Max TV и Max TV GO со пребарување –Видеотека

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6-to Romano Čhavorikanoo muzikakoro festivali 
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6-ти Ромски Детски музички фестивал
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6th Romani Children's Music Festival
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