Saturday, a day that I start with a walk in the early morning with my dog, visiting and choosing one of the five buregdžinica in my neighborhood on Trg Kralja Aleksandra in Niš. Choosing an adequate burek in Nis is a challenge. There is no such offer anywhere in the world. I'm thinking about burek and December 10, International Human Rights Day. I was invited to two gatherings where I had to say something "smart". I don't want us to deal with an empty celebration this year, something that is not a celebration.

All those who celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10 do so deeply disturbed by the current state of affairs. The Prime Minister of Serbia announces the entry of our security forces into Kosovo. Russia continues to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine, targeting civilians, leaving people without heat and electricity. The moral and intellectual infrastructure of Serbia is being destroyed, the president of SANU announced his resignation, journalists and human rights defenders are threatened.

We, the Roma, are somehow getting through the latent and almost legal European fascism and a world that has gone crazy a long time ago! Across Europe, Roma, minority and religious groups – including Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities – face increased threats and physical attacks.

A heightened public narrative and a breakdown in social media control have brought anti-Roma, anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and Islamophobes into the mainstream with disastrous consequences. I am receiving information about attacks on Roma in Greece and Slovakia. A Greek policeman shot a sixteen-year-old boy, Roma, in the head. In Slovakia, "Dedamraz" did not give packets to Roma children. They cut my burek!

I'm afraid! I believe in my neighbor Mikica, brothers Bubet and regular Saturday coffee. I don't know what to talk about today at these two gatherings. I mean... Law - even this day is the most convenient invention that impotent politicians and international institutions have found against justice! Twenty years have passed since the adoption of the Law on Minorities and 13 years since the adoption of the Law on Prevention of Discrimination. How can I explain that "equality" in Law and life is not the same.

How to explain that only 0.001 percent of Roma work in state institutions, and a few hundred highly educated young Roma are waiting at the Bureau. That it is the state that most often does not respect its own Constitution, because "society of equal opportunities" is actually just a phrase. That he does not comply with the Law on Civil Servants, which states that equal national representation of minorities in state bodies and institutions must be taken into account. What can I say about the hundred or so old Roma settlements that have been illegal and have existed since the beginning of the 20th century, as opposed to the "bought" social housing that Roma workers never received?

Link: https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/gde-je-tanko-tu-se-kida-kaj-si-sano-gothe-phagavelpe/

The inhabitants of a housing estate in the town of Šluknov in the Děčín area have long been bothered by dysfunctional heating and a lack of hot water. The renters, who are frequently families with children, are living in units where the temperature is just 15 degrees Celsius during freezing weather.

One tenant who did not want his name publicized has informed the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that the buildings have outdated boilers that run on coal and wood. According to him, the fires are not lit in the boilers most of the time.

The owner of the buildings, Pavel Zeithammer, has told ČTK those allegations are deceptive. According to him, the apartments have heat.

“This has been going on for eight years, maybe even more. The boilers are there, but they are old. We even had a 14-day shutdown to replace them, but they never put any new ones in,” the tenant said.

Link: https://romea.cz/en/czech-republic/czech-housing-estate-inhabited-mostly-by-romani-tenants-lacks-heat-and-hot-water