An insulting article about the Roma people was posted on the ROMEA association’s educational website by hackers. It accused the Roma of ‘reverse racism’ and said that they should be deported to Russia if they didn’t have valid Czech ID.
The Romea association has issued this appeal for assistance from supporters with technical expertise. They are very short of funds, so can’t afford payment, but would be very grateful for any advice and support readers might be able to offer.
There are many reasons for supporting the ROMEA association, and other groups who are trying to improve the situation for the Roma in Europe. Here, for example, is a link to a shocking story of the way in which Roma children in Hungary are living in terror of racist vigilantes. Even in school, they are made to feel like second class citizens, taught separately from their classmates, and deprived of full access to facilities.
Here is another story, this time from Bosnia, about Roma children who don’t go to school at all. Roma school drop out rates may not always be down to direct discrimination. But in this film, it is difficult not to believe that the two boys, brought up in Germany but deported back to Kosovo, don’t sincerely want the chance of a good education.
This is a disturbing story – a Slovak television presenter Anna Ghannamová has been fired after she challenged racist statements made by politicians she was interviewing.
The discussion came to a head when Ghannamová raised the question of social welfare for the poor. Mojsejová said Romani people should be deprived of welfare, and Belousovová said Romani people were “parasites”.
Ghannamová pointed out to Belousovová that she shouldn’t generalize because 60 % of Romani people living in Slovakia are integrated and even the rest cannot be spoken of overall as “parasites”. She also said that not only Romani people are dependent on social welfare, so that it would be better to speak of people who are “materially dependent” than of Romani people: “Let’s speak of those who are materially dependent, please, let’s not talk about the Roma, because there really is no data in this country that might even give us statistics about Romani people receiving state aid for those in material distress”.
Belousovová has form on this issue.