Monthly Periodical of The Roma Inclusion Office

The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina

No. 53, September 2015

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In the August issue you can find two interviews that analyze the results of the Decade of Roma with Vitomir Mihajlović, president of the Nation-

al Council of Roma and Nenad Ivanišević, presi-dent of the Council for Roma Integration.

We found out about the biggest problems of Roma in the municipality of Ruma from talking to the Roma Coordinator.

Agreements on financing elementary school students were signed at the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality with municipalities, and we also present to you public works of the Secretariat’s Call, implement-ed by an association of Roma in Mokrin, where nine Roma citizens were hired for the works.

In this issue we bring you the story of the Petrović family from Beška, a single father of three sons who does everything in his power to provide a better life for his children.

We remind you that, thanks to the Research and Education Center and to the Preschool Teach-er Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac, you can read our publication in its electronic form at www.rec.org.rs/bilten/.

Your editorial board

DEAR READER,

Founder and Publisher of the Periodical:The Roma Inclusion Office of the Govern-ment of AP Vojvodina

Editor in Chief: Duško Jovanović

Managing Editor:Aleksandra Mićić

The team:Dragana RajićAleksandra MićićTijana ČubriloLjiljana Maričić

Correspondents:Ferenc KosoCoordinators for Roma issues of the AP VojvodinaIvana Koprivica

Translation into Romani:Nota Bene, Centar za prevođenje i učenje stranih jezika Novi Sad

Translation into English:Nota Bene Centar za prevođenje i učenje stranih jezika, Novi Sad

Technical Preparation and Printing:Lola preduzetništvo, Beograd,www.lolapreduzetnistvo.co.rs

Circulation:1000 copies

Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 25, 21000 Novi SadTel: 021/488-17-23inkluzija.roma@gmail.comwww.inkluzijaroma.vojvodina.gov.rs

CIP - Cataloging in PublicationThe Matica Srpska Library, Novi Sad323.1 (=214.58)(=497.113)

The Decade of Roma in AP Vojvodina: Monthly Publication of the Roma Inclusion Office / Editor in Chief Duško Jovanović

-2011, No. 1 - Novi Sad: The Roma Inclusion Office of the Government of AP Vojvodina, 2011-.30 cm

Monthly. In Serbian, English and Romani language - In Romani printed in reverse

COBISS.SR - ID 261834759

2

Provincial government

President of the Provincial Gov-ernment Bojan Pajtić opened the Roma Economic Center of Vojvo-

dina in Žabalj, which will deal with the collection of secondary raw materials and recycling plastics. The Center will employ five workers, and the plan is that by the end of the year about 30 people in total get hired.

Roma Economic Center of Vojvo-dina is the result of the project Local Decision Making Initiative in Serbia, fi-nanced by the Open Society Foundation from Switzerland. The project was im-plemented by the municipality Žabalj, in cooperation with the Provincial Roma Inclusion Office.

President Pajtić pointed out that the opening of the Roma Economic Center of Vojvodina is an example of social entrepreneurship, because this project will contribute to the economic empowerment of Roma through formal-izing the legal status of collectors of secondary raw material and through active labor market measures. “About a third of Roma in Vojvodina deal with collecting and processing recyclable materials. The center will allow the industry to be systematized and that Roma who are doing this be given the opportunity to earn and support their family”, said Bojan Pajtić, PhD.

President of the Provincial Govern-ment added that the country will ben-efit of this project, because it will en-able to develop cooperation between local governments as well as from vari-ous businesses through processing of secondary raw materials, plastics and

PRESIDENT PAJTIĆ OPENED ROMA ECONOMIC CENTER OF VOJVODINA

other waste, because the processed raw materials will then become energy or raw material for new production. “In the world, collecting and processing secondary raw materials is one of the most profitable businesses, which is un-fortunately not the case in our country. This project is building on the devel-opment of this sector”, said President Pajtić and added that this project will also enable to increase the capacity of the landfill, and ensure they last longer. It is, as President Pajtić said, of great social economic, environmental and health significance for all citizens of the province of Vojvodina.

Provincial Secretary for Urban Plan-ning, Construction and Environmen-

3

Provincial government

tal Protection, Dr. Slobodan Puzović stressed that resolving waste manage-ment issues is a burning issue not only in Serbia, but also in many European countries. “It is time to finally translate the waste from the sphere of problems into the sphere with potential for de-velopment, through provision of new raw materials for production and pro-vision of a potential energy source for the production of electricity or heat”, said Dr. Slobodan Puzović and stated that the relevant provincial secretariat issued a permit for collection and trans-portation of hazardous waste from the territory of AP Vojvodina for the reali-zation of this project.

Provincial Secretary Slobodan Puzović stressed that resolving waste management issues burning issue not only in Serbia, but also in many Europe-an countries. “It is time to finally waste from the sphere of problems translate into the sphere of the potential for de-velopment, through the provision of new raw materials for production through the provision of a potential energy source for the production of electricity or heat,” said Dr. Slobodan Puzović and stated that the relevant provincial sec-retariat issued a permit for collection and transportation of hazardous waste from the territory of AP Vojvodina for the realization of this project.

www.vojvodina.gov.rs

Opening of the Roma Economic

Center

4

EmploymEnt

Roma association "Romano Anglunipe" received funding for the execution of public works in the municipality of Pećinci. We spoke with IVAN JOVANOVIĆ, president of the association.

LIVE OFF YOUR OWN WORK – THE BIGGEST SATISFACTION

Ivan Jovanović, Citizen’s association “Romano anglunipe”

5

EmploymEnt

For what time period and how many people were hired through this competition?In the municipality of Pećinci

public works are performed in three Roma settlements: Obrež, Kupinovo and Popinci. Although there are ten Roma settlements of a total of 15 local communities here today, we were not able to do all of that. The time frame is four months - from June to September. So far, we have done more than half and I hope that we will finish everything success-fully by the end, as we planned. I must express my gratitude to the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality, as well as the Roma Inclusion Of-fice, because they approved hiring of seven people whom we hired for public works.

What type of tasks do they have?They perform the tasks of mow-

ing grass within Roma communities, picking up trash, taking garbage to landfill and cleaning.

How significant is the op-portunity for Roma to be able to work?It is very important; we took

seven people from the NES. It is good for the country, and for peo-ple who are engaged in public work. They have their salary in the amount of 22,500.00 dinars as well as paid travel expenses. This is a very good way for people to live off their work, not off welfare and it would be good to have more of such calls.

How important is coopera-tion between the institutions and you as representatives of the NGO sector?It is important, but unfortu-

nately, people in the municipality

Perica Jovanović,

a worker in

public works has

expressed great

satisfaction at

being engaged

and making a

living off his

work. "It is

very important

for me and my

family to have

the resources off

which we can eat

food, and at the

same time, I am

glad to help my

compatriots so

that we clean up

our village."

of Pećinci have no understanding of what we do. However, as far as the Province is concerned, we have very good cooperation with the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality and the Roma Inclusion Office, who enabled all of this.

What benefits do Roma have in the Municipality of Pećinci?Children in elementary and high

schools had free textbooks, snacks, and transportation for high school students, free bread, timber, but this is no longer the case. I went to the municipality to suggest to them to reinstate benefits to Roma, or at least some of them. However, I en-countered misunderstanding. I have been the president of the Roma as-sociation for ten years now, and six months ago I received a decision from the National Council, to be the coordinator for Roma issues in the municipality.

Last activity designed to-ward the Roma.Via the Roma Inclusion Office

and representative of the board, Ninoslav Jovanović, who was in con-tact with the NGO “Praxis” from Belgrade, we have helped make more than 60 identity cards. I will not stop at that for sure, there will be more. On this occasion, I want to tell the Roma who live in the municipality of Pećinci and have no identity cards to contact me to my phone number.

How difficult was it to find people who would work on public works?In the foreground we had a plan

to contract 12 people and I applied for a larger sum of money, but was unable to hire more than seven peo-ple. There was no difficulty, in con-trary, there were much more inter-

6

EmploymEnt

ested people. The Roma want to work with great pleasure. Unfortunately, the downside of public works is that the works last only for the summer, and when winter comes Roma do not have the re-sources to feed their families.

What is a more permanent solution?

There are plenty of companies in Pećinci that could employ a certain number of Roma people permanently. We do not have any Roma who was employed by the institutions in our community, which is sad.

Ljiljana Maričić

Cleaning the Roma settlement

7

Education

CERTIFICATES AWARDED TO PARTICIPANTS OF WORK INTERNSHIP

University of Novi Sad hosted a ceremony of awarding certificates to

participants of the University program of work internship that took place within the Assembly and Government of AP Vojvo-dina, the provincial adminis-tration and funds, directorates and institutions founded by the Autonomous Province of Vojvo-dina, with the expert assistance of the OSCE Mission in Serbia.

President of the Assembly of Vojvodina, Ištvan Pastor, Rector of the University of Novi Sad, Radovan Pejanović PhD, Assis-tant Secretary for Education and Technological Development, Dr. Goran Stojanović, representa-tive of the OSCE, Maja Mićić and coordinators and practitioners

of work internship all attended the ceremony.

So far, 474 students and graduates of the University of Novi Sad successfully completed a work internship, which marked its 12th year of.

President of the Assembly of Vojvodina, Ištvan Pastor, said that he has been monitoring and supporting this idea since the beginning of the program and congratulated everyone on the successfully finished internship. “Much has been said about the necessity of structural changes in Serbian society and it is a necessity. New times are full of new challenges and it is impossi-ble to make a structural change and modernization of adminis-tration without young people

who should be given a chance. “University Rector Prof. Dr.

Pejanović stressed that this is a program of social value and for the benefit of students, who get a chance to familiarize them-selves with the administration and operations performed in public institutions. “Education and research are the main ob-jectives of the University, with now added cooperation with the surrounding environment - state and local governments, but also with companies.”

Assistant to the Provincial Secretary for Science and Tech-nological Development, Profes-sor Goran Stojanović said that everyone benefit from this pro-gram, because future will bear capacity of young and educated

"I am very pleased with the experience that I gained during the internship at the

Roma Inclusion Office. I worked on translation of texts from Serbian into English,

although I was not alone in this process. Office employees were always there to

help me clarify anything that was unclear or fix my mistakes. In this way, I learned

a lot during the seven months of practice. My favorite thing is that I met a lot of

good and hardworking people at this internship and experienced work in a friendly

and organized atmosphere. I did not have a single negative experience and would

recommended the other English Language students to come here and intern, to try

out translation and thus help the Roma national minority in our country. "

Aleksandra Vranić

8

Education

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to gain practical knowledge that I could not gain otherwise in university. Given the fact that I hold BA in literature, my task was to write newspaper articles. No day was ever the same because we were constantly going to field in search of new stories in order to reduce discrimination against Roma and promote examples of good practice. For everything that was unclear to me, the employees would help me, and I want to take this opportunity to thank for their trust and patience. As I got to meet many Roma through the internship, all my prejudices about them went missing. I am sorry that the internship ended and I would definitely re-

enlist.

Ljiljana Maričić

people who have undergone the internship and thereby gained the necessary experience.

OSCE representative, Maja Mićić, said that the work intern-

ship project became self-sus-taining after two-year period, but that the OSCE remains here to provide expert support and assistance in training, as well as

Office’s interns

9

Education

to participate in selecting the best candidate.

Roma Inclusion Office has taken part in the program of work internship again this year,

and engaged four interns: Ljilja-na Maričić and Aleksandra Vranić from the Faculty of Philosophy, Tatjana Bošković from the Fac-ulty of Technical Sciences and

Peter Atlagić from the Faculty of Economics. We will deliver their impressions on the work in the Roma Inclusion Office.

Tijana Čubrilo

10

InternatIonal cooperatIon

SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH ROMA INTEGRATION - BOTH IN SERBIA AND IN SWEDENRepresentatives of the Swedish municipality of Linköping came to a study visit to the Municipality of Vračar, and were interested to hear examples of good practices of Roma inclusion into society in Serbia during the Decade, since this Swedish municipality has a large number of Roma from the Western Balkans. The conference was organized by the Municipality of Vračar and Roma Integration Association and Population Policy (RUZIP).

Participants of the round table

11

InternatIonal cooperatIon

WelcomeZoran Alimpić, Deputy

Mayor and Ljubinka Krkuš, President of RUZIP addressed the audience. Alimpić stressed that the municipal-ity has made progress in the rights of national minorities thanks to the cooperation with RUZIP, and was espe-cially pleased with the fact that the meeting was at-tended by representatives of other municipalities, so that

the guests from Sweden could gain a fuller picture of Roma Inclusion.

The Decade and examples of good practice

Duško Jovanović, director of the Roma Inclusion Office of Vojvodina, spoke of the Decade of the Roma Inclusion in Serbia. He stressed that he is not fully satisfied with the results of the Decade, but is

encouraged by the fact that the state stood behind this project and by so demon-strated willingness and desire to include Roma into the soci-ety, and the issue of Roma is put to focus of the domestic public. Decade, in his opin-ion, was well designed but the implementation was poor. Guests from Sweden were able to hear that most has been done in the field of edu-cation, and that not much has been done in the remaining three segments of the Dec-ade, (health, housing, human rights). “The Roma communi-ty in Serbia is very large, but also poor, socially disadvan-taged and excluded, and com-munities toward which there is great ethnical distance and prejudice.” Jovanović said that they needed greater par-ticipation of state and non-governmental organizations, as well as active participation of Roma in solving their own problems, and that the basis of everything is education of Roma children.

In the second part of ad-dress, Director of the Office presented the work of the in-stitution he led and showed how scholarships and provid-ing information to students, employing and self-emploing of their parents, improving housing conditions, can lead to significant progress and improve the status of Roma. “We as a community are ready to be equal members of society.”

12

InternatIonal cooperatIon

Director of the Health Centre in Loznica, Zoran Nikolić, praised the fact that their Health Center employs a large number of Roma, as well as in the Roma settlement near Loznica in a a health clin-ic where doctors provide free medical service every day.

Dr Šćepan Miljanic, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Chemistry, said that there are free spots every year at the faculty for enrolling Roma students through affirmative measures, but so far at the undergraduate level, there were no Roma students. How-ever, at the specialist profes-sional studies of Forensics, there was one student who completed his studies suc-cessfully and is now working in Austria, which is a confir-mation of good work and the faculty and students.

Zlatica Fuštić Msci pre-sented the work of the Center for Social Work. The biggest problems of are Roma unem-ployment, poverty, personal documentation, access to health and education system.

The center helps them not only through social assistance but also through provision of documentation, filling and

writing requests. According to her, in working with the Roma population, the most important thing is to gain

Sweden is a country that we perceive as an example of a developed country from which we can learn and where are no problems which we face in Serbia. However, this was an opportunity to realize that, despite the fact that they do not have problems with funding programs for the Roma, have the same

problems to motivate the Roma to get educated and fully integrate into society. The biggest results of this conference are exchanges of ideas and

concrete steps, as well as learning from each other.

Participants of the round table

13

InternatIonal cooperatIon

trust and motivate parents to send their children to school, and all this is achieved with long conversations and time spent in the field.

Ivana Mitrović Đorđević, MSci in Special Education, works in a primary school for children with mental disabili-ties “Dušan Dugalić” and ex-plained the system and func-tioning of this school. Trained professionals work with chil-dren, individually or collec-tively, and the evaluation of their own achievements is an integral part of schoolwork.

Nadica Dimitrijević was talking about the work of RU-ZIP, which consists of four ar-eas: education, training, cul-ture and tradition and human rights.

ConclusionAll present emphasized

the importance of self-asser-tion and motivation of indi-viduals in institutions, as well as inter-sectorial cooperation as the key moment that con-tributes to more efficient and faster work. It is necessary for all organs of the state, NGOs

and citizens to work together and work to improve the posi-tion of national minorities in Serbia, in this case the Roma. New Decade is a chance for the errors from previous documents to correct and to achieve much better results. Guests from Sweden had a lot of questions and were careful-ly listening to everything said, and thanked the hosts and the end and said they heard many positive and useful things that they will be able to apply in their municipality.

Tijana Čubrilo

Participants of the round table

14

Social protection

Interview with VESNA CIVRIĆ, President of the citizen’s association "Duga" and the Head of the Office (the Board) for poverty reduction in Ada

WELL ON THE WAY TOWARD RESTORING HUMAN DIGNITY How did the citizen’s association “Duga” come about?This association was founded back in 2001.

I returned from Israel to my own land thinking that the situation here became much better than it was. However, what I saw was not as good as I expected. The first drawback I saw is there were many children who were out of the education system. These children did not even know how to read or write. For this reason, we decided to establish a citizen’s association that would deal only with the education of children. We worked as a residence for poor children for two years. Children were not sep-arated by nationality, but were merged on the basis of their common trait - poverty. At the beginning we had about 70 children, many of whom had no identity. After a year of working with them, we had results, but we felt that this is casting false hope to children because they were carefree only during day care. The first indication of this was the one Christmas when I met two children who were sitting on the doorstep of the school satchel while it was snowing and they told me that they are starv-ing and are waiting for the day care to open. Then we started to think about whether it is enough to work only with children. There was a Call for the second chance, adult education. We applied and we got a second chance. That was the beginning of strengthening families. Now we think that we can only help children if we help the family.

When have you started with adult education and how did it work?We have started in 2005 with adult edu-

cation, and each year we have more than 50

participants. What was our indicator is that the municipality of Ada has about 17 000 in-habitants, and 1192 are functionally illiter-ate and 53% are young people to be trained. We are proud of the fact that we do not only train young people, but also grandparents who learned to read and write and have completed elementary school. What was, after education, your next step?After education, which was not enough,

we searched for a way to provide jobs for them. The first public works came out in 2007, we applied and received hundreds of jobs. It was a sign that not only NGO sector should fight against poverty, but also we have to open something in the local community. For this reason, we opened the Office for Poverty Reduction so we could apply as the govern-ment sector. We are engaged in education, housing, employment, working with people with disabilities and vulnerable groups, health and ecology. Through activities that we do, we try to restore the dignity of the common man. What were the problems you have en-countered?Not only poor people are those who are

registered with the social services. Many peo-ple do not answer and we do not know what is happening with them. Analysis of our so-cial map showed that the poorest are elderly households, reported as agricultural produc-ers, then old people with low pensions, the third are the people receive social assistance and the fourth are single parents. What we’ve got there is very surprising. There is a large number of people of working age and nine

15

Social protection

The most important projects involving NGO “Duga”

“Mapping of socially vulnerable people and promoting labor activation of socially vulner-able population at the local level» – The project lasted from March 2014 to February 2015 and presented an opportunity for the municipalities of Nova Crnja, Pećinci, Plandište and Novi Bečej at the local level to adopt the model of social policy which was successfully implement-ed by NGO “Duga” in the previous period in the municipalities of Ada, Mali Iđoš, Bačka Topola and Senta. The donor was the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade. Project costs were about 30 000 euros, while the share of NGO “Rainbow” around 3500 euros.

“Improving the partnership of civil society and local governments in order to promote good practice community service” is a project that promoted good practices of community service in exchange for social assistance in 13 municipalities and hinted at a better integra-tion of vulnerable groups in local community activities through community service work. The project lasted from January to April 2015 and was co-financed by the Provincial Secretariat for Interregional Cooperation and Local Government. Project costs were 200 000 dinars, and the participation of NGO “Rainbow” 30 000 dinars.

“Support to the innovative mechanism of engagement of socially vulnerable population,” which is co-financed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs and which runs from June 2015 to February 2016. The project represents an opportunity to five municipalities in Serbia as formal partners (Vlasotince, Bojnik, Crna Trava, Preševo and Medveđa) and six mu-nicipalities as informal partners (Knjaževac, Ljubovija, Žitiste, Zrenjanin, Sečanj and Kovačica) at the local level to adopt the model of social policy , implemented by NGO “Duga”. Project costs were 1.145 million dinars, and the participation of NGO “Duga” is 210 000 dinars.

Vesna Civrić. Citizen’s association “Duga”

16

Social protection

months of receiving social assistance, al-though there is no need because they live in decent conditions, in nice homes. Most of these people have nothing on their names, and by all criteria fall into welfare cases. In these situations, most often their grandpar-ents, grandfather and father were social cas-es. It is a model of the family, because little is invested in education. Also, the Centers for Social Work (CSW) provide the so called short-term help, but again it’s only for people who are registered with social centers and this possibility does not exist for single parents or people who work and do not receive salaries. How dis you solve this problem?Thinking about it, we started to think about

how to help single parents and other people who are not registered at the CSW, which are in an unenviable economic situation. Then we came to the conclusion that in addition to the non-governmental sector that constantly ap-plies for funding and helps people, to open a municipal body called the Office for Poverty Reduction and later the Board for Poverty Re-duction. Office initially lived exclusively of projects. The largest part of it came from the Kingdom of Norway and these offices continue to operate thanks to local communities that took on the financing of offices. However, this has not yet entered into the law, and we hope for the new social policy. Help from the Of-fice refers to quick help or assistance that can be from the Mayor or Center for Social Work. This aid has to be done in the form of com-munity service from people who are capable of working within families. We are often ac-cused of humiliating people, but I have to say that these people are proud of what they do. The Office does not do this by itself, but to-gether with the local community and all the institutions belonging to the municipality of Ada. We have signed a cooperation agreement with them; so you can meet our workers of community service at the police, kindergar-ten, health center, and school ... they will receive an adequate assistance for the help

they sought. This is not a salary, but an in-kind assistance. What is necessary in order to open an Office for Poverty Reduction?Before municipality opens an office for pov-

erty reduction, social policies must change and they must make rules by which this assistance and money will be awarded. Relevant people who will make the decision on the amount of money that people get for volunteer work should be in the Commission. They will get minimum wage, and people would choose the job accordingly. It can be for wood, electricity, food, bus fares, medical services ... Why not give the money ?! Because we feel that it’s not personal income, than community work, and

Work atmosphere in CA “Duga”

17

Social protection

because it often happens that social assistance recipients get their money, and that money is often not spent on its original purpose. Also, you cannot get help until the job gets done. I think it’s very good because if you refuse to work, you would not be able to file a claim. Both Mayor and we abide by that rule. Are people satisfied with the opportu-nity to earn?People are really satisfied and very happy

to do their job. Every man has the right to work and to earn his money with dignity. It is said very often that people who are registered at the CSW don’t want to work, which is ugly and false. We never gave them a chance. So-

cial assistance should be temporary and not constant. We have six Roma who found em-ployment in a nursing home in Mol and four at PUC in Ada that are exceptional. Those people can leave their children at day care, which is an option. Children get a snack through soup kitchens. We have inclusive education in three languages, in Serbian, Hungarian and Romani and what we’re proud of is that non-Roma children learn Romani and Hungarian children learn Serbian. What we still need to work on is human trafficking, in particular of girls, which is very difficult to control because different people than us are behind it.

Ljiljana Maričić

18

Provincial government

At the presentation of the part of the act of the famous Russian choir “Glinka”, which appeared in June at the Ser-

bian music festival in St. Petersburg (Russian Federation), Vice-President of the Provincial Government and the Provincial Secretary for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality Miroslav Vasin stressed that it is important to familiarize the public of Novi Sad, as well as the public throughout Vojvodina about this im-portant cultural event.

This prominent ensemble conducted by Vladislav Černjušenko, within the Serbian mu-sic festival held in St. Petersburg on June 17, 2015, performed “Liturgy of St. John Chrys-ostom,” in the Romany language, by Zoran Mulić, professor of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. The Provincial Government supported the Liturgy performance at the cultural capital of the Russian Federation.

“Prof. Zoran Mulić has the honor to pre-sent his important piece at the music festival in St. Petersburg, the center of culture, espe-cially because that is the act that was com-posed in June was presented in the Romani language. Today’s program is a tribute to his work, and a reminder of the fact that such an important person is living and working among us, but is also an incentive to the artist and to the public to continue to appreciate great works of art and attend similar events. The very composition represents the cultural her-itage of the Roma community and throughout the province, where they intersect many cul-tures, traditions and customs,” said Miroslav Vasin.

PRESENTING THE PERFORMANCE OF RUSSIAN CHOIR "GLINKA" HELD IN ST. PETERSBURG

Provincial Secretary for Culture and Public Information, Slaviša Grujić also attended the presentation.

On behalf of the Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information and on behalf

Ceremony at the Provincial Government Hall

19

Provincial government

of himself, the Secretary Slaviša Grujić said that it is an honor and great pleasure to greet the participants of the festival.

“The fact is that music, as an art form, is perhaps most of all the others the one that brings people together, especially when it comes to spiritual music,” said Secretary Grujić.

“This gathering began by singing the Rom-ani anthem “Gyelem Gyelem” and thus we got the message more powerful and stronger than all others, and that is precisely the essence of existence, and also to cheer us up or makes us

sad sometimes. Presenting at the Festival in St Petersburg in Russia, a country that strongly nur-tures spiritual music, is a great success; espe-cially under the baton of Vladislav Černjušenko and by prof. Zoran Mulić and as they presented this city, Province of Vojvodina and the Republic of Serbia in the right way. Due to the impression

that was left there and the praise we received, from this place, I want to wish you success in your work and thus provide support to further activities”, said Secretary Grujić at the end.

www.vojvodina.gov.rs

Ceremony at the Provincial Government Hall

20

Culture

Interview with ZORAN MULIĆ, professor at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad

DUHOVNA VERTIKALA — TEMELJ POSTOJANJA I OPSTANKA

You have recently visit-ed Russia. Can you tell us on which occasion?At the initiative of maes-

tro Vladislav Černjušenko, and organized by the “Glinka” Chapel, there was a festival of Serbian music culture in the pe-riod from 17 to 21 June 2015. Complete program was taking place in the magnificent hall of the “Glinka” Chapel in the center of the old Petrograd where Serbian musical herit-age of recent times was pre-sented. During the three nights of the festival, the following acts were presented: the Lit-urgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Romany language by Zoran

Mulić, conductor Bojan Suđić conducted the Symphony Or-chestra of the “Glinka” Chapel, author evening of the composer Svetislav Božić. In other words, the “Glinka” Chapel provided full artistic resources, adding to both organization and musi-cal performances a true artistic value. Who was in your delega-tion, and who helped in the realization of your trip?A team of people from

Novi Sad traveled to Petrograd, and those were: fathers Stan-imir Popović and Goran Dimić, a small choir of the Orthodox church from Novi Sad which accounted Milica Grubišić, Je-

lena Žutić, Ivana Mulić, Stevan Nikolić, Aleksandar Alić and Ne-manja Miličević. All of them had an active role during the chant-ing of the Liturgy at the con-cert platform of the “Glinka” Chapel. A team of people who were material and technical support, as well as moral sup-port included gentlemen Svetis-lav Nićetin, Ivan Karačić, Zorica Mulić, Margarita Vujović, Romeo Mihajlović, Duško Jovanović, director of the Roma Inclusion Office and myself. I sincerely regret that due to objective circumstances the following gentlemen were not with us, although they gave invaluable contribution to the whole en-

Proff. Zoran Mulić, at the “Glinka” Chapel

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Culture

terprise: Miroslav Vasin, Deputy Prime Minister of Vojvodina and Slaviša Grujić, Secretary for Culture and Public Information of the AP Vojovodine. How was conceived the time you spent in St. Pe-tersburg and did it include some other activities than performing the Liturgy?Despite the short stay in

beautiful St. Petersburg, in-tensive contacts with Roma or-ganizations were made, which will certainly evolve during time into excellent coopera-tion at all levels. A delegation of Roma organizations attend-ed the chanting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom at the Hall of “Glinka” Chapel on June 17, 2015, to host us so warmly and provide homey feeling in their temple dedicated to St. Andrew, talking and contem-plating cooperation for the fu-ture. It should be noted that, in the words of the Roma from St. Petersburg, around 400,000 mostly Orthodox Roma live in St. Petersburg area. What were the reac-tions to the performance of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Roma-ny language?Long-term cooperation with

the “Glinka” choir and their spiritual leader, maestro Vladis-lav Černjušenko have always been a warranty, both before and now and in the future, that a true, timeless and artistic experience will be performed. That happened on 17 June 2015 in the magnificent concert hall

of the “Glinka” chapel, filled to capacity, which is about 1200 spectators, who awarded all the performers of this extremely important event for the Roma people with more than a warm applause and a standing ova-tion. There was a great media interest, both for the whole fes-tival and for the chanting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Roma language. Finally, what are your impressions?Since more than 15 years

ago, with the blessing of Bishop Irinej of Bačka Mr. Irinej Bulović, Romani language has become equal and full member of Or-thodox worship. Thanks to Mr. Trufun Dimić, who translated a number of liturgical books into the Romani language, and from the blessing of Bishop of Bačka Irinej Bulović, the basis for a lit-urgy that will be served in the Temple of Lord God on earth was created. That is exactly what happened more than 15 years. Quote “The second time - the first time” on the day of St. Cyriac Otšelnik, on 12 October 2010 in the Almas Temple in Novi Sad, with the blessing of Bishop of Bačka Irinej Bulović, the Holy Liturgy of John Chrysostom was served in the Romani language in its integral version that is, all parts of the Liturgy, both speech as well as music were in the Romani language. The initiator of writing music of the Liturgy in the Romani language is father Rade Jovanović of Šabac, also of Roma origin. Apart from fathers Stanimir Popović, Branko Đurčin

and Goran Dimić, the choir be-hind the choir, led by Ms. Milica Grubišić, the world-renowned choir “Glinka” from St. Pe-tersburg and a true devotee of musical art, Maestro Vladislav Černjušenko all gave immense artistic charisma to this histori-cally important event for the Roma people. From 12 October 2010 to the presents, music of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysos-tom certainly has its place in the worship of the Orthodox prov-enance. 17 June, 2015 serves as evidence of this. People with big hearts also made invaluable contribution for the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the Rom-ani language to come to life. These are above all, the follow-ing gentlemen: Vladimir Mulić, Milovan Miškov, Veselin Matejin - Remin, Imre Lakatoš, Dusan Petrovački, Ljubica Kiselički and Petar Nikolić. In addition to the above mentioned, great appre-ciacion without whom nothing would have happened goes to the gentlemen from the Govern-ment of the AP Vojvodina: Bojan Pajtić, Miroslav Vasin, Slaviša Grujić, Milorad Đurić, Svetozar Čiplić. Thank you all on behalf of the Roma people, because the Roma people stood in line of people whose spiritual vertical to the Lord God is the basis of existence and survival, and the music itself is his sincerity and emotion will find a way into the hearts and souls of true believ-ers, especially in Glory of the Lord, pushing the limits of met-aphysical orthodoxy na Mnogaya leta.� Tijana Čubrilo

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PHOTO REPORT

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PHOTO REPORT

24

Culture

"CIGANSKE VATRE " – FOR THE 19TH TIME IN SRBOBRANThe Citizens’ association "Rom" from Srbobran organized a cultural event, "Ciganske vatre" for the 19th time at the Republic Square. The program of the event was covered by folklore, musical, literary and artistic creativity of Roma from various parts of Vojvodina. As prior, patrons for this year, were Srbobran Municipality, House of Culture and the Provincial Secretariat for Education, Administration and National Minorities - national community.

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Culture

Music, dance, painting, literatureRomani cultural societies from Tornjoš, Horgoš, Martonoš, Senta, Bavanište,

Kovin, Apatin and Deronja, as well as tamburitza orchestra “Blizanci” from Novi Sad with vocal soloist Boško Jovanović participated in the music and dance part of the program. Poetic reading took place as well, with were Maja Ranko and Ranko Jovanović from Deronje as guests. All attendees had the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition of paintings of artists from the Art Association, who presented the paint-ings with motifs of Romani life.

Participants of the “Ciganske vatre”

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Culture

Diversity abundanceMayor Zoran Mladenović opened the event, and said

that all ethnic communities in the municipality have their own holidays and events, which best reflect multi-culturalism of the area. “This cultural event takes place for the 19th time with the efforts of Roma and it should be noted that our Roma are not just culturally present at this event, but take part in other celebrations. This is the only way for us together to move forward. “

Slavko Dimić, President of the Citizens’ Association “Rom” expressed satisfaction that “Ciganske vatre “ was attended by members of other communities, not just the Roma. “Through socializing we need to show diver-sity abundance and our event shows that here, we live in harmony with other groups.”

Janica Golub Dimić boasted with the fact that the NGO “Roma” is traditionally organizing for the 19th time “Ciganske vatre”. “It is a great success because we have managed for years to maintain an important event where the Roma can demonstrate through this type of gathering the essence of nurturing traditions, customs, culture and language. This is also an opportunity for the Roma from various parts of Vojvodina to listen to each other, share experiences, successes and problems.” Jan-ica Dimić expressed special gratitude to the Provincial Secretariat and the Municipality, who decided to support “ Ciganske vatre” one more time and have thus shown to have understanding of Roma traditions and culture.

This event has shown how

important it is that the Roma

do not forget their traditions,

culture and creativity, and

"Ciganske vatre " is a place

where Roma culture has been

nurtured for years. It was

an opportunity for the Roma

cultural associations to show

what they have done and

learned in the past year. On

the other hand, this was an

opportunity for the non-Roma

to become acquainted with

the tradition of this nation

and thus come closer to each

other, and that is the essence

of human relationships in a

multicultural environment.

“Our municipality is small (about 16,500 inhabitants) and falls into the cat-egory of underdeveloped municipalities (3,200 unemployed). Generally speaking, we have a difficult social situation and do everything possible to facilitate this situation to all citizens, including Roma citizens. Srbobran municipality allocates significant funds in the budget and has a serious plan intended to help the Roma to integrate into society and overcome the problems they face. This path begins at preschool age, and then through primary and secondary school, which is reflected through free snacks, hygiene kits and educational material. Help extends through the health system and social benefits.

One girl graduated from law school and works in local government, just in the sector where attention is given to social sectors and social assistance. All this to-gether leads to the fact that we have more and more educated Roma. When the Roma get the opportunity to experience education, it is logical to raise the stand-ard of living. “ Zoran Mladenović, president of the Srbobran Municipality

Zoran Mladenović, predsednik Opštine Srbobran

Tijana Čubrilo

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Culture

Painting exhibition

28

DANUBE CONNECTS

Expressing identity and freedom is a recur-rent theme in the fashion industry and its market, a sector that hardly ever has

socio-political relevance. One of these rare cases occurred in 2014, when Romani Design presented its collection ”My identity — My Freedom” in the Museum of Fine Arts on the Budapest Heroes’ Square. The collection is inspired by traditional Roma clothing. At this historical and touristic center of attraction, cultural traces of the Roma — who represent six percent of the city’s population — are usu-ally not to be found. Contemporary Roma cul-ture is simply not a part of everyday life in Budapest. Under these circumstances, Romani Design’s catwalk becomes a place of self-as-sertion for a minority that is calling for new visibility.

Tradition beyond costumesLong, multi-layered pleated skirts, bright

colors, floral motives, lace and trimming dec-oration — these are the insignia of tradition-al Roma clothing. Less and less communities wear these costumes on an everyday basis. At the same time, today’s Roma, who come from traditional families but often have a modern, urban lifestyle, and not adequately represent-ed in fashion or elsewhere — just as if they didn’t exist. Old stereotypes about Roma, however, are tenacious: Each and every year during carnival, many „gadjés” (the Romani word for non-Roma) pull tambourines, gold chains, veils and flowered skirts out of their wardrobes. Yet, this is a mere costume that is not accepted as everyday clothing and not reinterpreted.

Here begins the work of the only haute couture design studio to date whose creative impulse stems from classic Roma clothing. Romani Design combines traditional patterns and silhouettes with mundane black silk and clear, straight shapes. The label from Buda-pest, founded by Erika Varga, builds on the contrast between traditional and contempo-rary elements. “I would like to show that the traditional has a place in our contemporary life as well, and that it is not outdated”, Varga states. She comes from the Szabolcs region, although her family’s history spans to Romani-an Transylvania. Her designs pick up elements of traditional Roma costumes from Romania and Hungary and reinterpret them. For in-stance, the source of inspiration for the cur-rent collection is the kretinca, a traditional apron passed on from mother to daughter, the heiress adding to the decorations and embroi-dery. Varga’s contemporary reinterpretation leads to elegant silk dresses with trimmings that subtly trace the outline of a kretinca. The collection proudly claims Roma cultural heritage and the presence of an ethnic group whose stigmatization and stereotyping have little parallel in modern times.

Tailoring self-confidenceFor many years, trained jewelry designer

Erika Varga taught Roma culture in Hungarian Roma communities. She also founded a youth magazine made by and for Roma. Her social commitment and creativity united in the idea of founding a label for fashion inspired by Roma clothing. As the head of Romani Design, she has been designing clothing, jewelry and bags

THE CLOTHES OF SELF-ASSERTIONRomani Design, a Budapest-based studio, expresses the Roma’s new confidence, far from total assimilation and external images — without words, in the language of fashion.

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DANUBE CONNECTS

since 2010, aided amongst other by her sis-ter Helena Varga. The label also pursues social objectives: in 2014, it organized a one-year educational project that taught basic tailor-ing skills to young, disadvantaged Roma from Hungary and Slovakia. “Our aim was not only to teach them a profession”, says Erika Varga, “but also to help them gain back their self-confidence and be more successful in looking for a job. For many of them, this was a life-changing opportunity, I believe.”

Apart from negative stereotypes, young Roma frequently lack positive role models. Yet, they are often enough confronted with the ways others perceive them. These percep-tions are often related to the outer appearance of Roma and their clothes. For instance, the narratives of Western culture include manifold

examples of the lascivious Romani with her erotic exoticism. Victor Hugo’s description of Esmeralda in the Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a standard example of this phenomenon: “in fact, when she danced thus, to the humming of the Basque tambourine, which her two pure, rounded arms raised above her head, […] with her corsage of gold without a fold, her varie-gated gown puffing out, her bare shoulders, her delicate limbs, which her petticoat revealed at times, her black hair, her eyes of flame, she

was a supernatural creature.” The author over-looked the fact that covering one’s shoulders is essential in most Roma communities.

Clothing — A Political IssueRoma culture is still molded by reductive

and defamatory representations of this type.

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DANUBE CONNECTS

The Central European Initiative (CEI), the regional intergovernmental forum gath-ering eighteen Countries from Central

and Eastern Europe has decided to financially support the Serbian NGO “Radovi U Toku” in the implementation of the “VET4Mediation with Roma” project, co-funded by the Life-long Learning Program of the European Union.

The CEI’s involvement in regional coopera-tion - as well as its bridging function - contrib-utes to remove existing barriers and divisions hindering the European integration process. To meet the strategic objectives outlined in its Plan of Action 2014-2016 - aligned with the EU Multi annual Financial Framework 2014-2020 - which accompanies the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy CEI defined the areas of cooperation and the project LLP VET4 Media-tion with Roma is in line with the 2014-2016 CEI’s priorities.

CEI is supporting the VET4 Mediation with Roma project also contributing in the dis-semination of projects’ results to CEI member states and by providing an inter-governmental framework for its sustainability after its end. The project, characterized by a consortium formed by EU and non EU countries, also pro-motes education, e-learning and training as key tools to facilitates the entering in the la-bor market of Roma people. It promotes di-versity, plurality, tolerance, including gender equality and social cohesion.

The protection and the promotion of the rights of persons belonging to national minori-ties is also among the priorities of CEI as indi-cated in the CEI instrument for the Protection of Minority Rights that promotes Roma Inclu-

In a powerful comment, US author Jesica Rei-dy, herself Romani, criticized a photo series published in VOGUE in autumn 2013 under the title “Summer in Love”. The series’ eroticized representation of female “gypsies” hardly dif-fered from the one already described by Hugo. The series didn’t present any Romany Design clothes, although it is so far the only label redefining Roma style from within the Roma community. “Do you know one of the ways that people can tell that I’m Romany?” Reidy asks the VOGUE editors. “Clothing. Traditional clothing is a political issue.” Many Romani liv-ing outside of traditional communities have completely abandoned their traditional cos-tumes and have adopted their aspect to the majority. This is not always a free choice — many are afraid of being recognized as Roma because of the widespread hostility towards them. The visibility of Roma has to be fought for, particularly in Hungary, where 15 percent of voters chose the antiziganist, right-wing extremist party Jobbik. Therefore, it is nei-ther only pop nor obvious for Roma to act as-sertively in public and wear clothing that ex-presses this ethnic self-confidence.

Nevertheless, Erika Varga abstains from loud political slogans and lets her collections speak for themselves. These provide Roma with an expression of their identity that nei-ther drowns itself in nostalgic traditionalism nor denies its origins. “I also feel that my ca-reer path is giving motivation to young Roma women, showing that they can be successful while proudly expressing their origin.” Her costumers, though, are mainly non-Roma from Hungary and other countries that, thanks to Romani Design, discover a part of Roma cul-ture unaffected by stereotypes. Roma, on the other hand, still struggle not only for a way of expressing themselves between tradition, their external image and modernity.

Karolin Kral, Danube connects

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NGO

THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE SUPPORTS RADOVI U TOKU IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VET4 MEDIATION WITH ROMA PROJECT

sion/integration, in line with the objectives of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015. The actors involved in the project are bringing, and sharing, different approaches, best prac-tices and possible policies to favor the inclu-sion, and the integration, of Roma people in society.

CEI is committed to supporting European integration through cooperation between and among its Member States, with the European Union, as well as other interested public/pri-vate institutions, NGOs, international and re-gional organizations.

Since its foundation, 25 years ago, the CEI has been able to constantly adapt to the quickly-evolving European political environ-ment, while acting as a platform for political dialogue, helping in maintaining cooperative relations and in building confidence among the participating countries. To offer a solid contri-

bution to European integration the CEI com-bines multilateral diplomacy and project man-agement and bridges European macro-regions. The CEI’s political cooperation intends to sup-ply the countries and their institutions with a pragmatic platform for regional cooperation, focusing on their preparation to a future ac-cession to the European Union. A special at-tention is given to capacity building of non-EU Member States, pursued through know-how transfer/updating and through the exchange of experiences/best practices among EU and non EU countries.

Marzia Clucher, Radovi u toku