Romania's ‘I Am a Roma’ Campaign, Kyrgyzstan's Bold Border Reopening
Plus, Lithuania rejects new CIA prisons probe, and a reconstructed Bolshoi makes its debut
28 October 2011
1. "I Am a Roma" Aims to Fight Prejudice in Romania
TOL has long covered the plight of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe.
From the Visegrad countries to the Balkans to the former Soviet states,
the ethnic minority faces widespread discrimination and poverty.
A new effort urges Roma to stand up and be counted. Photo by Michael J. Jordan.
A new national campaign in Romania is trying – however modestly – to chip away at anti-Roma sentiment. According to The Southeast European Times,
"I Am a Roma" urges the country's Romani population to declare their
ethnicity in this year's census. The campaign is a direct response to
Romania's last census, conducted in 2002, which recorded 534,000 Roma,
far below official estimates. But it is also about encouraging Roma to
take pride in their cultural heritage and fighting prejudice, The
SETimes reports – and to take advantage of benefits available to them.
Roma "shrink from declaring they belong to this ethnicity because of
fears of discrimination, repercussions, and social marginalization,"
says David Mark, executive director of the Roma Civic Alliance of
Romania.
2. Days Ahead of Tense Election, Kyrgyzstan Reopens Border with Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan reopened a checkpoint along its border with Uzbekistan 26 October after an 18-month closure, Radio Free Europe
reports. The border was sealed during the April 2010 revolt that
erupted in Kyrgyzstan after troops fired on protesters in the capital,
leading to the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiev. RFE notes that the
"closed border proved calamitous in June 2010," when ethnic Uzbeks
living in Kyrgyzstan flooded the border to escape interethnic violence
in the south. Nearly 500 people died in the unrest.
Almazbek Atambaev
The reopening of the checkpoint just outside Osh, a hotspot in last June's violence, comes just four days before Kyrgyzstan's 30 October presidential election.
RFE speculates that premier and presidential candidate Almazbek
Atambaev, who negotiated the opening with Tashkent last month, could be
trying to win votes. Alternatively, Atambaev might want to ensure that
ethnic Uzbeks have an escape route should violence erupt again.
RFE quotes one official from the south warning of unrest.
"We have operative information that some of the presidential
candidates, unsatisfied with the results of the elections, may
destabilize the political situation in Osh," Marat Orozbaev, an Osh city
official, said. "They may carry out their plans as soon as the results
of the vote are in."
3. Albanian Legislator Slapped on the Wrist for Calling Homosexuality a "Disease"
Tritian Shehu, a member of parliament from Albania's ruling
Democratic Party, has been publicly reprimanded for making homophobic
remarks in parliament, Balkan Insight reports. In December Shehu said "homosexuality is [a] disease and should be treated with hormones."
In a rather mild reprimand issued nearly a year since Shehu's
comments, the anti-discrimination commissioner said such remarks create
"an atmosphere of tension and unfriendliness toward the LGBT community
in Albania." Though Albania decriminalized homosexuality in 1995,
homophobia is common, according to Balkan Insight, which quotes the
Albanian Human Rights Group as saying that gays and lesbians face
physical and psychological violence, including from the police.
4. Lithuania Rebuffs Amnesty Call for New "Black Sites" Probe
Lithuanian officials have declined a request by Amnesty International
to reopen a criminal investigation of alleged illegal treatment of
prisoners at CIA prisons opened in the country as part of the U.S. war
on terror, The Baltic Times reports. The Lithuanian prosecutor says there isn't sufficient new information to justify another probe.
In 2002 and 2006, Lithuania hosted so-called "black sites" where Al
Qaeda suspects were secretly interrogated. Poland and Romania hosted
similar facilities. The Lithuanian government closed an investigation of
the prisons in January, citing a lack of evidence that prisoners were
detained illegally and a need to protect state secrets.
In a September report, "Unlock the Truth in Lithuania: Investigate Secret Prisons Now,"
Amnesty International said the prosecutor general halted the
investigation on "highly dubious grounds." Moreover, the group said, it
and other organizations had uncovered additional information, including a
2005 flight from Morocco to Vilnius, to justify a new probe.
"The Lithuanian government must reveal the full truth of its
involvement in these operations, hold accountable those institutions and
individuals responsible for complicity in human rights violations … and
provide full and effective redress for any victims of these practices,"
the report says.
5. A Gala but Tetchy Reopening for the Bolshoi
Russia’s storied Bolshoi Theater reopens today after six years of
renovation. The long-awaited unveiling is likely to be no less
controversial than was the much-disputed renovation work.
Makvala Kasrashvili, manager of the theater’s opera department, told the Rossiyskaya gazeta
newspaper that the theater’s acoustics had been significantly improved,
thanks to help from UNESCO and experts from Italy and Germany. She also
said the renovation provides more rehearsal space and has preserved the
“unique atmosphere” of the theater.
Not everyone is so pleased. Lead ballet dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze
has been loud in his criticism of the results. Speaking to Interfax (and quoted by the BBC),
Tsiskaridze declared, “Everything that has been done to the Bolshoi is
vandalism.” He noted that the makeup rooms have no windows and that the
ceilings are so low, that “It will not be possible to lift a ballerina:
one hit the ceiling.”
As for the acoustics, he demanded, “How can we say that the acoustics
are wonderful, when nobody has yet listened to a performance from the
theater hall?”
Roman Tsehanski, coordinator of a local preservation group, said the
building should have been restored rather than reconstructed. He said
many historical details were lost in the process.
In 2005, the building was closed after being deemed in danger of
collapsing. The reconstruction work was hit by a scandal in 2009 over
improper spending.
The invitation-only concert marking the reopening will be broadcast in 36 countries at 6 p.m. Moscow time on YouTube. Artists from the Bolshoi and from around the world will take part.
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