THIRD ANNUAL NEW YORK GYPSY HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL

September 29, 2009
Extra-Curricular

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DJ HUTZ BACK FROM BRASIL IN MEHANATA FOR THE OPENING OF
THIRD ANNUAL NY GYPSY HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL.
PARTY ALL NIGHT WITH MUSIC FILM AND WILD GUESTS.

October 1-7 2009
Mehanata Bulgarian Bar
113 Ludlow St. NY
http://www.nygypsyfilm.com/

The New York Roma / Gypsy Human Rights Film Festival continues to roam the globe to present you with an in depth and diverse view on the lives of some of the world’s most overlooked and undervalued people. In a full and varied program we bring together filmmakers, musicians and artists for a spirited and lively celebration of the Roma people.

The festival will screen over 33 films from all over the world: Czech Republic, Germany, Bulgaria, England, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Canada and Turkey, including many world premiers and American debuts. Q&A’s and panel discussions featuring the filmmakers, invited artists, lecturers and musicians offer you the opportunity to engage face to face.

The Festival proudly presents special programs featuring:

• The Gypsy Holocaust, breaking the silence of a decades’ long taboo with movies and lectures and debates with The Honorable Ian F. Hancock, Director of The Romani Archives and Documentation Center and former Roma representative to the UN Economic and Social Council And Member of the International Romani Parliament. Ian Hancock (Professor at the University of Texas) and Michael Stewart (Professor at the University College London) on the current situation of Gypsies in North America and the persecution and genocide of Gypsies in Europe

• A lecture by Roma advocate Boglarka Fedorko on contemporary Hungary

• OutSide Film event including the screening of the banned Bulgarian cult film ‘Bakalava’

• ‘Our Garbage Dump, our Hell and Heaven’, a new play by Ella Veres, set in a Gypsy community in Romania.

European electors vote in right wing ‘anti Roma’ parties, acting as racist attacks that target Roma populations from Ireland to Italy, Hungary to Romania; even the smallest children suffer from structural segregation and abuse. After centuries of slavery, genocide, massacres and relentless ostracizing the Roma, presently numbering around 15 million people worldwide, continue to be subjected to unprecedented levels of discrimination and violence in today’s world.

Keeping quiet in society’s margins while culture, heritage and spirit are stolen is not an option. We at the New York Gypsy Film Festival hope to counteract these forces by exposing the public to the moving art, music, history, culture and above all humanity of the beautiful Roma people.

So come and join us for a closer look at the undeniable beauty of the Gypsy people!

www.nygypsyfilm.com

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MORE ON SULUKULE

August 16, 2009
Extra-Curricular

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DEAR ALL,

COMPLETE ERADICATION OF ANYTHING AUTHENTIC IS THE DARK THEME OF OUR TIMES.

SOMETIMES IT’S TRANSPARENT, SOMETIMES IT’S BRUTALLY OBVIOUS LIKE THE STRUGGLE OF SULUKULE, THE GYPSY NEIGHBORHOOD OF ISTANBUL. WITH OUR LIVES AND WORK WE TRY TO BRIGHTEN UP THESE DARK MOMENTS. SOMETIMES OUR EFFORTS ARE TRANSPARENT; SOMETIMES IT REALLY WORKS.

A YEAR AGO WE WENT TO SULUKULE TO EXPRESS THE UNITY WITH ITS RESIDENTS. WHAT WE SAW BROUGHT TO LIFE AN ACTIVIST SONG OF DOCUMENTARY NATURE, ‘EDUCATE THY NEIGHBOR’. THE RESPONSE TO THE SONG – IT’S WORTH TO KEEP TRYING AT ALL TIMES. POSITIVE FORCES OF TURKISH PRESS USED IT AS A GREAT SUPPORT FOR SULUKULE. IT SEEMS THAT EDUCATION OF THE BRUTES IS POSSIBLE, AND WE ARE PROUD TO BE OF HELP.

PLEASE TAKE A SECOND TO LOOK INTO THE CASE OF SULUKULE, WHOSE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.
HERE IS THE SONG AS WELL, AS YOU MIGHT OF HEARD IT AT LATEST GB SHOWS.

GB PERFORMS NEW SONG: SULUKULE (EDUCATE THY NEIGHBOR)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLRq3slUioY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7cwm98vB8

CLICK HERE TO READ THE LYRICS

READ MORE ABOUT SULUKULE

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STILL HOPE FOR SULUKULE!

August 6, 2009
Announcements

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Last summer, GB visited the oldest Rom settlement in the world: Sulukule in Istanbul, Turkey (you can read more about the visit here ).

Despite a thousand-year heritage, authorities are allowing the destruction of Sulukule to make way for a brand new building development. Check out the more recent photos…

Sulukule Sulukule Sulukule Sulukule

However, there is still hope!

The pressures by the local and international media and institutions, including the threat of UNESCO about taking Istanbul out of the World Heritage List due to the violations against conventions, raised an interest in the alternative efforts spent by the volunteers of the STOP project.

In June 2009, the president of TOKI invited the volunteers of the STOP project to Ankara in order to present it. Upon this request representatives of the volunteers had a meeting with TOKI in Ankara and explained the main approach of the project. TOKI asked the volunteers to revise the project in one month time according to the current situation of the neighborhood, which was demolished almost entirely by then. After the meeting, a new workshop (Sulukule Studio), initially consisted of Sulukule Platform and Solidarity Atelier but open to any participation and support, has started to work on the alternative project. At the moment, this workshop is in full progress for an alternative plan that aims to regain the housing rights of Sulukule residents and minimize the damage that has been caused so far. The initial decisions were shared with a larger public and the media in two meetings and a huge support was received.

As the volunteers of the alternative project, we would like to make an urgent call to the concerned institutions to give their support at this critical period in order to encourage TOKI to consider the alternative project seriously. We have prepared a sample letter for the institutions to fax the president of TOKI, Erdogan Bayraktar, at (0090) 312 266 77 48.

However, we would like to stress that we would appreciate the institutions prepare their own versions of this letter.

Please forward a copy of the fax to the e-mail provided below.
Thank you very much for your support.

Kind regards,
Sulukule Studio

Contact:
Aysim Türkmen
e-mail: aysimt (at) yahoo.com

You can find a sample letter here at No-Racism.net . Support the people of Sulukule!

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REMEMBRANCE

August 2, 2009
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International Remembrance Day for Roma Victims of the Porrajmos (Holocaust) is on August 2nd.

On this day in 1944, thousands of Roma were gassed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Jewish survivors said the sky was lit up all night by the crematory burning, and "the women were fighting for the life of their children". On August 3rd, Auschwitz–Birkenau was "Zigeunerfrei" (Free of Gypsies).

Romani groups have begun an international action day: ‘Together against Antigypsyism’.

PLEASE REMEMBER THEM.

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Gogol Bordello supports Sulukule

September 18, 2008
Extra-Curricular

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In June, Gogol Bordello visited the oldest Roma settlement in the world, Sulukule in Turkey.

Sulukule! Sulukule!

Turkish Daily News report :: FotoAkBaBa

Read more about Sulukule and GB’s appearance here 

Go to the videos page now to view footage!

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HELP DISSOLVE ITALY’S ROMA CRISIS

May 21, 2008
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68% of Italians want Roma expelled – read more

Cari amici italiani dei Gogol Bordello!

E’ una grande tragedia per GB sapere che cosa sta succedendo in Italia con gli zingari, con la popolazione Roma.

Noi, certamente, sappiamo che le opinioni conservatrici e degli ignoranti non si ritrovano tra i nostri amici italiani e i nostri fan.

Comunque vogliamo dire a tutti che dovete usare il potere di suggestione intelligente con i vostri compatrioti chi stanno nell’oscuro nel rapporto con i Roma.

Principalmente, tutti devono capire che TUTTO CIO’ CHE LORO SANNO RIGUARDO GLI ZINGARI E’ UNA BUGIA!!! Per favore aiutate a rilassare le inutili tensioni educando gli idioti.

Con molto amore i rispetto, GB

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Dear Italian Friends of Gogol Bordello!

It’s a big shock for GB to know what’s been going on in Italy in regards of Gypsies, the Romany nation.

We of course understand that right wing opinions and opinions of ignorant kind are not likely to be found amongst our Italian friends and fans.

However, we would like to encourage you to use the power of intelligent suggestion towards your compatriots who still live in the dark about Roma.

Most importantly they have to understand: EVERYTHING THEY KNOW ABOUT GYPSIES IS A LIE. Please help to ease the unnecessary tensions by educating the idiot camp.

Much love and respect, GB

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