"We were appalled to see violence used to challenge the idea that we are all equal," says MPA second-year student Corina Ajder. She is describing the reaction she and her classmates had when they heard about the 17-year-old Romani man who was savagely beaten by a self-declared ethnic Bulgarian nationalist.
The incident that prompted the brutal attack, which was reported by the European Roma Rights Centre, was the assertion by a young Romani man, Mitko, that the two were equal. Ajder says that they wanted to "do something" to show solidarity with Mitko and all Roma, not just in Bulgaria but wherever they live. CEU's Roma Access Programs and Human RightS Initiative are also mobilizing in support of the #RomaAreEqual Campaign and have issued a Call for Solidarity today, April 22.
Roma in Europe continue to be stigmatized because of their ethnicity and acts of racist violence against Roma often go unreported. In addition, many government policies also do little to facilitate Roma access to education, employment, or housing. Although discrimination against Roma is not a new phenomenon, there are reports suggesting that it is becoming an even greater problem in many European countries.