Electoral Systems and National Minorities

Author(s): Kristine Margvelashvili,Ana Tsiklauri / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

National minorities make up a substantial portion of the entire population of Georgia. However, the level of their participation in social and political life is limited. From the legal perspective, the Georgian legislation and the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ensure the equality of opportunities for national minorities. Nevertheless, the quality of minority participation in political decision-making still remains a great challenge. The current mixed electoral system fails to ensure the full-fledged political participation of national minorities. They are underrepresented in the legislature which causes and is also caused by the low level of political participation of national minorities.

Access to Information for National Minorities in Georgia

Author(s): Diana Bogishvili,Ana Tsiklauri / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

To ensure safeguarding the rights of national minorities, and their integration in the society, a new State Strategy for Civic Equality and Integration and 2015-2020 Action Plan was developed under the Office of the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality of Georgia, in 2015. One of the intermediate objectives of this Strategy is improved access to media and information for national minorities. A more detailed overview of this intermediate goal is provided in sub-chapter 2.2 of the State Strategy for Civic Equality and Integration and 2015-2020 Action Plan. Based on the problems mentioned in the introductioon, the goal of the present policy paper was set – to study the current situation regarding the access to information in national minority populated regions of Georgia, and identify difficulties related to access to information.

Gender, Islamophobia and Romaphobia: Intersectional Insights

Author(s): Amina Easat-Daas / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Islamophobia and Romaphobia or antigypsyism remain among the most significant, yet seemingly normalised racisms on the continent, if not across the globe. Both of these forms of racism have historical rootings and distinct gendered dimensions. This chapter seeks to understand and define how gendered Islamophobia and gendered Romaphobia can be understood through theoretical lenses to understand the intersections of the two, and I look forward to potential future research avenues in this novel area of inquiry. The chapter begins with a detailed review of the terms Islamophobia and Romaphobia, taking into consideration the nuances of the respective terms and acknowledging the contestation around the terms both within and external to the racialized Muslim and Romani communities. The chapter continues to examine how a decolonial theoretical lens can be applied to understand both gendered Islamophobia and gendered Romaphobia/antigypsyism before continuing to explore the shortcomings of dominant feminist theory in accounting for the experiences of racialized Muslim and Romani women and the structural factors that shape their exclusion, marginalization, and demonization. This theoretical consideration lays the foundation for the development of a framework for the comparative study of gendered Islamophobia and gendered Romaphobia. The chapter also includes a review of the current nature of gendered Islamophobia and gendered Romaphobia concerning specific theoretical vantage points. It emphasizes how the phenomenon has comparatively impacted Muslim women and Romani women over time and across places. The chapter also reviews the very limited academic study of the Romani Muslim women’s experiences throughout, thus pointing to future avenues for research.

Discrimination Toward Roma and Balkan Egyptians in the Western Balkan States

Author(s): Rubin Zemon / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

There are no agreed-upon definitions of intolerance, racism, xenophobia, or racial prejudice. For example, there is currently no definition of “racism” in any interstate agreement. Nonetheless, definitions of “discrimination,” including “racial discrimination,” can be found in certain international documents. This study looks at the definitions that different organizations and bodies use. “Racism” shall mean the belief that a ground such as race, color, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin justifies contempt for a person or a group of persons, or the notion of superiority of a person or a group of persons,” states the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) of the Council of Europe (OSCE/ ODIHR 2004:11).

In Dialogue with Roma Intellectuals

Author(s): Ivan Ejub Kostić,Selma Muhić Dizdarević / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The concluding chapter of this edited volume reflects several critical aspects. First, while the political, historical, sociological, and gender analyses presented in individual contributions are undoubtedly significant, the pivotal moment lies in amplifying the voices of the Roma themselves ‒ their direct, almost raw expressions that emerge from the depths of lived experiences. Second, complementing the preceding works (except for Rubin Zemon’s contribution), we expand on the authenticity and representation of Roma societal positions by including narrative interviews with selected Roma intellectuals. Narrative interviews are particularly suitable for research contexts where power dynamics are imbalanced.1 This approach enriches the discussion of activism, religion, marginalization, and empowerment, which form the central themes of this volume. We selected our interlocutors based on the following criteria: relevance of experience in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina); their roles as leaders within Roma communities in the region, both through their activities and societal positions; a demonstrated ability to articulate general issues affecting the Roma community, fostering more profound reflections on societal attitudes toward Roma men and women; a capacity to represent a range of perspectives within the community, spanning political, national, and religious dimensions. In line with the narrative interview methodology and to preserve authenticity, the interviews were edited only where clarity and conciseness were required. Reflecting on our positionality as interviewers, we emphasize that our approach followed a maieutic intention, merely guiding the conversations toward areas of interest while striving to foreground the voices of the interlocutors. However, as a result, some responses extend well beyond the scope of the initial questions, which we consider an authentic contribution to the dialogues.

RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA IN LANGUAGE

Author(s): Ranko Bugarski / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Depending on the uses or misuses it is put to, language can both shape and express the whole gamut of ideologies, political positions and collective sentiments, including such destructive ones as ethnonationalism, chauvinism, racism and xenophobia. The last two, which are the sole concern of this paper, stand out in that they can most clearly take on two essential forms - the overt or explicit, and the covert or implicit. The former is unashamedly aggressive, easy to identify and to that extent more conducive to argument and opposition. The latter, by contrast, tends to be elusive, frequently hard to notice and hence in the long run perhaps even more damaging. To take up racism first, it is well known that certain racial, ethnic or national groups, as well as all kinds of minorities, have long constituted its principal targets.

TUĐICE I TUĐINCI

Author(s): Dubravko Škiljan / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Linguistic purism is often considered as an ideologically conditioned expression of nationalistic and xenophobic politics, but its causes, its forms and its consequences merit to be more deeply analyzed from linguistic point of view. Such an analysis, focused on foreign or loan words, as they arc an usual object of puristic (language cleansing), could demonstrate that there is no univocal linguistic criterion to separate loan words from original linguistic units. (Language cleansing) is performed under the motto {Our language is in danger from alien elements), but in fact it is a question of real or induced jeopardy of linguistic communities. If the bearers of linguistic policy, according to general goals of dominant ideology, induce the fear for language in the form of the fear of foreign elements, because of ambiguities of linguistic criteria, they have an open field for manipulations, so that they can produce not only foreign words (regardless to their real etymological status) but also foreigners (as the speakers of those pretended loan words).

INTERKULTURNO OPŠTENJE IZMEĐU RAČUNA I UŽIVLJAVANJA

Author(s): Ljubiša Rajić / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

We must communicate with others no matter what we feel about them: racism, xenophobia, indifference, sympathy, empathy. Intercultural communication is one of those modem fields of research with extraordinary investments of money when we compare them with more traditional fields. This research shows a broad spectrum of attitudes from covert racism via indifferent commercial interest to sincere empathy. The reasons for this research are numerous, but the most important economic and political. Because of that the main attitude is indifferent calculated behavior, and there exists a real danger of development in the direction of covert racism, instead of empathy as a means of better understanding.

MINORITY COUNCILS AND THEIR PROBLEMS IN BUDAPEST

Author(s): Istvan Poor / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

MULTICULTURAL STATE, NATIONALISM AND XENOPHOBIA

Author(s): Raymond Getaz / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

KUĆA BEZ NAMĆORA Makedonska iskustva i paradoksi

Author(s): Risto Lazarov / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

МЕГУНАЦИОНАЛНИТЕ И МЕГУЕТНИЧКИТЕ ОДНОСИ ВО КРУШЕВО

Author(s): Ivan Andreski / Language(s): Macedonian Publication Year: 0

RASIZAM I KSENOFOBIJA U FUNKCIJI RATA NA PROSTORU BIVŠE JUGOSLAVIJE

Author(s): Pero Jurišin / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

CAN XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM BE OVERCOME BY CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES PROJECTS?

Author(s): Helga Tiffinger / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

„THE GREAT SCHISM“: THE YUGOSLAV CASE

Author(s): Milan Podunavac / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

MEDIA AND XENOPHOBIA: NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE FR YUGOSLAV PRESS

Author(s): Jovan Teokarević / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

INTERKULTURALNOST VERSUS GETOIZACIJA I DISKRIMINACIJA: SLUČAJ ROMA

Author(s): Dragoljub B. Đorđević / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

ZOV ISTRAGE

Author(s): Safet Bandžović / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

KAKO PREPOZNATI „ĐAVOLJE POMOĆNIKE"? - vojvođanska interkulturalna iskustva i dileme

Author(s): Jovan Komšić / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

ANTIDEMOKRATSKI SETOVI ADVOKATI

Author(s): Tonči Majić / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

The initiated processes of democratization in Croatia have been stopped quite early. The aggressive behavior against minorities in Croatia, particularly Serbs, has become more and more prominent. In the conditions of nationalist rule in Croatia, members of the Serbian minority have turned to NGOs for protection of their rights, while Croats have addressed state organs. NGOs have performed the function of providing information rather than the function of protection. They have been acting in a hostile environment. Both the majority of the population and the state bodies have been hostile to their activities. Grave infringements of human rights in Croatia have happened on a massive scale. They have been systematically applied by the op authorities as a weapon in their policies. The highest levels of government have hushed up crimes against human rights and protected the perpetrators.