FIRST ROMA YOUTH FESTIVAL “PRIMAVERA KALO”
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On May 28th 2011 the first edition of the Roma Youth Festival “Primavera Kalo” took place in the Plaça del Sol in Barcelona. The event was organized by Ternikalo XXI, the Spanish member organization of the International Roma Youth Network ternYpe. The Festival was organized in the framework of Spanish actions of the “ALL in ONE” campaign, implemented in all member countries of TernYpe network. Primavera Kalo was organized in collaboration with Roma and non-Roma youth from different European countries (Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Germany, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain), participants in the seminar “Strategies for mobilization, participation and empowerment of Roma youth” organized by Ternikalo XXI, which took place in Barcelona between 25 and 30th of May 2011.
The objective of the festival was to give greater visibility to the Roma youth, promote a positive image of Roma youth as active citizens and to promote and strengthen the confidence of Roma identity. In the words of Israel Ramirez, president of Ternikalo XXI , “we are a new generation, and despite the great problems of racism or education which we still suffer from, the most educated Roma generation in history. Now we start to auto-organize and we want to change the discourse from victimisation to participation, mobilization and empowerment of the youth.”
In this event, Roma and non-Roma came together and in common efforts created the different activities that took place during the day - street actions, theatre, painting workshops, henna tattoos, games and more. Live music by Chaquetilla, Latin Fire and Los Chavales de San Roque ended the festival. Although the festival took place on that same day as the Champions Final match between FC Barcelona and Manchester, the attendance of the event was satisfying. The festival was well received and generated a lot of curiosity among the locals and passer-bys participated in different actions and activities. The Romani youth from different countries were warmly welcomed by the Barcelona locals and all came together in the atmosphere of mutual respect and festivity.
The festival “Primavera Kalo” concluded the Seminar “Strategies for mobilization, participation and empowerment of Roma youth”, financed by the “Youth in Action” Programme. The Seminar gathered Roma and non-Roma youth, members of TernYpe network, with the objective to discuss the strategies for empowerment of Roma youth and ways to include the Romani youth dimension in the European and national agendas and Roma-related policies. The participants of the seminar were invited to attend a reception at the Departament of Social Welfare and Family of the Catalan Government (Generalitat), where they met with Mr. Manuel Heredia, Advisor on Roma-related issues at the Department, Mr. Joan Josep Freixes, responsible for Strategic Projects and Mr. Félix Silva Santos, vice-president of Youth of the Federation of Roma Associations in Catalonia (FAGiC). The participants attended a reception at Barcelona Town Hall (Ayuntament de Barcelona), and had an opportunity to meet with Mr. Ricard Gomá, Second Deputy Mayor at Barcelona Town Hall, responsible for Social Action and Citizennship. The TernYpe members had also a possibility to meet with Mr. José Vicente Muñoz Gómez, member of the Spanish Congress in order to make a follow-up to the declarations of the Spanish government made during the Second European Roma Summit that took place in April 2010 in Cordoba.
For more information:
http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/notapremsavw/detall.do?id=111747
http://xarxanet.org/comunitari/noticies/joves-gitanos-europeus-obren-debat-barcelona
