"Hate Speech Transforms Roma into 'Tenants' in Their Own Home": Red House Debate

"Hate Speech Transforms Roma into Tenants in Their Own Home," was the motion of a debate held at the Red House.  Participants were young Roma between the ages of 17 and 30 who were trained in debating this summer by the Bulgarian National Debate Association (member of the OSI-supported International Debate Education Association, IDEA).

The purpose of the training was to help Bulgarian Roma youth become effective advocates for the Roma cause and to enable them to launch a series of public debates as well as establish debating societies in Roma communities. Another important aspect of the debate program in Bulgaria is  to bring minority and majority youth together and, through debate, provide an opportunity to discuss important and often controversial issues.

Three of the organizers of the debate took part in the IDEA Youth Forum in Sarajevo, where one of them took fourth place in the Mixed Teams track. The event was being organized by the Open Society Institute Roma Initiatives,  in cooperation with the Red House, the Roma newspaper Drom Dromendar, the Bulgarian National Debate Association, and IDEA.

Read a summary of the event.