This initiative, organised by the Romanó Institute for Social and Cultural Affairs, held one of its online sessions on 22 October
Our colleague at La Fragua Projects, Iñaki Vázquez Arencón, was the speaker at one of the sessions of the 2025 edition of the project ‘Intervention Strategies for the Disadvantaged Rroma Community’. His presentation was entitled ‘Experiences and reflections from a perspective of critical activism and rigorous professional practice’. The online training session took place on 22 October 2025 and lasted just over two hours.
In his presentation, Iñaki outlined key findings regarding the current situation of the Rroma population in Spain, the threats identified, the barriers they face, and the challenges confronting both public authorities and Roma and pro-Roma civil society organisations.
This project by the Romanó Institute for Social and Cultural Affairs is supported by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda as part of its call for proposals to support social projects using funds from the 0.7% levy.
This second edition features a series of presentations that are of great interest both to members of Rroma and pro-Rroma organisations, and to managers and/or specialists from public bodies working with the Roma community.
The participation of those enrolled in the project’s training activities is particularly significant. Following Iñaki’s presentation, a question-and-answer session took place, leading to an interesting debate on the need to implement a robust set of anti-discrimination projects and measures, alongside a strong commitment to participation, complementing the now-established initiatives for social inclusion and the fight against poverty, all with the aim of ensuring that social investment has a genuine impact on the Rroma community.
The city's Cultural Centre is hosting this new meeting of the Cafè Barcelona project.
Once again, 16 diverse people, drawn from the margins—geographical, social and symbolic. They reunited with joyful embraces and smiles. Cups once again brimming with coffee and herbal infusions, and once more the four hosts began the dialogue on pressing issues, eagerly jotting down phrases and ideas.
There's a sense of community in the group: everyone is different, yet at the same time we share a common thread. Something feels like home, and that fills us with satisfaction.
The bell from the café owner's wife tells us that twenty minutes have already passed and we need to get up and move to another table. This time it's other neighbourhoods of ours: La Mina (Sant Adrià de Besòs), La Mariola (Lleida), Camp Clar (Tarragona) and Torre Baró (Barcelona).
The topics, this time we're repeating two of them because of their gravity and how they affect us: the right to housing and labour precarity. But there are also two new topics, although they're too old for our collective memory: school segregation and political disaffection.
Intense dialogues, active listening, emotion and anger. Everything stems from respect and affection for one another. On this occasion, three little human beings grace us with their presence, and of course we make sure they're entertained and well-fed with snacks.
We're running out of coffee when someone asks us for time to pray according to their beliefs. Everyone stops, and a few minutes later the praying people return. An exercise in coexistence and respect.
Finally, once again, the harvest, where the hosts attempted to summarise the whole wealth of dialogue and ideas that had taken place at their respective table.
Everyone leaves eager to return and asking if they can invite such a friend or such another person. May joy change sides. Without joy, no revolution can blossom.
Source: La Fragua Projects Photos: La Fragua Projects
The workshops held at La Bòbila in Porta (Nou Barris – Barcelona) and at Espai Pomezia (La Florida – L'Hospitalet de Llobregat) were attended by people who have experienced racial discrimination and members of various associations.
On 3 and 17 October, the first ‘Legal Self-Defence Workshops Against Racism’ of this year’s ‘Racial Justice and Empowerment (RJE) 2025’ project took place.
The first of these took place at the Ateneu La Bòbila de Porta in Nou Barris (Barcelona), whilst the second was held at the Espai Pomezia in La Florida (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat). For these two workshops, we were supported by the Ateneu La Bòbila de Porta and LaFundició, respectively.
The “Racial Justice and Empowerment 2025” project is funded by Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion of the Government of Catalonia.
Attendance at both workshops was high, and the training was attended by a range of people who have experienced racism, as well as others from various organisations representing people of colour.
Furthermore, our colleague Iñaki Vázquez Arencón, together with other members of the Roma Professional Network, highlighted the need to adopt an anti-racist approach to the issue of under-reporting, shifting the focus away from the victims and towards the sources of existing discrimination, thereby challenging the prevailing narrative that blames the victims themselves for not reporting incidents sufficiently.
The project plans to hold two workshops this year. One will take place on 17 December at the Font de la Mina Cultural Centre (Sant Adrià de Besòs) and the other the following day at the LaFede premises, run by SOS Racisme (Barcelona).
Source: La Fragua Projects Photos: La Fragua Projects
In his statement, Iñaki Vázquez called for a consensus-based approach and for the development of proposals in line with the policy frameworks for the Rroma People agreed at European level and in many regions governed by parties of the same political persuasion as that of the Community of Madrid
On 6 October 2025, our colleague Iñaki Vázquez Arencón appeared before the Committee on Family and Social Affairs of the Madrid Assembly to present some of the key findings arising from the work carried out as part of the Inter-Regional Rroma Strategic Forum (FEIG) project, which addresses the implementation of the National Roma Strategy from a regional perspective.
In his speech, Iñaki highlighted the strategic setback that the scrapping of the Madrid Strategy for the Rroma People would entail, given that the Community of Madrid serves as a model for the whole of Spain; this could be a cause for serious concern regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of public policies aimed at the Rroma Community. Furthermore, this decision would distance Madrid from European strategies and those of other autonomous communities, many of which are governed by the same party that holds the presidency in Madrid.
The view shared by many of the social and political actors involved in this field prior to 2020 was that it had been demonstrated that policies addressing the need for social inclusion were not accompanied by anti-discrimination strategies, primarily to tackle the consequences of antigypsyism and others focused on the disadvantages caused by gender in our society, which place Rroma women at absolutely alarming rates in almost every field.
Iñaki Vázquez urged the political parties supporting the government in the Community of Madrid to reconsider the announced measure and to publish the evaluation of the previous plan, which expired in 2021, as well as the assessment commissioned from a company—the results of which they have been promising to release for the past two years. To this end, he proposed that, in the interests of consensus, the Rroma Community Dialogue Forum – a participatory body that has been virtually paralysed for many months – be reactivated so that it can fulfil the role for which it was created: to promote the participation of the Rroma civil society in the Community of Madrid.
Part one of Iñaki Vázquez’s testimony:
Speech by Samuel Escudero León, a Romani MP from the Más Madrid parliamentary group in the Madrid Assembly:
Iñaki Vázquez’s response to the speeches by the parliamentary groups in the Madrid Assembly:
The Ateneu La Bòbila in Porta is hosting the first edition of an event that forms part of a project aimed at encouraging civic participation from the margins.
Following months of preparation, internal training and outreach work, the first “Participatory Space for Democratic Innovation” of the Café Barcelona 2025 (CBCN 2025) project took place on 29 September. Over a cup of coffee, the event fostered dialogue between members of migrant, refugee, Roma and racialised communities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.
At this inaugural event, around four moderators brought together people of Roma origin, from the Maghreb, indigenous peoples of Abya Yala, Latin Americans, Pakistanis, Chinese and Black Africans. All were keen to make their voices heard and share their views on the four topics under discussion: the right to housing, job insecurity, police pressure and the rise of exclusionary ideologies.
We have taken particular care to ensure balanced representation, not only in terms of ethnic background, but also in terms of age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and gender identities. When diversity is believed in and embraced, things fall into place naturally. This project is a manifestation of this way of seeing the world.
Every 20 minutes, our guests moved to a different table, where they discussed a different topic. The tables were named after the neighbourhoods where people of colour live: Bon Pastor (Barcelona), La Florida (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat), Sant Josep Obrer (Reus) and Font de la Pólvora (Girona). Refreshments, drinks, fruit, coffee and a childcare service were provided for those who needed it.
Finally, it was time for the round-up, during which the hosts attempted to summarise the wealth of discussions and ideas that had emerged at their respective tables.
An excellent start to a project that fills our hearts with joy and hope. We will hold further meetings and, in due course, everything will be made public in a report designed to influence stakeholders. May joy change sides. Without joy, no revolution can flourish.
Source: La Fragua Projects Photos: La Fragua Projects
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