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
The training programme entitled ‘Preventing and Combating Xenophobia and Racism’ took place online in the form of a round-table discussion with activists and representatives of victims of discrimination, with the aim of understanding their experiences, the progress made, and their proposals and suggestions for improvements to public authorities, in order to prevent and reverse situations of discrimination and intolerance
La Fragua Projects’ contribution focused on the need to implement anti-discrimination projects that address the effects of intersectional discrimination experienced by a large proportion of the Romani community. To this end, we briefly outlined five of the projects currently being carried out by our organisation in various parts of Spain.
Furthermore, Iñaki outlined key aspects of the current situation facing the Roma community, highlighting the challenges, threats and barriers, as well as the achievements made. These points sparked an interesting debate among the course participants, which in turn enabled us at La Fragua Projects to explain our reasoning in greater depth.
In addition to Iñaki, the panel included anti-racism activists Lucía Asué Mbomio Rubio, a journalist, television presenter, writer, activist and advocate for gender equality and equity; and Antonio Liu Yang, a writer, director of the Institute of Applied Eastern Wisdom and an intercultural facilitator specialising in relations between China and Spain. Both gave brilliant presentations drawing on their personal and professional experience, which were undoubtedly of great interest to the students in attendance.
Source: La Fragua Projects Main image: INAP Images from the presentation: La Fragua Projects
This report has been drawn up by the RCM coalition in Spain; however, following changes within the coalition, the Khetane Platform (PK) is no longer coordinating the project, a role now taken on by the National Association for Roma Presence (ANPG). Furthermore, in addition to the two organisations mentioned, the coalition has included the Federation of Roma Associations of Catalonia (FAGIC) and the participation of individual professionals, including Iñaki Vázquez Arencón, founding partner of La Fragua Projects and former project coordinator both during this same period (2021–2025) as well as the previous one (2017–2020).
The published report focuses on highlighting the progress made, as well as the shortcomings observed in the implementation of the Roma Strategy in Spain, and sets out recommendations for both government departments and other social actors working in this field.
This is a document of considerable importance, and its authors encourage its widest possible circulation and discussion of its main conclusions and recommendations.
La Fragua Projects is organising a participatory event with an anti-discrimination focus to highlight the structural violence faced by the Romani People, with a particular focus on women.
On 21 May, the Las Góndolas Community Centre in Seville East hosted the participatory conference “Intersectional Discrimination and the Roma People 2025”, organised by La Fragua Projects, a Roma organisation within the social and solidarity economy that provides comprehensive services.
The event forms part of the DiscriRromani Sevilla-DCR 2025 programme, which has been run by Seville City Council since January with the aim of tackling the structural discrimination faced in particular by Roma and racialised women, using an anti-discriminatory and intersectional approach.
The event was hosted by Celia Montoya Montoya, an actress, activist and founding partner of La Fragua Projects, who welcomed the audience and emphasised the need for an anti-discriminatory and intersectional approach that extends beyond Seville’s society.
The opening address was given by José Luis García Martín, the representative for the Department of Priority Neighbourhoods and Social Rights, who emphasised that “we cannot speak of full democracy if there are communities, such as the Roma, that remain excluded from the most basic rights”, and that “there can be no justice without full recognition of these rights”.
Her speech emphasised the need to address the discrimination faced in particular by Roma women, and she highlighted the participatory nature of this event as a tool for social change. Her remarks were followed by a panel of presentations featuring several experts.
Multiple forms of violence: health, education and social services
The first presentation was given by Virginia García Linde, a political scientist and social research specialist, who spoke on the topic of “Health and obstetric violence” and describes herself as an advocate for the humanisation of childbirth.
She has portrayed childbirth as an intimate, private and domestic event, whilst also providing a historical overview of the role of the midwife and paying tribute to all those Romani women who carried out this work and were executed in contexts of criminalisation after being accused of witchcraft. At the same time, she has condemned the medicalisation of childbirth driven by patriarchal and capitalist logic.
In this regard, she has highlighted the experiments carried out on women and the cruel practices perpetrated against black women by some of the ‘fathers’ of gynaecology, as well as controversial instruments that are still in use today.
It is therefore impossible not to mention hierarchy, given that, at present, it is predominantly men who are present at births. In contrast to the care and good medical practice required to support this vital natural process, hospitals are increasingly trying to speed up the delivery process, which entails various forms of violence against pregnant women.
In the context of this conference, she mentioned that verbal abuse and anti-Roma sentiment are factors in obstetric violence. From the educational sector, Laura Páez Hurtado, a member of the teaching staff and a specialist in therapeutic pedagogy, addressed the topic of ‘Education’. In this regard, she highlighted the reality faced by many schools with pupils at risk of social exclusion: the lack of Roma representation on the parents’ association, persistent truancy and the worrying impact of socio-economic conditions.
She has also shared transformative experiences from her school, such as the celebration of Roma Day with a gender perspective, with a view to increasing the involvement of the entire school community and promoting harmony, as well as various initiatives aimed at challenging traditional concepts found in classic stories or festivities such as Valentine’s Day.
In doing so, he has highlighted the need to include the Roma community in the education sector and the importance of equality plans.
For her part, Ana León Távora, Professor of Spanish Language and Literature at Salem College (USA), in her section “Anti-racist education and experience of working with migrant students”, highlighted the need for anti-racist education that enables the dismantling of myths and stereotypes about immigration and a rethinking of cultural roots from a decolonising perspective.
Drawing on the history of imagery and symbolism, he teaches his students the importance of anti-racist education in enabling them to think critically and avoid being misled, as well as in combating ignorance, since perspectives and their inherent biases shape the knowledge we receive and, consequently, often internalise. “Racism is significant because it divides,” he stated.
The final speaker was Séfora Vargas Martín, a Romani lawyer, writer and activist, personal and leadership coach, as well as president of the Aproideg association and a consultant for DiscriRomani Sevilla 2025, a contributor to the Roma Professional Network and La Fragua Projects. Speaking from her own experience, she highlighted the degrading treatment that many Roma women receive from some social services staff, as well as the overwhelming fear of reporting such incidents due to fear of reprisals, institutional mistrust, or even the concern that non-Roma women might find out about these complaints.
He also highlighted the importance of mediation in ensuring equal treatment for the Roma community, given that people turn to social services due to financial hardship. He also denounced the presence of racist officials, the lack of care, and the prevalence of common accounts among those affected by, amongst other issues, waiting times for care, as well as the need to alleviate, communicate or educate in the face of the dehumanisation suffered by the Roma people from childhood.
Participation and collective horizons
Subsequently, round-table discussions and working groups were organised as a participatory format involving those attending the event, with the aim of drawing conclusions based on the various key themes.
These contributions will help shape the programme’s annual report, thereby ensuring that the document is drawn up on the basis of a diversity of voices.
Against a backdrop of rising anti-Gypsyism and institutional racism, this gathering has provided a forum not only for speaking out, but also for collective action. It is undoubtedly another step forward in the struggle for a society in which the Roma people are not merely present, but fully recognised and heard.
International Roma Day, celebrated yesterday, was a day of advocacy for the Rroma People. Voria Stefanovsky, an activist and academic based in Ourense, is a leading voice in the fight for her community’s dignity, and this year she is marking the occasion with a bilingual collection of poems in Spanish and Romani.
Yesterday marked International Rroma Day, an occasion that Voria Stefanovsky uses every year to stand as a beacon of advocacy and visibility for the Romani people from Ourense, a city she fell in love with a couple of years ago. She has made her home there and, from the city of As Burgas, runs the International Observatory for Rromani Women, which takes on even greater significance this year, marking 600 years of the Romani presence on the Iberian Peninsula.
However, beyond the historical commemorations, the focus is on this author, activist and academic, whose work and life are deeply intertwined with the struggles of the Rromani people.
Voria Stefanovsky holds a PhD in Literature from the University of Brasília and is currently undertaking postdoctoral research at the University of Lisbon, focusing on literature written by Rromani women. However, her most recent contribution has been a collection of poems published by the Institute of Rromani Culture, through which Stefanovsky seeks to “reclaim and restore dignity to a language which, after centuries of repression, remains one of Spain’s greatest historical debts to the Rromani community”.
The publication of this book is not an isolated event, but part of a process of raising awareness that has been developing for years and in which the Institute of Rromani Culture, a body under the Ministry of Culture, has played a key role, organising, among other things, an annual gala which has become a vital platform for showcasing the art and contributions of the Rromani people and which is held every year on 8 April.
Stefanovsky was, in fact, one of the award winners at this event, although this was back in 2022 for his research into Romani literature as part of his doctoral thesis – a milestone he hopes to repeat with his postdoctoral work, a body of writing he combines with the production of articles and poems such as those included in the Institute of Gypsy Culture’s collection.
The bilingual collection of poems
Stefanovsky’s collection of poems is not merely a literary work; it is a political and cultural statement. Through her verses, the author addresses themes that ‘run through the history of the Rromani people, because we are a transnational nation; we are present in many countries, yet we share the same culture and the same traumas’, says the writer, who counts amongst her themes ‘persecution, resistance and attempts at forced assimilation’.
Her poems, imbued with “a deeply autobiographical element”, also serve as a mirror for “the experiences of other Rromani women, because what I have been through is not unique to me; I’m sure it’s a story similar to that of many other women who have survived”, she reflects.
Among the works included in the anthology, Voria highlights the poem ‘Caminantes’, in which he reflects on ‘the history of the Romani people as a travelling people, always on the move, always persecuted, but always resilient’, emphasising the idea of a ‘transnational nation’ and the ‘constant struggle to preserve culture and identity in the face of imposed attempts at acculturation’.
What makes this collection of poems so important, apart from its message, is its bilingual format; the texts are in both Spanish and ‘Rromani, the native language of the Rromani people, which has been systematically oppressed for centuries, to the point of near extinction in many regions of Spain, such as in the south, where ‘caló’ was adopted as an adaptation of the two languages’. Thus, with the publication of this book, Stefanovsky is not only asserting his right to write in his mother tongue, but also ensuring that it becomes a vehicle for the revival and dissemination of this language.
The work is available in both physical and PDF formats, and is accessible freeof charge to encourage its reading and preservation. “It’s poetic activism,” argues this woman, who is proud to be Rromani, emphasising that “there is still a long way to go before the Rromani community receives the recognition it deserves, because it must stop being viewed as a welfare issue; what is needed is historical redress, which can only be achieved through rights and recognition.”
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